New Artist Spotlight: The McClymonts

From the moment Brooke, Sam and Mollie McClymont strode onto the stage at the CMA Global Artist Party, kicking off the 2010 CMA Music Festival, they owned the venue. Rocking hard, playing to the balcony at The Stage on Broadway, joining their voices in a tight, high-impact blend, they showed why they were already stars back home in Australia. That performance was followed in August with their U.S. debut release, Wrapped Up Good, on BSM Music. With 11 of its 12 tracks written or co-written by one or more McClymont, they concoct sharp hooks and well-crafted lyrics. “A Woman...

Concert Review: George Strait and Martina McBride in Duluth, GA

Country superstars George Strait and Martina McBride brought their tour to the house Strait helped open in Duluth, GA, back in 2002. The two country icons performed for a sold-out crowd at the Gwinnett Center Arena on Friday night. Opening the show, Martina McBride sang songs from her new album, Eleven, along with her chart-topping hits spanning her career. Always a crowd favorite, Martina didn’t disappoint her fans, belting out “This One’s For The Girls”, “I’m Gonna Love You Through It”, “Wild Angels” and more in a voice that is as clear today as when...

How To Be A Session Singer

Having done many thousands of studio and live background (aka “backing”) vocals, demos, masters, hit songs and jingles as well as training other singers, I’ve compiled a list of qualities that the specialized career of session singing requires. To be a working session singer you need: 1. …vocal training to be able to perform the feats of what I call a "stunt singer". It takes more stamina and control to be a great background singer than to be a lead singer, because you will have to trace and blend with another voice perfectly, taking on the lead voice's tone, personality, rhythm, phrasing and accent, or adding...

Structure Basics – Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks

Lately I have gone back to school so to speak – I have been researching and going back over the actual process of learning songs again. Very much the process of an old dog learning new tricks. I suppose in any field there is always something new to learn – but in music in general, and songwriting in particular, I don’t know if one person has the time in a lifetime to cover it all. I remember years ago sitting down with records (yes, that long ago) and playing them over ...

The Music In Your Head: Part 1

I wish I remembered who said this, because it's a great quote: the difference between songwriters and other people is that songwriters write down what the voices in their head tell them. It's a flip remark, but as creative people we do all hear things in our heads. Sometimes we have the means to articulate them, and sometimes we don't. A major component of songcraft is the ability to communicate our ideas in a memorable and compelling way. We do this with lyrics all the...

The Band Perry: 2011 CMA New Artist of the Year

“We’re still childlike,” confessed multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Neil Perry of The Band Perry. “We romanticize the business and the stuff that goes into it. But there’s a place where … “ “ … You’re not naïve,” picked up lead singer/pianist/guitarist/big sister Kimberly Perry without missing a beat. “One of the reasons we are what we are – especially if you’d seen some of the early shows we’d done – is our wonder and that attitude that nothing is impossible.” That easy back...

Songwriting – The Real Deal

Perhaps the best thing about being a teacher is how much you end up learning yourself. And some of the best lessons are the ones that are un-planned. I teach a class at Musicians Institute in Hollywood that is based on bringing in guests – successful songwriters, to interview them with the class and then open it up and have the students ask questions. It has been an amazing learning experience, for me as much as for the students. But the other day the inevitable happened...

Three Good Reasons To Love Your Songs

The kind of love I’ve been talking about is not something that happens overnight. It comes from putting in the countless hours necessary to perfect your craft, incorporating others’ suggestions that make sense to you and ignoring the ones that don’t. In order to suffer the slings and arrows that are an inevitable part of trying to generate income from your songs, it’s a good idea to love them first. I’m talking about a very specific kind of love here. What I’m not...

Bill Anderson: The Measure of Songwriting Excellence

It’s been more than five decades since a 23-year-old Bill Anderson became the youngest writer to earn BMI’s Country Songwriter of the Year honor – a record until 20-year-old Taylor Swift’s win in 2010. Since then, he’s received numerous accolades, including two CMA Song of the Year trophies in a three-year span. In November, he was honored by Bear Family Records’ release of a four-CD anthology, Bill Anderson: The First 10 Years, 1956-1966. And he’s seen a lot of changes on Music Row.

New Artist Spotlight: Tyrone Vaughan

There’s a ton of Country and lots of rockin’ blues throughout Downtime, released in January on the Kickitup indie imprint. And all of it is unmistakably Texan, which of course is to be expected, given Tyrone Vaughan’s Lone Star pedigree. His father is Jimmie Vaughan, whose steely guitar tone and funk phrasing surfaces in the rhythm that drives “Ladies Man,” with the spirit of his uncle — the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, summoned through wah-wah guitar fills. But though his playing...

Concert Review: Jeff Dunham in Atlanta, GA

Atlanta’s infamous traffic problems took center stage at the opening of comedian Jeff Dunham’s show in the southern capital. The show was delayed for ten minutes to allow the “idiots” to take their seats, as explained by Achmed, Dunham’s fan-favorite character. Jeff started off the show in his usual style of comedy. His childhood memories popped up on the screen, a majority of them showing how he found his calling in Ventriloquism. He was only eight...

Concert Review: Marc Broussard in Atlanta, GA

Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia got a welcome visit from Marc Broussard last Friday night. The venue was a perfect fit for his music, classified as Bayou Soul. It’s soulful, personal, and has a hint of just about everything from r&b to rock to pop to blues. Center Stage is a theatre with plenty of seating, plenty of standing room, good acoustics and a very intimate feel. When Marc Broussard steps on stage, people just want to move. So even though there were some open seats, people...

Kellie Pickler Is A “Best Buy” With 100 Proof

The Best Buy store in Kennesaw, GA, was ready for Kellie Pickler with all the necessary accoutrements: sharpies, post-it notes, water, and breath mints. People of all ages, coming from different parts of Georgia and Tennessee, were ecstatic about seeing Kellie as they waited in line, eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Country star. One of the first fans in line, April from Lithia Springs, GA, had a picture of herself with Kellie from...

Songwriting – The Lyric Structure

All art forms have a language and a structure that is used for the communication of ideas within that form. Whether it is painting, film, poetry, dance, cooking, or music, the language of an art form is a means of both self-expression and communication. For the intended audience, there are expectations that provide the basis for the communication between the artist and audience. The contemporary pop song structure is tight, focused and consists of sections. Those sections...

Why You Should Be Paying Attention to Mobile Marketing

As someone in the music industry, I don’t have to tell you how huge mobile marketing is. You already know how ITunes and Amazon have revolutionized the music industry and countless other industries. What you may not realize all the other ways Mobile Marketing has begun to have a huge impact. It is the next frontier. If you think about it, how many people do you know who access the web primarily from their mobile devices as opposed to their desktop or laptop computers...