For those who have been saddened by the end of The Songwriting Podcast, we are pleased to announce that our very own Nashville Steve Rempis (who previously did our “Moving to Nashville” segments) has now launched his own songwriting podcast:

COMMERCIAL SUICIDE SONGWRITING PODCAST

With the knowledgeable help of his co-host, Marie Perry (another listener of The Songwriting Podcast), Nashville Steve will bring you educational segments, such as “Notes and Bolts,” “Under the Microscope,” “Steve’s Phone,” “Marie’s Academic Moment,” “Legendary Songwriter Salute,” “What the @#%$&!?,” “Local Scene Report” and “The CSSP Mailbag.” (For a description of these segments, visit Commercial Suicide Songwriting Podcast.com.

In an attempt to inform The Songwriting Podcast subscribers about Steve and Marie’s new podcast, we have sent their first episode down The Songwriting Podcast feed. But that’s the only episode that will be delivered through The Songwriting Podcast! So, be sure to subscribe to COMMERCIAL SUICIDE SONGWRITING PODCAST on iTunes: Subscribe!

Here are the other Links for COMMERCIAL SUICIDE SONGWRITING PODCAST:

COMMERCIAL SUICIDE SONGWRITING PODCAST.com

Follow CSSP on Twitter: @CSSPod

Commercial Suicide Songwriting Podcast: RSS Feed

Nashville Steve Rempis

Marie Perry

And for those who want to keep up with Jason and his movie review and TV show podcast:
MOVIE PODCAST WEEKLY
Twitter: @MovieCastWeekly
E-mail: [email protected]
Podcasting Revolution (a TV podcast about NBC’s “Revolution”)

The Songwriting Podcast wishes Steve and Marie the best of luck with their new podcast. We’ve already listened to their first episode, and it’s going to be an exceptional source of information and entertainment for songwriters around the world. We are subscribed, and we will be listening!

Jason

Episode 17 is our final episode of The Songwriting Podcast. We’re sure that this news will probably come as a shock and a disappointment to many of our faithful listeners, so Jason will give you his reasons as you listen to this episode.

Jason also has Craig, Grant and Nashville Steve Rempis with him to help give you a warm and loving send-off with the possible hope and prospect of a potential sister, spin-off podcast that’s very similar to this one… (But believe it or not, Listeners, that’s kind of up to you… Pay attention to everything written in red below.) More on this new songwriting-related podcast during this episode…

Here is a rough agenda of what we cover during our final episode:
I. The announcement, explanation and the cloudy future of The Songwriting Podcast

II. “Moving to Nashville” segment by Nashville Steve Rempis
HERE IS STEVE’S E-MAIL ADDRESS. YOU’LL NEED IT: Steve (AT) SteveRempis (DOT) com

III. Mesake’s Tunes: Introducing Mesake’s first song, “Fine Lines”
Mesake on SoundCloud

IV. Answer e-mail backlog and Send Your Song reviews
Artists and links:

DAEVA
Band members:
Vox and Bass: Christopher Uryga
Guitar: D.J. Palmer
Drums: Kyle O’Neil
“Shine”
Facebook
YouTube

ACADEMY STREET MUSIC
Andrew Lampone and Gino
Send Your Song: “Everywhere”
MySpace
Facebook
OurStage Profile

LIFE IS HARD
featuring COLE HANSEN
Featured Song: “Seasons”
“Ten Miles ‘Till Empty” video shot by Craig Tovey
Life Is Hard recommends checking out guitarist Nick Matzke.

