Tracking down songwriters for this podcast can be challenging. Publishing companies don’t return your email. A songwriter doesn’t return your email.  Publishing companies really don't return your emails. But, just when you think it’s time to hang it up, the universe throws you a bone and you get a random email from a podcast listener named Keith, hooking you up with the writer of one of country music’s greatest songs of all time. And a few other hits too. Thanks, Keith!

The Dance is one of those rare songs that transcends its era. It’s one of those songs that, even if you’re hearing it for the ten thousandth time, its simple yet elegant production and lyrics still pack an emotional wallop. BUT...that song and Tony Arata’s whole legendary career –which includes being a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame-might never have happened had it not been for the one single he released as a brief country solo artist in 1986. The song didn’t even chart...but there was this new-to-Nashville guy named Garth who heard it. And liked it. And, well, Tony was already in the middle of spinning the story when I remembered to hit record and he will take it from there. Enjoy!

If the name Johnny Bulford sounds vaguely familiar, then maybe you used to watch the Colgate Country showdown, a country music talent show sponsored by the toothpaste company. In 2008, he won it and was given a $100,000 check by the evening’s host, Leanne Rimes. 

But here's the thing: The Showdown was a singing competition...and as much as Johnny loves to sing- and is good at it – his real passion is in songwriting. A passion he got from listening to the songs of his country music idol, Garth Brooks. And his songs do have a certain “Garthiness” that he’ll explain. So, rather than pursue a singing career, Johnny went to Nashville and started his journey as a songwriter - thanks in no small part to the security a check for $100,000 will give a guy. The result? Radio smashes like Lonely Eyes for Chris Young and Woman Like You for Lee Brice, and keen insight into the creative process that he shares on this month's episode

When you think country music and Australia, the first person who comes to mind is that guy married to Nicole Kidman. But he wasn’t the first. He was beaten to the states by a then teenage girl, who arrived here in the 1980s with her parents. But her first job wasn’t singing, or writing. It was as a character on an iconic 1980s TV show.

If you remember The Facts of Life, think back to the final season and a character named Pippa McKenna.

Pippa was played by Sherri Austin...who would do a little more acting in LA before moving to Nashville in the mid 1990s. In 1997, she signed a recording deal and got some airplay on country radio, including a sad but beautiful ballad called Streets of Heaven that, in 2003, became her biggest hit. But her first love- more than acting, more than singing, was writing, which she continued to do even as she left Nashville for a time in 2005 to sing on the stage in New York city. Returning to Nashville in 2011, she released another album, Circus Girl, which displayed her full talent as a singer/songwriter. But, as Austin will explain, she was drawn more towards writing and performing, and since then has become one of country music’s most respected writers. 

The goal of most performers is to be so good, their audience is captivated. A captive audience. But ...what if your audience has no choice because they're literally captive? 

This episode’s guest isn’t really Country. He’s more folk, or Americana, or whatever you want to call it. I just think he's amazingly talented, with a fascinating story to tell.

I heard about Matt Butler one morning when I heard an interview with him on – full credit here – NPR. They were talking to him about his music, and also his one man show, Reckless Son, which is based on his experiences performing to the incarcerated, first in upstate new york and now, at prisons all over the country. His story drew me in. His songwriting and singing hooked me. His catalogue isn’t large. He’s never had a "hit" record. But his story is unique and perfectly illustrates the power that music, and art, can have when used for something more than just putting gold records on a wall.  

Not that there’s anything wrong with that! But that’s not what matt chooses to chase. He is one of those artists who is inspired by something else, something deeper and seemingly less tangible. and I was curious to find out why. And how.  

I hope you are too. 

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A drummer? On a podcast about songwriting? What is this abomination??

Truth is, it's not an abomination at all! An aberration, maybe but a cool one. Or at least, I think it is. I hope you do too.

No, the format of Write You a Song isn't changing. I simply had the opportunity to interview a professional Nashville drummer named Will Johnston, whom I got to know a bit last summer when the artist he tours with, Elvie Shane, did a small show for our radio station. Will and I were talking about the recording process, and we started thinking that some music fans might find it interesting to hear from someone who helps create the finished product that starts when a writer puts pen to paper (or, more likely these days, cursor to screen).

Since it's not technically an episode about writing, I'm dropping it as a surprise, bonus episode. First one I've done but, if you like it, it may not be the last. 

So if you've ever wondered about the musicians who play on the songs that become a part of a lives well, here's one of 'em. And I hope you enjoy :)

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Ray Fulcher had no plans on ever becoming a songwriter or a singer. Teaching and coaching. THOSE were his plan. But they got set aside one fateful night Ray went to a club in his college town and saw a young country artist named Eric Church. Seeing and hearing Eric lyrics lit something inside Ray, and that flame was helped along by a second incident of fate the day he met a fellow couch surfer in a friend's Nashville house named Luke Combs. It’s one of the more improbable songwriter success stories we’ve had on this podcast which makes it all the more relatable. Who hasn’t had the notion to put everything aside and bet on yourself? Ray’s bet paid off. And it still is

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Florida native Jordan Fletcher was a drummer. Is a drummer. Still. But, his hands are usually busy with an acoustic guitar these days. 

Jordan came to Nashville to play drums but somewhere along the way, he discovered he was pretty good at writing songs. And singing them. And thanks to what he calls some “stupid optimism”, he decided to go all in as a singer/songwriter. 

Nashville though can be a brutal place, even for the talented. And without much happening, Jordan was just about ready to put an end to his music dreams and figure out a new way to support his wife and new child. But then the pandemic hit...and things changed for Jordan and his career. For the better.

His career is still very much in the "just getting started" phase, but thanks to a bit of pandemic-inspired inspiration that ended up at cut on a Riley Green album, and a critically-acclaimed EP released last year, Jordan can stay all in on following his Nashville dream.

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It’s truly amazing how one simple, polite gesture can utterly change a person’s life.  

As a teenager, songwriter Luke Laird took a family vacation to Nashville. And even though he was already deeply interested in music, he had no idea somebody like him, a young man from Pennsylvania, could do it for a living...until the writer of one of country music’s most iconic songs spent a few moments talking to him following a show the family attended at the legendary Bluebird Café. Without that simple gesture of accessibility, which that writer has probably given a thousand times, Eric Church might never have had songs like Give Me Back My Hometown, Talladega or Drink in My Hand. Carrie Underwood might never have recorded So Small, or Thomas Rhett, T-shirt, Jon Pardi, Head over Boots. Kacey Musgraves might never have won a Grammy for her album Same Trailer, Different Park. And the Nashville songwriting community might never have had one of its most collaborative, creative and encouraging members.  

But thankfully, That writer did. Who was it? And what's the rest of Luke's story? Give this month's episode a listen

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