Riding the Waves of Songwriting

What ten song evaluations—and a few surprises—taught me about demos, doubt, and staying the course

Songwriting is a crazy thing. No matter how long you do it, there’s always more to learn. I’ve been writing songs for over twenty years, and I still feel like I’ve got a long way to go—which is exactly why getting feedback and song evaluations matters so much.

I’m a member of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and every month I send in a song for evaluation. Some songs come back strong, some miss the mark, and some land somewhere in the middle—with a little bit of hope.

So how do I know if I’ve written a good song?

I lean on those professional evaluations. They give me an honest, outside perspective—something that’s hard to have when you’re the one who wrote it.

I started looking back at my last ten evaluations, and something really stood out.

I recently began using Suno for my demos, and suddenly things changed. I had four songs in a row receive a “Songwriter to Watch” award.

That got my attention.

For the first time, I started wondering—have I been writing better songs than I thought all along? Maybe the problem wasn’t the songs… maybe it was the demos. The older ones I recorded myself just didn’t present the song in the best light.

I couldn’t wait to write more songs and send them in with my new “magic bullets” loaded.

Well… so much for magic bullets.

The next six songs didn’t come close to the same level of success. The demos still sounded great, so I couldn’t blame them this time. I had officially gone cold.

Six songs in a row—no awards.

I started wondering if that hot streak was just luck, and whether I’d ever land another one.

The truth is, I don’t really know.

Maybe songwriting is a lot like ocean waves. When they’re rolling in and crashing on the beach, it’s a beautiful thing—but it doesn’t happen all the time.

Sometimes the water goes quiet.

You’ve just got to be patient and wait for the next wave to come in.

I’m not in charge of when it happens, or how often. I can’t rush it or force it. All I can do is keep showing up, doing my part… and when the time comes, try to catch the next one—riding along on my musical surfboard.

If you write songs, you know exactly what’s scary about this.

There’s always that voice in the back of your mind—the fear that you’ve already ridden your last wave. That maybe you’ll never write a good song again.

Those are the words songwriters don’t want to hear… or even think about.

But they’re there.

Here’s the good news.

Yes, there is a God in heaven… and yes, the last song I sent in earned a “Songwriter to Watch” award.

So for now, I can breathe easy.

At least until I hit “submit” on the next one.

Don’t throw away old song ideas

                  Song ideas don’t always show up fully formed. Sometimes they sit around for a while before they become a song. One of the best songwriting tips I’ve heard is this:  Don’t throw away old ideas. 

                  I was watching a one-minute songwriting lesson from Shane McAnally, one of Nashville’s top songwriters….. which means, he’s probably forgotten more hit songs than I’ll ever write. (laugh) He was talking about revisiting ideas--- going back to something you wrote down months or even years ago. That got me thinking about where we keep our ideas. Because if we don’t capture them, they’re gone. (kinda like inmates that escape from prison).

                  For me, it’s my phone. Anytime a title, a line, or even half a thought hits me, I write it down in my notes. Sometimes it’s just a phrase, sometimes a lyric, sometimes it’s just a feeling I want to remember. Another tip I’ve started doing is writing down what sparked the idea in the first place. Just a quick note--- maybe where I heard it, what I was watching or what I was thinking at the time. Because months later when you revisit the title, you may not remember why it caught your attention. 

                  Most of those ideas never become songs. But every once in a while, you go back through that list and something jumps out at you. Today, I’m using a title called. “Sally in the Alley” as an example. That phrase had been snoozing in my phone since July. I loved the rhythm of the words---- it almost sounds like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. Part of the reason it stuck with me is because it has an internal rhyme inside the phrase., so the title almost sings when you say it. Nashville writers love titles that almost sing when you say them. Think “Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” “Achy Breaky Heart,” or “Chattahoochee.” “Sally in the Alley” had that same kind of bounce to me. 

                  I heard the phrase in a cop show. Some teenagers found a body in the street and one of them said, “Looks like Sally in the Alley” That line struck me, so I typed it into my phone.  Later on when I revisited it, I realized I didn’t even know what the phrase meant. Was it a dead person? A hooker? Just a bad girl?  I actually had to ask ChatGPT….and honestly, it didn’t seem completely sure either. (laugh) But what mattered more than the definition was the feeling the words gave me. In my mind, Sally became a temptation--- a bad girl living in the back of a man’s mind. 

                  And that is something Nashville songwriters do all the time. A lot of professional songwriters keep what they call a Title Bank. (not to be confused with Bank of America) Both of them do draw interest. (Dad joke) It is a running list of titles and ideas that might sit there for years before the right story shows up. And when they start a co-write, they’ll often just read through their title bank. Sometimes the song of the day starts with someone saying, “How about this title?” And if the title doesn’t click with your co-writers, that’s okay. Maybe they just don’t hear it the way you do. Bring it up again in another write. Eventually, you might find a co-writer who’s on the same page--- and is just as excited about the idea as you are. 

                  For example, songwriter Tom Douglas had the title “The House that Built Me” sitting in his title bank for years. Along with pages of ideas, before it finally became the hit recorded by Miiranda Lambert. A great title will eventually find its song.