HENRIC OF RUBICON
Send Your Song: “White in Bloom”

JOHN MALLOY, singer-songwriter from Portland, Maine
NoiseTrade.com
YouTube

V. Golden Nugget Songwriting Advice From Our Guests and Hosts:
– Nate Johnivan and Cole Hansen of Nate and Cole Find a Radio
Nate Johnivan.com
Cole on SoundCloud
Episode 7

– Jeremy Batten, Michael Stewart and Bill Barnes
The Ultimatums.com
Bill Barnes is a host on Movie Podcast Weekly
Episode 8

– Fred Ingram
Fred on Reverbnation
Episode 10

– Matt Call of Lewis
Lewis on Bandcamp
Episode 12

– Bryan Odeen of Little Bluestem
Little Bluestem on Facebook
Episode 14

– NASHVILLE STEVE REMPIS
Steve Rempis.com
Twitter: @SteveRempis
Episode 9
YouTube: “A Little Behind”
Steve on SoundCloud
E-mail Nashville Steve about starting a podcast: Steve (AT) SteveRempis (DOT) com

– CRAIG TOVEY
YouTube
CTS Podcast: Star Trek 1-5

– GRANT ADAMS
E-mail: drgrantadams (AT) gmail (DOT) com
Episode 11

– JASON PYLES
MOVIE PODCAST WEEKLY
Twitter: @MovieCastWeekly
E-mail: [email protected]
Podcasting Revolution (a TV podcast about NBC’s “Revolution”)
The song at the end of this episode is “A Better World,” by Jason Pyles

Our special thanks to these very close friends of this podcast:
Nashville Steve Rempis
Dave Eaton
Dan Korhonen (and Fluff Dawg)
Life Is Hard

We also wish to thank The Dave Eaton Element for the use of its tunes for our theme music, and we’d also like to thank Kara Brewer for her graphic design work.

The Songwriting Podcast was a bi-weekly music podcast where three hosts reveled in the technical and creative aspects of the craft of songwriting. You can find all our episodes at SongwritingPodcast.com Your hosts of The Songwriting Podcast were Craig Tovey, Grant Adams, Jason Pyles, and Steve Rempis.

Episode 17 of The Songwriting Podcast was recorded on October 10, 2012.

In Episode 16, Grant and Jason interview Tim Bruns of Churchill. We talk about “The Emotional Side of Songwriting,” among other things. Listeners should check out Churchill’s YouTube Channel. ***And for those listeners who are in the Denver area, Churchill will be performing at the Bluebird Theater on September 29 and September 30, 2012. Churchill on Facebook

The listeners are always free to contact us at [email protected] or call and leave us a voice mail at (801) 382-8789.

The Songwriting Podcast is a bi-weekly music podcast where three hosts revel in the technical and creative aspects of the craft of songwriting, with the help of guest songwriters or some other music industry professionals.

Jason Launches a New Movie Podcast on October 1, 2012:
For those who like movies, Jason is launching Movie Podcast Weekly on Monday, October 1. This will be an hour-long, audio podcast that’s released every single week. We’ll be reviewing newly released films that are just barely brand new in theaters. Please give us a listen on October 1.

And if you’re a TV person who digs J.J. Abrams… there’s a new television series on NBC called “Revolution.” Jason and his wife Natalie have a new podcast about this new show. We’d love it if you checked out Podcasting Revolution, as well.

Your hosts of The Songwriting Podcast are Craig Tovey, Grant Adams and Jason Pyles.

We’d like to thank Tim Bruns of Churchill for appearing on The Songwriting Podcast. We also wish to thank The Dave Eaton Element for the use of its tunes for our theme music, and we’d also like to thank Kara Brewer for her graphic design work.

Our next episode: Watch for Episode 17 to be released on October 15!

Episode 16 of The Songwriting Podcast was recorded on September 17, 2012.

In Episode 15, The Songwriting Podcast interviews a four-piece band called Danger Button, which consists of Ryan Garey (primary songwriter, lead vocals, additional keyboards), Eric Snyder (synths), Andrew Hills (bass) and Parker Abegg (drums and backing vocals).

In this episode you’ll hear Danger Button talk about collaboration in a band setting, as well as in the recording studio. And we wax a little philosophical as we discuss, what Jason calls, the “New Art Standard.” We’d love to hear your thoughts on this concept. Please e-mail us at [email protected] or call and leave us a voice mail at (801) 382-8789.

