Nashville-based songwriter, teacher, and host of the Monday Open Mic at the famous Bluebird Café in Music City. She co-wrote the song, “I Guess You Had to be There,” which was a hit for Lorrie Morgan. She also does workshops and one-on-one sessions. This interview was recorded on-location in Alabama, where she was one of over 200 songwriters performing at the 32nd Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival.
“Back then the whole Nashville thing was, you had to have a twist on the hook – things like, ‘On the other hand there’s a golden band’ or ‘Sleepin’ single in a double bed.’ It was all about that kind of cleverness; take a cliché, make it mean something different.”
“I co-wrote it with a man named John Robin. I was a waitress, he was a plumber and we sat in my little two-room attic apartment and wrote that song! I had been (in Nashville) ten years at that point.”
“In Nashville… it’s easy to get caught up in trying to write something for the radio because that’s where the money is and that’s what everybody’s trying to do.”
“(people attending the songwriters festival) just want to hear what you have to say and I think that’s another reason that is so good for my songwriting because I’m not trying to sing them something that sounds like a commercial hit for the radio, I’m trying to sing them something real that they can relate to.”
(regarding playing Open Mic at the Bluebird Café in Nashville) “The first advice I have is play a song that you are very, very comfortable with. Play the one that’s everybody’s favorite song back home. Don’t try to play the one that you wrote last night… Do not underestimate how nervous you’ll be.”
“Until you’ve studied songwriting you may not know what your best song is.”
“Not tuning your guitar is comparable to going out on a date and not taking a shower.”
(also regarding playing Open Mic at the Bluebird Café in Nashville) “Don’t be too full of yourself but don’t be too shy. Share yourself with people honestly and openly but don’t try to impress us with how cool you are.”
“Going to open mics is not an efficient way for people in the industry to find great talent. There’s sort of a filtering system.”
“When I came back to (Nashville) I kinda looked around and I just thought, ‘Ya’ know, there are a lot of girls younger than me and prettier than me that are working way harder at this than I’m ever gonna’ and I just thought, I think maybe the songwriting route is gonna be better for me.”
“I thought that once I had a song in the top ten on a platinum-selling album that the Red Sea was gonna part again and all the publishers in Nashville were going to be calling me up and begging me to write for them.”
“Sustaining a career as a songwriter in Nashville is beyond a full-time job, it’s a lifestyle, you have to be so committed to it.”
"I Guess You Had to be There"
"I Love This Town"