Music Publishing & Songwriting

Who ever thought you’d get travel tips out of this blog?

I’m on my way back to New York tonight, returning from five days in the music capital of the USA—a little bleary-eyed and overloaded with CD’s and memories of some amazing musical moments. LA? Atlanta? Miami? Nope. I’m coming home from the original Music City, USA: Nashville, Tennessee.

Long understood to be the center of the country music industry, Nashville is much, much more than that. In fact, I would argue that it’s the real center of American music. For instance, take my five-day schedule. It began with one of the transcendent music experiences of my life, at the BMI Trailblazer luncheon, honoring gospel music legends Marvin Winans, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, and Vanessa Bell Armstrong. In an ironic mix of secular and spiritual, Nashville is not only the home of country music’s heritage of cheatin’ and drinkin’ songs, it’s also the home of the Christian music and Gospel industry. That was followed by meetings with top country producer like Keith Stegall, who just finished a remarkable album with new rock act the Zac Brown Band, rock producer Jeff Coplan, who has developed new country act Love and Theft, country publishers like Midas Music who are riding high with the success of CCM rock act Rush of Fools, Murrah Music who are launching hip-hop writer/producer Bar-None, and Full Circle, whose star writer Rachel Proctor is working with pop act Jessica Simpson. It’s all pretty mixed up here.

Add in a few trips to the honky-tonks of Nashville’s District area, to hear a wild mélange of traditional and modern country, bluegrass and rockabilly, played by some of the best bar bands to be found anywhere in the world. Then there was the opportunity to see Alan Jackson on his home turf, delivering two hours of straight-up country music in a style that captures all the beauty, dignity and humor and heartbreak of that venerable tradition. And a night at the Bluebird Café, to hear the industry’s greatest songwriters strip their craft down to a guitar and vocal— tall tales and three-minute tragedies passed around a circle of writers in a tradition as old as the campfire. The surprise discovery of up and comers Telluride, blending soul, rock and roll, and classic country harmonies in a testament to the inescapably intermingled roots of American popular music. An afternoon at the Country Music Hall of Fame, watching the evolution from hillbilly music to Hank Williams to Elvis and Jerry Lee to Charley Pride and Garth Brooks and Rascal Flatts. And I haven’t even started listening to the CD’s.

If you’re looking for a vacation spot that offers ample nightlife, a little history, a vast range of cultural experiences, and a minimum of pretense, put Nashville on your list. But more importantly, if you’re looking for a supportive, accessible musical community that boasts the greatest musicians and songwriters in the country, along with some of the industry’s shrewdest operators, you might want to pack your bags.

Is it competitive there? Undoubtedly. But it’s also a place where industry execs still listen to songs, musicians can cut three demos in a four-hour demo session, guitar-vocal demos can turn into Top Ten hits, and songwriters can hang out together, trade ideas, offer encouragement, and learn from those with more experience.

Throw in the ham and biscuits at the Loveless Café, and it’s enough to make a NY boy start to go country.