Hey hey,
We are all back in Raleigh, NC...safe and sound after our uber-educational trip to Music City, USA akaNashville, Tennessee.
Sometimes, in any business/field/sport, it's good to be put in your place once in a while. And that's exactly what happened to us this past week. If you are a musician, songwriter, or even someone who just picks around on a guitar and sometimes writes songs, you owe it to yourself to go to Nashville for a few days. The level of musicianship and songwriting talent in that town is nothing less than mind blowing.
Take Broadway for example. It's the "main drag" in downtown Nashvillle, loaded with famous bars and clubs like Tootsie's, the Stage, the Wheel, Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritaville... with live music 7 days a week from 2pm to 2am. Most of the time, upwards of 5 acts every single day...most of them playing for tips! To top it off, the talent is amazing. I wanted to beg almost every guitar player I saw for a free lesson, but I didn't want to come off too tourist-y.
While we were there we met with our reps at ASCAP, and I joined the Nashville Songwriters Association International (which has chapters all over the US, with one opening in Raleigh very soon).
Honestly, I went there with the delusional notion that people were going to hear the couple "country songs" I wrote recently and immediately feed them to some hungry country artists and put our names on the musical map "just like that"...boy was I wrong. After having the tunes heard by some professionals it's clear to me that I have a little ways to go before I try that again. They didn't hate it all, but their critiques were honest and heartfelt, and after letting it all sink in for a few days their words are clear as day.
I want to give a special shout out to Linda and Sandy, the people who have let me crash with them on all three of my humbling and enlightening trips to Music City. Accomplished performers and songwriters themselves, they know how awesome-and-totally-sweet-yet-difficult-and-soul-crushing this business can be at times. And they believe in me and the Windsor Oaks Band more than anyone I've met in a long time. Serendipitously, Sandy's poignant and personally relevant play (all about a struggling songwriter who gets dream-visits from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr., called All For a Song) opened at a really cool dinner-theatre while we were there. Shonna (my lady) and I went to go see it and we were absolutely blown away. And so were the reporters from the Examiner. Check out the raving review here: http://www.examiner.com/review/chaffin-s-barn-dinner-theatre-presents-world-premier-of-all-for-a-song Thank you, Linda and Sandy, from the bottom of my heart.
So, tell me...Are you a songwriter or just someone who writes songs? At this point I am just someone who writes songs, and it's gonna be a minute before I graduate.
Sincerely all for a song,
Brandon Scott McLean and the Windsor Oaks Band
THIS WEEK IN WINDSOR LAND:
we are back!
1.) Tomorrow - Friday July 19 - World of Beer @ North Hills
2.) Saturday - 7/20 - Chef's Palette in Cary, NC
3.) getting some pirates on board for August 30 at the Pour House
and
4.) ROCKING OUT to Linda's viola-driven version of "I Am the Walrus"
We are all back in Raleigh, NC...safe and sound after our uber-educational trip to Music City, USA akaNashville, Tennessee.
Sometimes, in any business/field/sport, it's good to be put in your place once in a while. And that's exactly what happened to us this past week. If you are a musician, songwriter, or even someone who just picks around on a guitar and sometimes writes songs, you owe it to yourself to go to Nashville for a few days. The level of musicianship and songwriting talent in that town is nothing less than mind blowing.
Take Broadway for example. It's the "main drag" in downtown Nashvillle, loaded with famous bars and clubs like Tootsie's, the Stage, the Wheel, Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritaville... with live music 7 days a week from 2pm to 2am. Most of the time, upwards of 5 acts every single day...most of them playing for tips! To top it off, the talent is amazing. I wanted to beg almost every guitar player I saw for a free lesson, but I didn't want to come off too tourist-y.
While we were there we met with our reps at ASCAP, and I joined the Nashville Songwriters Association International (which has chapters all over the US, with one opening in Raleigh very soon).
Honestly, I went there with the delusional notion that people were going to hear the couple "country songs" I wrote recently and immediately feed them to some hungry country artists and put our names on the musical map "just like that"...boy was I wrong. After having the tunes heard by some professionals it's clear to me that I have a little ways to go before I try that again. They didn't hate it all, but their critiques were honest and heartfelt, and after letting it all sink in for a few days their words are clear as day.
I want to give a special shout out to Linda and Sandy, the people who have let me crash with them on all three of my humbling and enlightening trips to Music City. Accomplished performers and songwriters themselves, they know how awesome-and-totally-sweet-yet-difficult-and-soul-crushing this business can be at times. And they believe in me and the Windsor Oaks Band more than anyone I've met in a long time. Serendipitously, Sandy's poignant and personally relevant play (all about a struggling songwriter who gets dream-visits from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr., called All For a Song) opened at a really cool dinner-theatre while we were there. Shonna (my lady) and I went to go see it and we were absolutely blown away. And so were the reporters from the Examiner. Check out the raving review here: http://www.examiner.com/review/chaffin-s-barn-dinner-theatre-presents-world-premier-of-all-for-a-song Thank you, Linda and Sandy, from the bottom of my heart.
So, tell me...Are you a songwriter or just someone who writes songs? At this point I am just someone who writes songs, and it's gonna be a minute before I graduate.
Sincerely all for a song,
Brandon Scott McLean and the Windsor Oaks Band
THIS WEEK IN WINDSOR LAND:
we are back!
1.) Tomorrow - Friday July 19 - World of Beer @ North Hills
2.) Saturday - 7/20 - Chef's Palette in Cary, NC
3.) getting some pirates on board for August 30 at the Pour House
and
4.) ROCKING OUT to Linda's viola-driven version of "I Am the Walrus"
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