                  One more thing I learned along the way --- writing ideas down on your phone is great, but this is the thing I don’t do but I should do. Organizing my ideas. Some writers keep a notebook or computer file where they organize their titles. You might list the title, the feeling, the genre, or maybe the subject of the song. Some writers even so=rt them alphabetically so they’re easier to scan later. 

                  So the lesson is simple: When a phrase catches your ear, write it down----- and if you can, write down what sparked it. You may not know what it means yet, but someday it might turn into a song. 

This Is a Great Time to Be a Songwriter

     That’s not something you hear every day.For most of my life, being a songwriter meant living with limitations. Not creative limitations—but practical ones. I write lyrics and melodies. That’s where my strength is. The stories. The truth. The lines that mean something. I can play guitar well enough to write. But I’m not a great singer, and I never will be. I’ve made peace with that. I’m not trying to be an artist. I’m trying to be a songwriter. And for a long time, that created a wall.

     Because in this business, if you wanted your songs to have a real chance, you needed professional demos. And professional demos cost real money. Sometimes hundreds. Sometimes thousands. And if you didn’t have the money, your songs stayed where they started—unfinished, unheard, and full of what-ifs. I always believed the only way around that was to get a publishing deal. A publisher could help you get demos made. They could help open doors that were closed to writers like me. But everything has changed.

     With the creation of tools like Suno, songwriters who live outside of Nashville—and outside of the traditional system—can finally hear their songs brought to life. We can hear full productions. Real arrangements. The kind of recordings that used to only exist on the other side of a gate. For the first time in my life, the limitation isn’t access. It’s imagination.

     The playing field has been leveled in a way I never thought I would see. I don’t need to be a great singer to hear my songs the way I hear them in my head. I don’t need a big budget to find out if an idea works. I don’t need permission to create. I’m still the same songwriter I’ve always been. But now, the distance between a blank page and a finished song has never been shorter. And that’s why I believe this is one of the greatest times in history to be a songwriter. Not because it’s easier. But because it’s finally possible.

I hear this question alot. Friends and family will ask, “What have you been up to?”  When they ask me, I can't think of anything exciting to share. I will usually say, “Not much.” So I decided to take a look at last week and see what a retired guy with no job does with all his free time.

Here is my list of things I did in no particular order.

I read two books- Dream- Biography of Hakeem Olaguwon (retired NBA player)

I am Restored- Book written by christian/hip hop artist

Read the last of the book of Acts and most of Romans

Learned how to play Beer never broke my heart by Luke Combs

(still working on some of the electric guitar solo parts)

Finished the songwriting course -Becoming a Songwriter by Andrea Stolpe

Also, I did my daily stuff.-Laundry, dishes, picked up Ella at school, worked out at the gym, took Virdie to the grocery store, went to watch Alyssa cheer at the basketball game, performed a six minute set at an open mic for comedy, roto tilled part of the backyard to plant grass, went for walks in my neighborhood, and other small stuff.

I feel better about myself after reviewing all the things I was able to accomplish. It was a good week and alot was accomplished. Sometimes I don't take the time to look back and I act like I didn't get anything done. Hope you had a good week and accomplished everything you wanted to get done. 

I'm not going to list the things I didn't get done. That is a bigger list. They are item that I don't want to talk  or think about. Usually it is stuff that I don't or won't do. lol

This is my blog from a couple days ago. It was a new song idea. Last night I woke up at 4 am. That was my first time to wake up so that is the great part. The other part is my mind wanted to work on this song. I am not saying my body was in agreement.

My mind kept saying, It's time to work on the chorus. This is part of the life of being a songwriter. I have a pen and 3x5 index cards on my dresser by the bed. I would turn on the light and write down a couple lines. Turn off the light and try to go to sleep. (as my mind started working on the next line)

This process continued off and on till 5:30 or 6. By 6 am my mind decided that it was happy with the chorus. It would now be okay to get another hour of sleep. I was able to complete the chorus. I am going to share part of the blog from a couple days ago to allow you to see if I followed the direction that I wanted. (I think I did, but I could be wrong) You can tell me if I'm wrong. Here is my original idea .

I am always listening for song ideas. I get them from so many different places. Yesterday, I was on instagram and I heard someone say , Men are like flatbed trucks. They drive straighter with a heavy load. I love that line. Let me tell you why. That first half sounds like a true man. Rugged, solid, and hardworking. A man's man. Yeah, I'm a flatbed truck.

The second half is great also. They drive straighter with a heavy load. I love this too. It is saying, the more responsiblities that I have the better. When life is hard, I am staying focused on the road because I have to. The more I stay focused on the road, the easier life is.

The title is Flat bed Ford. Here is my chorus.

I'm a flat bed Ford

going straight down the road

Two hands on the wheel

Dodging pot holes

No slow and easy

I'm heavy and full

I'm a flat bed Ford

going straight down the road.

Is this set in stone? No. It is a chorus that gives me an anchor to build my verses around. What happens if I write great verses and it doesn't fit the chorus?  I can write more verses or tweak the chorus. I spend alot of time tweaking and retweaking songs. It's part of the songwriter journey. I'm just sharing my process in the hope that it might benefit someone else. Or if nothing else, it makes my mind want to wake me up to work on the song at 4am. (Smile)