Links for Danger Button:
Danger Button on: Facebook
Danger Button on: BandCamp
Danger Button on: Twitter
Danger Button on YouTube:
Speak With Your Feet
Sophie
Video Killed the Radio Star
Dream
Upcoming Show: Danger Button will play Salt Lake City’s Kilby Court on Friday, Sept. 28. Watch here for more details.

Before we forget … Click here to take Jason’s one-question survey. Please!

The Songwriting Podcast is a bi-weekly music podcast where three hosts revel in the technical and creative aspects of the craft of songwriting, with the help of guest songwriters or some other music industry professionals.

For Episode 15, we featured the Send Your Song submissions of Ben Orner and Kevin Qualls. (Thank you both for being so patient with us.) Ben Orner’s song is called “Don’t Let Them Tell You You Can’t Fly.” And Kevin Qualls submitted a song called “Nobody Knows,” off his “Come to Me” EP.

You can hear more from Ben Orner at his SoundCloud page.

And you can check out Kevin Qualls’s recording set-up on his music blog. You can also listen to his album.

Thank you to both Ben and Kevin for sending your songs. Feel free to contact us about sending your song at [email protected].

Grant’s Rants … and Raves!
This month’s rant is about TV singing competitions. For raves this week I focus on soul music. Check out some classic soul artists: I recommend Ray Charles, Al Green, the Delfonics, Marvin Gaye for “Motown Soul,” and Curtis Mayfield for some “Northern Soul.” But if you haven’t heard of William DeVaughn, I suggest you give him a listen. In particular, “Be Thankful for What You Got”.

For Modern Soul (or Neo-Soul), I recommend artists like Maxwell, Jill Scott, and my all-time favorite, John Legend. For fun we listen to “Rolling in the Deep” remixed by Natema, an electronic music project based in London. And finally, you might remember me ranting about Pandora in a previous episode. Well, I’ve found a good alternative: It’s called NeverEndingPlaylist.com, and it only plays the artist you want to hear.

In addition to our Send Your Song segment and Grant’s Rants and Raves, we also have another Moving to Nashville segment, starring “Nashville” Steve Rempis. (And by the way — seriously — if you’ve never heard Steve’s full story yet, please listen to Episode 9 of The Songwriting Podcast. It’s truly inspiring.)

Other links for this episode:

Be sure to check out the new music video for “10 Miles ‘Till Empty,” a song by Life Is Hard, former guests and friends of the show whose episode on Internet marketing is priceless. We want you to check out this video in particular because Life Is Hard hired our very own Craig Tovey, who is also a filmmaker, to shoot their video. Nice work, Craig!

Craig’s Indiegogo Campaign:
Our Mobile Lives: Salt Lake City to Verona, Italy

Dan Korhonen invited Jason to appear as a guest on his songwriter’s show, The U.P. Music Scene Podcast. He asks about some behind-the-scenes info regarding The Songwriting Podcast, but we primarily talk about my journey as a podcast producer and podcast production, in general. So, if you’re thinking about starting your own podcast, then check out the episode here: Jason appears on The U.P. Music Scene Podcast

And if you’re a TV person who digs J.J. Abrams… there’s a new television series on NBC airing on Monday, September 17. It’s called “Revolution.” Anyway, if you’re planning to watch that show, please check out Jason’s new podcast that he’s doing with his wife, Natalie, about that TV show. It’s called Podcasting Revolution. Jason would be honored for you to give it a listen…

2. If you didn’t do it above, please answer just one poll question for me, and be totally, brutally honest: I’m thinking about creating a digital tutorial product where I (Jason) give instruction, beginning to end, on how to write songs. It would be a professionally produced, audio-visual tutorial that’s accessed online. The votes are anonymous and you could potentially prevent me from making an unwise investment of time and money, if this is something that our listeners aren’t interested in. Click this to answer ONE question… Thanks. JP

Your hosts of The Songwriting Podcast are Craig Tovey, Grant Adams and Jason Pyles. The Songwriting Podcast posts new episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month. To contact us or to send your feedback, you can leave a voice mail at (801) 382-8789, or as noted above, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. And you can also find us on Facebook.

