Songwriters Circle

Songwriters Circle: Granger Smith

12 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on Songwriters Circle: Granger Smith
Texas singer-songwriter Granger Smith received an education in songwriting during his time in Nashville before heading back home. With his radio-friendly version of Texas country music, he has found a way to straddle the divide between Music Row and independent music. This put him on my list for an extended conversation about songwriting. UCN: Some Read More

Songwriters Circle: Mike Willis

12 years ago Liv Carter 3
For a few months now, one of the bands generating a buzz in Nashville is The Cumberland Collective. This cheerfully-chaotic cluster of songwriters was a hit at Folk Alliance 2012, and is just weeks away from releasing their debut album, In the Room. One of the writers at the core of this collective is Georgia-native Read More

Songwriters Circle: Ryan Tyndell

12 years ago Liv Carter 5
With a hit song climbing the charts, Eric Church‘s masterful ‘Springsteen,’ this is a good time to chat with songwriter Ryan Tyndell. Thanks to the cool people at his place of work, publishing company ole, we met up bright and early at their Music Row offices and settled into his comfortably decorated workspace for a Read More

Songwriters Circle: Ellis Paul

12 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on Songwriters Circle: Ellis Paul
After 8 months of waiting for schedules to line up, Folk Alliance 2012 brought me the opportunity to add Ellis Paul to this series. As one of my songwriting heroes, he was one of the first names on my list when I started this. Everyone has songs they turn to at important moments. At quite Read More

Songwriters Circle: Clay Evans

12 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on Songwriters Circle: Clay Evans
I hear a lot of new music. In any given week, I am sent upwards of 100 new CDs. This is probably true for most music writers: if you want to grab my attention, you need to arrive with something special; something I haven’t heard from anyone else. Nashville singer-songwriter Clay Evans did just that Read More

Songwriters Circle: Tracy Lawrence

12 years ago Liv Carter 2
Having focused mainly on independent or upcoming songwriters in this series so far, it was time to include a big name; someone who has been there, done that, and wrote a song about it. Tracy Lawrence celebrated his 20th year in the music industry last summer and has seen every possible side of Music Row. Read More

Songwriters Circle: Jeremy McComb

12 years ago Liv Carter 1
Singer-songwriter Jeremy McComb has been on my list for one of these interviews since I started the series. The recent release of his new record, Leap and the net will appear, after a long and complete break with songwriting, gave us a good reason to talk at (great) length about the craft. While being signed Read More

Songwriters Circle: Lacey Brown

12 years ago Liv Carter 1
Singer-songwriter Lacey Brown released her Let it Go EP last summer and it is a wonderfully fresh-sounding collection (you can find the review here) which put her name on my list for the Songwriters Circle interviews. With material like this, the twelfth place finalist on season 9 of American Idol clearly had a strong sense of Read More

Songwriters Circle: Mary Hartman

12 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on Songwriters Circle: Mary Hartman
  The Songwriters Circle interviews are all about finding out what makes writers tick, about getting into their heads and gaining insight into what they do and why they do it. With songwriter Mary Hartman this was easily achieved as she shared openly about her experience trying to carve out a Nashville songwriter’s career. If Read More

Songwriters Circle: DeeAnn Dominy

13 years ago Liv Carter 3
When an interview is allowed to flow naturally, often a theme develops organically. When sitting down with singer-songwriter DeeAnn Dominy, again and again, the topic of conversation went back to a quality she embodies: honesty. The reason for our get-together was her independently released (and brilliantly titled) album, Based on a True Story. With this Read More