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Barbara Cloyd's Songwriter Search
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Songwriter Search WorkshopDate: Friday, September 19-21, 2003 Barbara Cloyd’s Songwriter Search in Bristol, TennesseeWhen I read the acceptance email to Barbara Cloyd’s Songwriter Search
Workshop, I must admit, I got really excited…I’m talkin’
about “take your shoes off and dance a jig excited.” Barbara started the Songwriter Search Workshops to help Nashville publishers connect with talented writers outside of Nashville. To be selected, songwriters must submit 3 original songs, which are judged by Barbara based on the merits of the song, not the recording. She selects 15 to 20 songwriters to attend the workshop. At the workshops, Barbara matches select songwriters with established, successful music industry professionals. She seeks out industry contacts who have a passion for discovering new talent and who believe that looking beyond the Nashville scene can be a way find writers with a fresh, unique approach. You can read more about Barbara Cloyd’s Songwriter Search Workshops on her site. I found out about the Songwriter Search Workshops through the Charlotte chapter of NSAI. Fellow songwriter, Skip Black, applied and was accepted to Barbara’s workshop a year ago…and he regailed our songwriting group with his tales of how it ultimately led to his cowriting songs with Nashville staff writers--songs that were now actually being pitched around Nashville. As it turns out, a fellow Charlotte songwriter, Don Petty was accepted
as well—so we both took time off from work to ride up to Bristol,
TN together…(Don from his career as a hair stylist and me from my
day job as a technical writer). We packed my New Beetle full of guitars
and CDs took the mountain roads up to Bristol, TN. We chatted the whole drive, discussing the current state of the music
industry, what we expected from the weekend, which songs we would play
at the weekend, how we felt about file sharing, what our musical goals
are, etc. It was great to be able to spend some time with Don—I see
him at our NSAI meetings, but we both have so many ideas, we can never
seem to finish a conversation before the meeting’s over… Anyway, we unpacked our suitcases in room 326 of the Comfort Inn, grabbed
a bite to eat at the KFC buffet down the street, and gathered our CDs
and business cards in preparation for meeting everyone at the first event.
At 7:30 pm we met in the conference room at the Comfort Inn. The room
was buzzing as the 20 songwriters who were selected for the workshop and
the four music industry folks met each other over chips and beer. We spent
the next three hours chatting, introducing ourselves, and listening to
each other’s songs. It was great to hear everyone’s music for
the first time, and, man, was there some cool stuff. I heard some great
country, Americana, bluegrass, and even some true NY club music. Writers
had traveled from all parts of the East Coast to be there. There were
writers from New York, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Illinois,
Arkansas, etc. We went around the room playing 1 song each. Some folks played live,
but over half o the writers had demos on CD-R. When it was my turn, I
played “Christmas
in July” from my new CD One-Way
Ticket. It was pretty far outside of the country “box”,
but I saw a lot of smiles and heads bobbing…and several folks seemed
pretty interested in what I was doing. I could tell, however, that I was
gonna be way more rock and roll than the other writers…I just didn’t
know how that would play out. The “vibe” Friday night was really positive. I didn’t
feel an ounce of competitive spirit…and I really felt a sense that
we were all part of a little club…one where everyone enjoyed everyone
else’s company…and we all wanted to help each other succeed.
I knew the weekend would be very cool. Friday night’s event was an “ice-breaker”…and the
publishers were not allowed to critique the songs. As we mingled, I got
a card from Karen Reynolds who runs the “Writer’s Block”
radio show on 89.9 WDVX, a listener-funded station in Knoxville, TN. She
asked me to send her a CD so she could play some of my music on her show…how
cool is that? It’s simulcast on the web and sounds like a really
cool show, so you may want to check it out at http://www.wdvx.com. After a couple of beers and some mingling, everyone headed back to their rooms to prepare for the early morning bus ride… Saturday Workshop EventsSaturday morning, the big white school bus took us into downtown Bristol for our day-long songwriting critique session. What’s Bristol like?When we arrived at the theatre, the mayor of Bristol, VA welcomed us (even though we were in TN at the time)...and told us how Bristol was the home of country music. It seems that the first recording device in the area (1927, I think) was set up by a local who used it to make the first Carter family recordings (among others). Those recordings are still in the Country Music Hall of fame in Nashville. If you’ve never been there, Bristol is located on the border between
Tenessee and Virginia--the state line actually runs right through the
center of downtown...so there's a Bristol, TN and a Bristol, VA. Each
town has separate fire departments, police departments, mayors, tax structures,
etc. Both towns were sponsoring the "Rhythm and Roots Music Festival"
that weekend, complete with live country and bluegrass music and street
vendors. We spent our time Saturday in the coolest old theatre right in
the middle of the festival...during our breaks, we could walk out and
enjoy the festival…where the street vendors were a bit disgruntled
about the festival food cart having a monopoly on hamburgers, hotdogs,
and soft drinks. (They found amusement, however, in the fact that the
Virginia health inspector made the cart move to TN because of it’s
open flame…where the TN health inspector found another health code
violation…) Songwriting Sessions
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