We’d like to thank the Dave Eaton Element for the use of its tunes for our theme music, and we’d also like to thank Kara Brewer for her graphic design work.

Our next episode: Watch for Episode 16 to be released on October 1!

Episode 15 of The Songwriting Podcast was recorded on September 12, 2012.

Though there is no fanfare during this episode, one year ago today exactly, we launched The Songwriting Podcast on September 1, 2011. Our podcast is one year old today.

For Episode 14, Jason interviews music therapist Bryan Odeen, who is one half of the duo Little Bluestem, with Liz Montgomery. Jason and Bryan discuss music therapy as an occupation, and they talk about the cathartic uses for songwriting, both for others and for one’s self. They also discuss spiritual songwriting. In this episode you’ll hear some tips for writing effectively yet tastefully expressive songs. Don’t miss it!

The Songwriting Podcast is a bi-weekly music podcast where three hosts revel in the technical and creative aspects of the craft of songwriting, with the help of guest songwriters or some other music industry professionals.

Feel free to contact us about sending your song at [email protected].

Links for Bryan Odeen and Little Bluestem:
Reverbnation
Facebook
Twitter
MySpace
That Nice Music Man Blog

Your hosts of The Songwriting Podcast are Craig Tovey, Grant Adams and Jason Pyles. The Songwriting Podcast posts new episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month. To contact us or to send your feedback, you can leave a voice mail at (801) 382-8789, or as noted above, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. And you can also find us on Facebook.

We’d like to recognize Aaron Thomas as the photographer for the Little Bluestem photo shown above. We’d like to thank the Dave Eaton Element for the use of its tunes for our theme music, and we’d also like to thank Kara Brewer for her graphic design work.

Don’t forget to watch for Episode 15 on September 15!

Episode 14 of The Songwriting Podcast was recorded on August 30, 2012.

Jason Pyles and Craig Tovey give two, in-depth album reviews on Billy Joel’s first solo album, “Cold Spring Harbor” (1971), and The Shins’ “Port of Morrow” (2012), respectively.

In these reviews, Craig and Jason discuss various concepts, such as the phenomenon of having to warm up to a new album — even from a band you already love; how vocal quality and range change with age; the importance of writing memorably repetitive melodic themes; how to add additional “lifts” to your song when you’ve already maxed out your crescendoing dynamics — and many other nuanced topics.

Links from this episode:

Craig recommends: Port of Morrow by The Shins

Jason recommends: Cold Spring Harbor by Billy Joel

Dave Eaton’s new podcast: All About Autism Podcast
On Twitter: @AllAboutAutism

Follow The Songwriting Podcast on Twitter: @SongPodcast

Send Your Song: The hosts of The Songwriting Podcast invite budding — as well as seasoned songwriters — to send their songs to us, and we will critique them on the show, giving constructive feedback, which consists of positive and negative points, and is merely based on our opinions. Feel free to contact us about sending your song at [email protected].

The Songwriting Podcast is a bi-weekly podcast that posts new episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month — and we’ll be posting Episode 14 here on September 1 (which happens to be our one-year anniversary). Your hosts of The Songwriting Podcast are Craig Tovey, Grant Adams and Jason Pyles. To contact us or to send your feedback, you can leave a voice mail at (801) 382-8789, or as noted above, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. And you can also find us on Facebook.

We’d like to thank the Dave Eaton Element for the use of its tunes for our theme music, and we’d also like to thank Kara Brewer for her graphic design work.

This bonus episode of The Songwriting Podcast was recorded on July 11, 2012.

The Songwriting Podcast is a monthly music podcast where three hosts revel in the technical and creative aspects of the craft of songwriting, typically with a songwriter guest.

