GOODBYE (warning, LONG POST)
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2019 1:24 pm
Wanted y'all to know I very reluctantly resigned from my very short tenure as a moderator this morning.
A little backstory is involved first before I get to the reason why. When I was a child, as soon as I learned how to write in grade school, I was fascinated with the idea of writing songs. I had a notebook specifically for my songwriting. While other kids were playing baseball in my huge rural back yard, I was often on my top bunk in a room I shared with 3 siblings, scribbling away writing songs.
My dad was a horrible drunk. One day as I lay on my bunk writing a new song, he came home late from work as usual. He had to stop off at a bar first and lose most of his money on a shuffleboard table. This time when he came home drunk he brought 2 guys along with him. I climbed down and went into the livingroom to listen to their inane banter. At some point my dad got up and left the room. I figured when he went down the hall he was headed to the bathroom. Suddenly, I heard his raucous belly laughing coming from my bedroom. He came out holding my notebook and said "hey listen to this! Apparently my kid thinks he's some sort of writer".
He began reading my childish lyrics to them and instantly they were all laughing heartily at me. I was at my dad's side instantly, jumping up and down trying to get my notebook he held just out of my reach. He finally handed it to me after I'd been thoroughly humiliated. I slinked off to my room and tore every page out of the notebook and threw them in the trash. From then on, in my child's mind, I could never understand something about the people who wrote all those songs I'd hear on the radio. I couldn't fathom how they'd ever want a career that carried so much ridicule!
Of course, decades later as an adult I figured out this was a massive parenting fail on my dad's part. One I don't think I ever forgave him for, even after he committed suicide at the same age Elvis died, two months before Elvis' passing. Fast forward a few more decades. I'd been attending a weekly jam session with several old Texas boys whose repertoire was always the same, ancient "country gold". Strangely, even though I was raised in northern Indiana, I was familiar with everything they played. Ya see, there was a truck stop within bike riding distance of my house where I spent a lot of time because the waitresses thought I was a cute little boy and they gave me free Cokes. The truckstop was owned by two sister from Tennessee named Eve and Nadine, of course. The jukebox was playing this country music nonstop so I'd heard these old boys repertoire for years as a child and never forgot it..
One day the leader of the jam suggested somebody try writing some new songs instead of the same old stuff we constantly heard. I was the only one to take him up on it. With the ancient by now yet still imprinted fear in my mind of ridicule, I was the only one who took him up on it. I very reluctantly began a new song the following week. I kept the guitar chord progression very simple so that after just a few bars everybody could play along. To my utter amazement, they loved it. An old woman sitting in listening to us asked "who originally did that song? I don't think I've ever heard it before". The leader said "of course you haven't because Dave here just wrote it this week". She said "why aren't you in Nashville?".
I kept this up until one time, after over three hours at the jam, I'd played 13 songs, every one of which I wrote. I was amazed at the response of these people who knew what good country music was. I was also amazed because my own musical leanings were to 70's rock I came of age playing on my Gibson electric guitar my dad bought me after the Beatle's first appearance on American tv (okay, I guess I should forgive him!).
Here's where we're finally getting to the reason for my resignation as moderator. I have a friend of over 40 years who is a retired songwriter in Nashville. He has a platinum record for a song he wrote for Garth Brooks. John Denver, Charlie Pride, Dianna Ross and countless others have recorded songs my friend wrote. I started sending him some of my songs for a professional critique but what I got instead was extreme praise. My friend isn't the type of person to patronize me because of our long friendship. In fact, he began giving me names of a ton of people to connect with on Facebook who are Nashville heavyweights.
I was requested to send some songs for consideration for a second album being recorded next month by a cousin of Loretta Lynn. They have had six songs from me in the studio for over two weeks now. I called my friend and told him I hadn't heard anything from them yet. He told me that's excellent because if they were going to reject them they would have done so within a few days. He said this indicates they are likely working on arrangements of any of them they might possibly record. He told me to be patient and how to conduct myself when (and IF) they say they want to record anything I sent. His best advice was "the less you say, the more they'll think you know" when it comes to the contract.
Anyway, I've found myself getting professional recognition instead of ridicule and I now have to get very serious about the effort. There are a ton of good songwriters in Nashville living in their cars down by the river hoping for the offer I got with online contact from my rudimentary songwriting studio done entirely online. My friend has advised me on how to submit material and to who.
In order to seize this opportunity, I'm devoting my every waking hour this pursuit and my moderating efforts here have slipped to about 5% of what they were when I began. In fairness to Paul I submitted a resignation he accepted this morning, along with some very kind words. I'm even deleting the Facebook app off my phone as a Christmas present to myself and will be leaving my phone on the nightstand by my bed. Did you know a recent study said Americans touch their cellphone an average of 15 times an hour? That's time I will be writing instead.
Finally my friends, my buddy in Nashville told me this story. He said "Dave the last time somebody called me asking these same questions, he had a request from a relatively new artist named Trisha Yearwood and he was asking me how to submit his song to her. It was something called She's In Love With The Boy. Ever heard it?". I assured him I had and that I knew it won a Grammy for her as song of the year. He said his songwriter friend won a Grammy for it too. When I said "well that song is a helluva lot better than anything I sent", he said "sure, in the form you heard it after it was recorded. I know for a fact it wasn't anywhere near that good until the pros in the studio got done with their arrangement, which is what might be happening with your material right now". He said the guy who wrote that monster hit for Trisha (who is the current Mrs. Garth Brooks) didn't recognize it by the time they got done with it and assured me that's par for the course.
