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Okay, some folks have been asking, "How do you write a song? Do you start with the words? Do you start with the music? Do you write words and music together?" And I'm afraid the answer is yes, yes, and yes. Actually, I've found that there is no right or wrong way to write a song. Most of the songs I've written lately have revolved around a single line or idea. Here are some examples. I was sitting at home one morning working at my computer drinking coffee. I'd left the coffee pot on for a long time, and when I went to pour a cup, it was really strong and bitter, you know, the way coffee gets if it sits too long on the warmer. Later that day at work the line popped into my head, "coffee left on just a little too long gets a little too bitter and a little too strong." That was it. from there, I started thinking that sometimes things in life that go on to long also get too bitter and too strong, so I wrote the song "Alone". Another example is "Jim Beam Burgers and Dishwasher Fish". The song seems to be a favorite for a lot of people, and they always ask, "what the heck is dishwasher fish?" It seems that someone told me once that you could cook fish in the dishwasher by wrapping it in aluminum foil and putting the dishwasher on the dry cycle and it will sort of steam the fish making it flaky, tender, and delicious. So we had a keg party one night and had half a keg of beer left over. We hauled the keg back to my apartment, patted out some hamburgers, fired up the grill and decided to test this dishwasher fish theory. While grilling the burgers, Jim Beam bourbon was brushed on the burgers for flavor, thus the title, "Jim Beam Burgers and Dishwasher Fish". (The fish was terrible if you're wondering). The moral is that this song came from a real life experience. If you've had a really weird, funny, sad, traumatic, or just whatever experience, write a song about it! I have a dear friend that lives in Cannelton, Indiana, and I went there to visit him once. My wife and I met up with him and his wife and piled into his car to drive around the small town and see some sights. We were just tooling around as he pointed out landmarks and historical sights. As we drove, he pointed out St. Michaels cathedral with a tall spire sticking up on the horizon. We drove by the Ohio River and down to a large floodwall the town had built and painted to make it more attractive. We had lunch at Julia's Diner where the menu sported meals such as fiddlers(catfish) and brain sandwiches. We drove down to Rocky Point which was closed during the winter months but thrives in the summer when the tourists move in to enjoy the river. Along the river bank I noticed old one room shacks and piles of lumber and RV's parked on the banks. My friend told me that many people move in and build little cottages and just live on the river and fish in the Spring and Summer. I absorbed all this information and took a few notes on the drive home, and the song "Cannelton" was born. In high school and college I wrote lots of poetry and ended up submitting a notebook full of poems to one of my professors. After reading the notebook, the professor sent it back with a note saying that she'd enjoyed the poems, but I seemed to write about abstract emotions too much. She told me not to focus on love and hate, life and death, but to focus on the person you love or hate, or the life or death of the person. I was devastated by the criticism, but took it to heart and found that songs are much better if they're packed with details and names and places as well as emotions. As far as the music and the melodies go, sometimes when a line pops into my head, the melody for the line just naturally comes with it. Other times, I'll be sitting around playing guitar and come up with a chord progression or rift that I like and words will come later. I listen to a lot of music, mostly folk and americana style. Some of my favorites are John Prine, Todd Snider, Sparklehorse, Pete Droge, Peter Cooper, Rod Picott, Jim Hoehn, Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan, Pat McLaughlin, and the list goes on and on. My musical style is derived from these artists. I listen to the way they play and the way they write. Popular music today is driven by catchy tunes, beats, or melodies. Those are the artists that I call main stream that get all the radio play. You won't find any of those artists in my collection, because to me, the actual words and messages of songs are more important than a catchy tune or beat. The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville is one of my favorite haunts. Most nights of the week you can go there and hear as many as eight songwriters sitting in the round playing their songs and telling about how they wrote them. I've seen and discovered many unknown musicians there that have become my favorites. I always enjoy hearing a musician tell what the song is really about, or what they were thinking or feeling when they wrote the song. I hope this has helped some, and if you enjoyed the explanations for where the songs came from, Email me and I'll be glad to post more explanations about where some of my songs came from. Hope this has been helpful or enlightening in some small way. Anyway, thanks for stopping by, and check back often for more updates.

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