In Episode 12, Craig and Jason were honored to interview Matt Call, the frontman for the Asheville, North Carolina-based band, Lewis. Matt is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, percussionist — as well as several other musical titles. The primary theme for this episode is Recording and Producing Your Own Music. We also discuss evolving as a musician, and we listen to Matt’s song, “Straight Jacket,” in its entirety and hear about his method for writing it.

On Bandcamp.com: Lewis music

Matt Call and Lewis videos: YouTube channel

We also dip into the proverbial “mail bag” and address a listener voice mail and some e-mails:
— Natalie from Utah asks what makes a song sound sad or happy or sexy
— Ben asks about being a parent while still finding a sufficient amount of time for a recording session at home
— Keith wrote in with a suggestion for guitar players who experience finger / string noise
— A very nice comment from Tamlyn
— An incredible e-mail from Adam in Lebanon, Virginia, about an unlikely experience he had with Fred Ingram’s song “Waimoku III.”

After the listener feedback section, we delve into our famous Moving to Nashville segment, by “Nashville” Steve Rempis. In this month’s report, Steve gives us a Part 2 on Nashville’s open mic venues, including the Commodore Bar & Grille and the Douglas Corner Cafe. Nashville Steve also included this link for the listeners: A List of Nashville Open Mic Venues by NSAI. If you haven’t heard the Steve Rempis episode yet, be sure to listen to Episode 9 of The Songwriting Podcast. And you can find more from Nashville Steve at Steve Rempis.com.

Next we move into our new songwriter segment called Mesake’s Tunes. This month Mesake describes his audition on The X Factor, when he sang before the likes of Simon Cowell and Britney Spears.

And in this episode, we have two Send Your Song submissions:
“I’m Not Gonna Say Love” by Paul Tarle, and “Shine” (the Basement Session version) by Christopher Uryga:

Daeva
Vox and Bass: Christopher Uryga
Guitar: D.J. Palmer
Drums: Kyle ONeil

Find Daeva on Facebook

Find Daeva on YouTube

Feel free to contact us about sending your song at [email protected].

Your hosts of The Songwriting Podcast are Craig Tovey, Grant Adams and Jason Pyles. The Songwriting Podcast posts new episodes on the first day of every month. To contact us or to send your feedback, you can leave a voice mail at (801) 382-8789, or as noted above, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. And you can also find us on Facebook.

We’d like to thank the Dave Eaton Element for the use of its tunes for our theme music, and we’d also like to thank Kara Brewer for her graphic design work. And by the way, for those interested in all things Autism-related, check out Dave Eaton’s new podcast, the All About Autism Podcast, which airs on August 13 and is produced by Jason.

Episode 12 of The Songwriting Podcast was recorded on July 25, 2012.

The Songwriting Podcast is a monthly music podcast where three hosts revel in the technical and creative aspects of the craft of songwriting, with the help of guest songwriters or some other music industry professionals.

Episode 11 features our very own Grant Adams addressing the theme Finding Your Strengths as a Songwriter and Playing to Them, as well as an in-depth look at songwriting method and other topics.

Grant and Jason also talk about the sacrifice required for greatness as a musician, the inception of song ideas, the optional practice of pre-visualization planning, tips on writing bridges, the rewriting process, processing feedback and the secret to writing a terrible song, as well as the secret to writing a great song.

Grant also shares and discusses his featured song, “Baby, Please Part 2.”

This bonus episode also features a Send Your Song segment, where we discuss a song submitted by The Jenny Pilots (Joe Furnari and Mark Nuzzi) called, “I Wouldn’t Change a Thing.”

Bandcamp Page: The Jenny Pilots
Web site: The Jenny Pilots

Feel free to contact us about sending your song at [email protected].

Other links for this episode:
Find more of Grant Adams’ music here: Blind Corner Music

Grant’s book recommendation: “Strengths Finder” by Tom Rath

Billy Joel documentary: “Shades of Grey” (VHS)

Your hosts of The Songwriting Podcast are Craig Tovey, Grant Adams and Jason Pyles. The Songwriting Podcast posts new episodes on the first day of every month. To contact us or to send your feedback, you can leave a voice mail at (801) 382-8789, or as noted above, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. And you can also find us on Facebook.

