They Write for Beyoncé, the National, Miranda Lambert: The Secrets of Songwriters – WSJ.com
August 13th, 2010
At the Sony/ATV writers’ quarters, near portraits of writers such as Red Lane and Rodney Crowell, the sound of music leaks out of rooms that writers have booked to work in teams. One of the most recent releases with Mr. (Tom) Douglas’s name on it, “The House That Built Me,” gestated for six years, starting when co-writer Allen Shamblin mentioned a line he’d read somewhere: “We don’t build houses, they build us.” The writers sketched out a song about someone visiting their childhood home, looking for direction in life. But it felt unfocused and the writers put it aside for four years until 2008, when the song gelled around a new refrain: “If I could just come in, I swear I’ll leave, won’t take nothing but a memory, from the house that built me.”
The response from Sony/ATV’s song pluggers, who play matchmaker between writers and recording artists, was immediate. “It was one of the five days a year where the flares go up and the beacons sound,” Mr. Douglas says. The song went to country star Miranda Lambert. It was pushed as a single and spent four weeks at No. 1 on country radio.
more via They Write for Beyoncé, the National, Miranda Lambert: The Secrets of Songwriters – WSJ.com.
Rosanne Cash: Music in her past, present, and future
August 12th, 2010
It should come as no surprise that Rosanne Cash’s beautifully observed, often heartbreaking new memoir, Composed Viking, $26.95, reads in many ways like a song cycle: thematically linked, full of intense emotions and vivid moments of intimacy, of discovery, of pain.
more via Music in her past, present, and future | Philadelphia Inquirer | 08/12/2010.
Alan Jackson earns ASCAP’s Founders Award
August 10th, 2010
ASCAP will honor country star Alan Jackson with its Founders Award at the 48th annual ASCAP Country Music Awards on September 14.
A statement from the performing rights organization described the award as “among the most important honors that ASCAP gives to songwriters and composers who have made pioneering contributions to music by inspiring and influencing their fellow music creators.”
Past winners include Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Smokey Robinson, Emmylou Harris, James Taylor and Jackson Browne.
via Alan Jackson earns ASCAP’s Founders Award at tennessean.com | Tune In Music City.
Sugarland enjoys success of new single Stuck Like Glue
August 6th, 2010
Nettles and Bush maintained their songwriting even after signing their Nashville recording contract.“They have a wonderful songwriting system in Nashville, but our roots are in the Atlanta singer-songwriter scene,” Nettles said. “We came into the Nashville scene doing our own thing. I think that’s been something refreshing for them.
”Despite the many great tunesmiths in Music City, Sugarland’s songwriting met no resistance there, Nettles added.
Taylor Swift’s ‘Mine,’ first single off ‘Speak Now,’ released early after bootleg appears online
August 5th, 2010
When faced with an Internet leak, Taylor Swift just goes with the flow.
According to Reuters, an MP3 leak forced the Grammy-winning songbird to move up the release of her newest single, “Mine,” by about twelve days. The 20-year-old pop star’s record label, Big Machine Records, released a statement explaining that the MP3 was of subpar quality, and they’d decided to let fans hear the song in all its glory on iTunes and country radio.
via Taylor Swift’s ‘Mine,’ first single off ‘Speak Now,’ released early after bootleg appears online.