So that's it. I won't be around much anymore but this will always be the first forum I DO visit whenever I'm online. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
A little backstory is involved first before I get to the reason why. When I was a child, as soon as I learned how to write in grade school, I was fascinated with the idea of writing songs. I had a notebook specifically for my songwriting. While other kids were playing baseball in my huge rural back yard, I was often on my top bunk in a room I shared with 3 siblings, scribbling away writing songs.
My dad was a horrible drunk. One day as I lay on my bunk writing a new song, he came home late from work as usual. He had to stop off at a bar first and lose most of his money on a shuffleboard table. This time when he came home drunk he brought 2 guys along with him. I climbed down and went into the livingroom to listen to their inane banter. At some point my dad got up and left the room. I figured when he went down the hall he was headed to the bathroom. Suddenly, I heard his raucous belly laughing coming from my bedroom. He came out holding my notebook and said "hey listen to this! Apparently my kid thinks he's some sort of writer".
He began reading my childish lyrics to them and instantly they were all laughing heartily at me. I was at my dad's side instantly, jumping up and down trying to get my notebook he held just out of my reach. He finally handed it to me after I'd been thoroughly humiliated. I slinked off to my room and tore every page out of the notebook and threw them in the trash. From then on, in my child's mind, I could never understand something about the people who wrote all those songs I'd hear on the radio. I couldn't fathom how they'd ever want a career that carried so much ridicule!
Of course, decades later as an adult I figured out this was a massive parenting fail on my dad's part. One I don't think I ever forgave him for, even after he committed suicide at the same age Elvis died, two months before Elvis' passing. Fast forward a few more decades. I'd been attending a weekly jam session with several old Texas boys whose repertoire was always the same, ancient "country gold". Strangely, even though I was raised in northern Indiana, I was familiar with everything they played. Ya see, there was a truck stop within bike riding distance of my house where I spent a lot of time because the waitresses thought I was a cute little boy and they gave me free Cokes. The truckstop was owned by two sister from Tennessee named Eve and Nadine, of course. The jukebox was playing this country music nonstop so I'd heard these old boys repertoire for years as a child and never forgot it..
One day the leader of the jam suggested somebody try writing some new songs instead of the same old stuff we constantly heard. I was the only one to take him up on it. With the ancient by now yet still imprinted fear in my mind of ridicule, I was the only one who took him up on it. I very reluctantly began a new song the following week. I kept the guitar chord progression very simple so that after just a few bars everybody could play along. To my utter amazement, they loved it. An old woman sitting in listening to us asked "who originally did that song? I don't think I've ever heard it before". The leader said "of course you haven't because Dave here just wrote it this week". She said "why aren't you in Nashville?".
I kept this up until one time, after over three hours at the jam, I'd played 13 songs, every one of which I wrote. I was amazed at the response of these people who knew what good country music was. I was also amazed because my own musical leanings were to 70's rock I came of age playing on my Gibson electric guitar my dad bought me after the Beatle's first appearance on American tv (okay, I guess I should forgive him!).
Here's where we're finally getting to the reason for my resignation as moderator. I have a friend of over 40 years who is a retired songwriter in Nashville. He has a platinum record for a song he wrote for Garth Brooks. John Denver, Charlie Pride, Dianna Ross and countless others have recorded songs my friend wrote. I started sending him some of my songs for a professional critique but what I got instead was extreme praise. My friend isn't the type of person to patronize me because of our long friendship. In fact, he began giving me names of a ton of people to connect with on Facebook who are Nashville heavyweights.
I was requested to send some songs for consideration for a second album being recorded next month by a cousin of Loretta Lynn. They have had six songs from me in the studio for over two weeks now. I called my friend and told him I hadn't heard anything from them yet. He told me that's excellent because if they were going to reject them they would have done so within a few days. He said this indicates they are likely working on arrangements of any of them they might possibly record. He told me to be patient and how to conduct myself when (and IF) they say they want to record anything I sent. His best advice was "the less you say, the more they'll think you know" when it comes to the contract.
Anyway, I've found myself getting professional recognition instead of ridicule and I now have to get very serious about the effort. There are a ton of good songwriters in Nashville living in their cars down by the river hoping for the offer I got with online contact from my rudimentary songwriting studio done entirely online. My friend has advised me on how to submit material and to who.
In order to seize this opportunity, I'm devoting my every waking hour this pursuit and my moderating efforts here have slipped to about 5% of what they were when I began. In fairness to Paul I submitted a resignation he accepted this morning, along with some very kind words. I'm even deleting the Facebook app off my phone as a Christmas present to myself and will be leaving my phone on the nightstand by my bed. Did you know a recent study said Americans touch their cellphone an average of 15 times an hour? That's time I will be writing instead.
Finally my friends, my buddy in Nashville told me this story. He said "Dave the last time somebody called me asking these same questions, he had a request from a relatively new artist named Trisha Yearwood and he was asking me how to submit his song to her. It was something called She's In Love With The Boy. Ever heard it?". I assured him I had and that I knew it won a Grammy for her as song of the year. He said his songwriter friend won a Grammy for it too. When I said "well that song is a helluva lot better than anything I sent", he said "sure, in the form you heard it after it was recorded. I know for a fact it wasn't anywhere near that good until the pros in the studio got done with their arrangement, which is what might be happening with your material right now". He said the guy who wrote that monster hit for Trisha (who is the current Mrs. Garth Brooks) didn't recognize it by the time they got done with it and assured me that's par for the course.
So that's it. I won't be around much anymore but this will always be the first forum I DO visit whenever I'm online. Keep your fingers crossed for me!