We’d like to thank the Dave Eaton Element for the use of its tunes for our theme music, and we’d also like to thank Kara Brewer for her graphic design work.

Episode 11 of The Songwriting Podcast was recorded on May 30, 2012.

The Songwriting Podcast is a monthly music podcast where three hosts revel in the technical and creative aspects of the craft of songwriting, with the help of guest songwriters or some other music industry professionals.

Episode 10 features singer-songwriter, guitarist Frederick Ingram. In this interesting episode, Fred talks about What to Write About, and How to Write About It, as well as other songwriting topics.

Fred shares his most infamous song, “Snake Girl,” and explains the fascinating story behind writing this exceptional tune.

And of course, this episode also features specialty segments, such as “Moving to Nashville,” by “Nashville” Steve Rempis. In this episode, Steve talks about open mic night at The Bluebird Cafe. Learn more from Nashville Steve during his feature-length guest appearance on Episode 9 of The Songwriting Podcast.

We’re also happy to bring you a “Craig Can Write” segment, where we discuss some insightful e-mail feedback from listener Daniel Korhonen. We also debut a new theme song for “Don’t Do the Dumb Things That Jason Did,” which was written by this same Mr. Korhonen.

Stay tuned at the end of this episode to hear Jason’s song, “The Last Thing on My Mind,” for an example of a song whose concept was planned ahead of time and then executed, as discussed during this episode.

Since Grant Adams is not with us during this episode, we do not have “Grant’s Rants … and Raves,” nor do we have a “Mesake’s Tunes” segment this time around. But we do bring you a double dose of our Send Your Song segment, where we discuss Bryan Odeen’s song, “Be More.” Second, we review a song called “Redemption,” by Rhysing. Feel free to contact us about sending your song at [email protected]. See these artists’ links below:

Bryan Odeen and Liz Montgomery’s duo, LITTLE BLUESTEM links:
Reverbnation
Facebook
Twitter
MySpace

RHYSING links:
Reverbnation
Facebook
Twitter
MySpace

Other links for this episode:
Find Fred Ingram here: FrederickIngram.com

Live “Wilderness” performance: Featuring Fred’s silent guitar or “thong guitar”

“The Best Is Yet to Come” lyric attempt

Daniel Korhonen’s The U.P. Music Scene on Facebook

Fred Connors’ OV Cold Cases.com

Your hosts of The Songwriting Podcast are Craig Tovey, Grant Adams and Jason Pyles. The Songwriting Podcast posts new episodes on the first day of every month. To contact us or to send your feedback, you can leave a voice mail at (801) 382-8789, or as noted above, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. And you can also find us on Facebook.

We’d like to recognize Ann Pensiero-Norment as the photographer for the Frederick Ingram photo shown on this episode post. We’d like to thank the Dave Eaton Element for the use of its tunes for our theme music, and we’d also like to thank Kara Brewer for her graphic design work.

Don’t forget to watch for an amazing BONUS episode that will be released on June 15 — starring Grant Adams himself!

Episode 10 of The Songwriting Podcast was recorded on May 23, 2012.

The Songwriting Podcast is a monthly music podcast where three hosts revel in the technical and creative aspects of the craft of songwriting, with the help of a guest songwriter or some other music industry professional.

But this show is a BONUS episode featuring a 70-minute interview with singer-songwriter Glen Phillips, who is the frontman of the ‘90s alternative rock band, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and he’s a successful solo artist, as well.

Glen talks with us about his songwriting process; which instruments he prefers to write on; how songs were written as collaborations in Toad — including some background info on the writing of “Walk on the Ocean” and “I Will Not Take These Things for Granted.”

Glen also talks about what he values in a co-writer; whether he finds it easier to write for an assignment; the background for his collaboration with John Askew on “Secrets of the New Explorers” and “Remote Tree Children.” We also ask Glen for his thoughts on writing lyrics and avoiding cliches.

Toad fans will be interested in hearing Glen briefly speak about the new album that Toad the Wet Sprocket is working on, and the style and flavor of the new songs he’s been writing for that album. Oh, and we include a speed round of about 20 random questions on Glen’s various preferences that aren’t necessarily musically related.

And as always, we play an entire song by our guest. Glen chose his song, “Rise Up,” and he shares a very personal story behind the writing of that song.

This bonus episode also features two guest hosts and songwriters, Bill Barnes and Chris Barragan — along with your usual hosts, Craig Tovey and Jason Pyles. And Grant Adams graciously agreed to sit out during this show, since we had so many interviewers. Thanks, Grant. We owe you.

Links from this episode:

GLEN PHILLIPS.com

Purchase Music: Glen Phillips on Bandcamp (also see Jason’s recommendations below)

Glen’s Facebook fan page

Glen on Twitter: @GlenPhillips

See Glen perform live: Tour Dates

Watch Bill Barnes sing “Walk on the Ocean” with Glen Phillips at the Club Cafe in Pittsburgh, Pa., Summer 2006.

A must-own recommendation from Jason: Glen’s “Abulum” DVD. (This features live, solo-acoustic performances and interviews. Buy it!)

TOAD THE WET SPROCKET.com

Toad on Twitter: @ToadWetSprocket

Toad’s Facebook fan page

Glen’s favorite Toad album: Dulcinea

Jason’s favorite Toad album: Pale

Other Glen Phillips CDs that Jason recommends:

Winter Pays for Summer

Mr. Lemons

Unlucky Seven

Abulum

Live at Largo

Other Toad the Wet Sprocket CDs that Jason recommends:

In Light Syrup

Coil

PS: A Toad Retrospective

Some Live Glen YouTube Videos That Jason Recommends:

“Windmills” (live)

“Released” (live)

“Rise Up” (live)

“Comes a Time” (live)

“Train Wreck” (live) Listen to this lyric-writing!

“Marigolds” (live)

The Songwriting Podcast posts new episodes on the first day of every month — and we’ll be posting Episode 10 here on June 1. If you aspire to be a professional musician and you haven’t heard our previous show, Episode 9, featuring “Nashville” Steve Rempis, then this is a must-listen podcast episode. (And by the way, if you dig horror movies, Craig and Jason host a horror movie podcast called HORROR METROPOLIS. Check it out!)

We’d like to thank the Dave Eaton Element for the use of its tunes for our theme music, and we’d also like to thank Kara Brewer for her graphic design work.

This bonus episode of The Songwriting Podcast was recorded on May 2, 2012.

The Songwriting Podcast is a monthly music podcast where three hosts revel in the technical and creative aspects of the craft of songwriting, with the help of guest songwriters or some other music industry professionals.

Episode 9 features our honorary fourth co-host — the author of our Moving to Nashville segment, “Nashville” Steve Rempis.

In this genuinely inspiring episode, Steve talks about Taking the Leap to Launch a Professional Music Career, as well as other, related topics, such as: How do you know when you’re ready to pursue a full-time music career? How do you know if you’ve “got what it takes” to become a professional musician? Should you move to Nashville, New York City, Los Angeles or some other place to launch your career? What happens if you never “make it”? Steve also teaches about making your music interesting, as well as many other topics.

Nashville Steve also debuts his brand new song on The Songwriting Podcast — “A Little Behind” — and he gives some insights into his method and inspiration for writing it.

Find Steve Rempis and all his important links here:

SteveRempis.com

Facebook

Twitter

Bandcamp

CD Baby

Reverbnation

And of course, this episode also features specialty segments, such as our Send Your Song segment, where we discuss Cole Hansen’s songs, “Tightrope Walker” and “The Home I Build.”

Cole Hansen on Soundcloud

Cole Hansen on Facebook

Next Month’s Send Your Song Submission: Bryan Odeen’s “Be More.” Feel free to contact us about sending your song at [email protected].

Steve also talks about what’s coming up on his next few Moving to Nashville segments. And naturally, we have more of Don’t Do the Dumb Things That Jason Did (because there’s never any shortage). This month Jason lists 8 dumb things that you should never do during live performances. And we have this month’s segment of Mesake’s Tunes, where Mesake debuts the first verse and chorus that he has ever written!

And Grant Adams returns for this episode, brining you Grant’s Rants … and Raves (with a new theme song by Nashville Steve Rempis).

Grant’s Rant: Kid Rock’s song “All Summer Long” (and everything else he’s done). Here’s a song that takes samples from “Sweet Home Alabama” for the chorus, and “Werewolves of London” for the verses. Yet, amazingly, the lyrics of the song are about his good old days in northern Michigan! How did this happen? If I knew the record execs who actually gave Kid Rock the permission to bastardize these classic songs, I would order them tarred and feathered. Take note, dear listeners, this might just be one of the worst songs that has ever been recorded. Remember, as a word of warning, the music you listen to affects the music you write.

If you feel like you’ve been bad and need to abuse yourself in some little way, go to TheArtistDen.com and listen to the Kid Rock set. You can listen to him perform his songs live and do mediocre versions of some of the great classic rock songs you’ve grown up with.

On the other hand, if you feel like rewarding yourself, go to the same Web site and skip to Iron & Wine, which takes me to my raves.

Grant’s Raves:
Iron & Wine – The albums have a sweetness and introspective quality to them. Sam Beam has become one of today’s greatest songwriters and storytellers. His lyrics can even be read as poetry. Listen to them in an entirely new light as he guides an 11-piece band and plays most of the songs from the latest album.

Gotye – Some friends of mine drove over 1,000 miles to stay with us in Denver last weekend so they could see this band live. Check them out at Gotye.com, and listen to their cool duet single, “Somebody That I Used to Know” and remixes here: Soundcloud.com/Gotye.

Finally, since this is the Nashville Steve Rempis episode, I think it’s fitting to rave about a throwback from the midwest. Check out John Melloncamp’s album “Scarecrow” from 1985. This was back in the John “Cougar” Melloncamp days. Highlights include “Rain on the Scarecrow” and “Small Town.”

And at the very end of this episode — after our outro music — we’ve tacked on a short interview with the $50 winner of the “Dumb Things That Rob Does” theme song contest for The Traders Podcast. That prize-winning songwriter is Dan Korhonen of Dan’s Acoustic Garage (his co-writer was “Fluff Dawg”). We get to hear Dan and Fluff Dawg’s jingle, as well as clips from Dan’s Acoustic Garage songs, “Born to Fail” and “Doorstop Jingle.” Here are Dan’s links:

The U.P. Music Scene on Facebook

Dan’s Acoustic Garage on Facebook

Dan’s Acoustic Garage on Bandcamp

The U.P. Music Scene Podcast

The U.P. Music Scene Podcast (on iTunes)

The Music Business Books That Steve Refers to in Episode 9:

The Songwriter’s and Musician’s Guide to Nashville by Sherry Bond.

The Do’s & Dont’s of Music Row by Liz Hengber.

Your hosts of The Songwriting Podcast are Craig Tovey, Grant Adams and Jason Pyles. The Songwriting Podcast posts new episodes on the first day of every month. To contact us or to send your feedback, you can leave a voice mail at (801) 382-8789, or as noted above, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. And you can also find us on Facebook.

We’d like to thank the Dave Eaton Element for the use of its tunes for our theme music, and we’d also like to thank Kara Brewer for her graphic design work.

Don’t forget to watch for an amazing BONUS episode that will be released on May 15!

Episode 9 of The Songwriting Podcast was mostly recorded on April 18, 2012, and this episode is dedicated to Mrs. “Nashville” Cally Rempis, whose support of her favorite songwriter is truly inspirational.