TAXI Nashville/Country Panel June 8th, 2009

[adrienne]

May 21, 2009, 6:44am, jchitty wrote:One thing about grittier fare....everyone talks about "Silence," but my favorite country song on my website is "Leaving Out Of Atmore" written with Bill Gaunce. If we get to play two songs (I seriously doubt it, we won't have time as Cam says) that would be one I'd like to play. That is the kind of stuff I REALLY like to write, but it's too edgy and alt-country for Nashville....that song has scored high and they screeners really like it, but the cocaine reference gets it booted everytime. In fact, I've had screeners says, 'no DRUG references.' Here's my link if you haven't heard it......I love to write story songs about murderers, thieve and drunks. And yet, I'm the soccer Mom type, go figure....maybe I'm living vicariously through my songs.http://www.taximusic.com/hosting/home.p ... id=2572I'm going to listen to this song tonight when I get home. Can't wait I understand what you're saying. One of my favourites of mine is "Rest in Peace" which I got a lot of compliments on at the Rally. But a lot of screener comments have been that it's not specific enough. I wrote it intentionally general because I wanted listeners to be able to relate it to their personal experience, but I get why that may be tough to pitch in Nashville. Still it's one of my favourite songs and I hope it finds a good home somewhere

[adrienne]

May 21, 2009, 6:48am, jchitty wrote:May 21, 2009, 6:41am, adrienne wrote:I like anything that Jamey writes. He is a phenomenal lyricist!I agree, Adrienne...I had to warm to "In Color" because it seemed kind of sweetsy to me at first.....I'm guessing that's why it became Jamey's biggest hit on that CD since commerical radio play likes that sort of thing, but having listened to it over and over again, it's really a well crafted song. Jamey is one of the most talented people I've seen come out of Nashville in a long time. I also had to warm to Honky Tonk Badonkey Donk, the song Trace Atkins picked up by Johnson.....I thought it was a little silly at first. But stuff grows on ya. I thought In Color was brilliant the first time I heard it...in particular because it was an incredibly well crafted story but still written in a way that made it commercial. It's hard to do and because of that, I think it's one of my favourite songs of all time!Honky Tonk Badonkadonk on the other hand. Well written for sure...but not my favourite

[toddt]

Hmmm I think this British Australian just had their first ever desire to write a Country song... ha! But I'm a loooooong way from Nashville, in every sense of the word. An amazing opportunity - all the very best to those of you who are going - I hope you gain some serious learning from the experience, and maybe, some of you, even more Besttt

[perrysmith]

Claire, I am going to play our song -- The Song I Didn't Write, which was returned on the Trent Tomlinson listing and the James Otto listing, among others. BREAKING NEWS! I am going to go out on a limb like I never have -- and this will help Michael with his setting this Nashville thing up as a "Reality Check"-- here goes: I THINK THIS SONG SHOULD HAVE BEEN FORWARDED ON BOTH OF THESE LISTINGS AND I DISAGREE WITH THE TAXI SCREENERS FAILING TO FORWARD IT!Okay, now we are all on the same page -- Perry complained that his and Claire's "The Song I Didn't Write" was not forwarded to the Tomlinson and Otto listings. And I am going to go one step further, and say that I disagree with the TAXI screener not forwarding my song, "Answer Me from Heaven" to the Josh Turner listing. I have to admit though, I had a little industry help in coming to these disagreements. I pitched these listings through other resources. Significant industry players listened and "Answer Me from Heaven" was selected for the Josh Turner pitch and "The Song I Didn't Write" was selected as a "maybe" (meaning they would be listening again to make a final determination on whether to take it to the meeting) for the Otto pitch by someone very close to the Otto camp. So I feel a little bit supported in my disagreement, even though I realize how subjective this stuff is and how many people will come to a different conclusion on the same song. I just think TAXI should err on the side of its members. There are other reasons I have for disagreeing and thinking they should have been forwarded, but I mention the above only because they are directly related to the specific pitches. Okay, now I am the whiner and complainer Michael wants me to be! So let's go have a "See I Told You So" moment in Nashville! On a serious note, I received a PM from a well regarded member, here, that made a lot of sense regarding my continuing desire to "prove my point" re the last thread and how Michael started this thread. Although I thought it was not cool for Michael to call me out the way he did in the post that started this thread considering the facts of the matter, hear me now and believe me later, I have taken my last shots, and I am done trying to "prove my point" on the issue of the other thread. I realize that nothing good will come of it. (BTW, I did learn yesterday that "The Song I Didn't Write WAS FORWARDED to an independent label looking for songs (it was a listing Claire submitted it for when she was still a member)--so it turns out I do have one country forward at TAXI instead of the zero I thought I had -- I think I will have an O'Doul's to celebrate.)-Pmy tunes are at www.perrysmith.com

[jchitty]

May 21, 2009, 9:03am, perrysmith wrote:Claire, I am going to play our song -- The Song I Didn't Write, which was returned on the Trent Tomlinson listing and the James Otto listing, among others. BREAKING NEWS! I am going to go out on a limb like I never have -- and this will help Michael with his setting this Nashville thing up as a "Reality Check"-- here goes: I THINK THIS SONG SHOULD HAVE BEEN FORWARDED ON BOTH OF THESE LISTINGS AND I DISAGREE WITH THE TAXI SCREENERS FAILING TO FORWARD IT!Okay, now we are all on the same page -- Perry complained that his and Claire's "The Song I Didn't Write" was not forwarded to the Tomlinson and Otto listings. And I am going to go one step further, and say that I disagree with the TAXI screener not forwarding my song, "Answer Me from Heaven" to the Josh Turner listing. I have to admit though, I had a little industry help in coming to these disagreements. I pitched these listings through other resources. Significant industry players listened and "Answer Me from Heaven" was selected for the Josh Turner pitch and "The Song I Didn't Write" was selected as a "maybe" (meaning they would be listening again to make a final determination) for the Otto pitch by someone very close to the Otto camp. So I feel a little bit supported in my disagreement, even though I realize how subjective this stuff is and how many people will come to a different conclusion on the same song. I just think TAXI should err on the side of its members. There are other reasons I have for disagreeing and thinking they should have been forwarded, but I mention the above only because they are directly related to the specific pitches. Okay, now I am the whiner and complainer Michael wants me to be! So let's go have a "See I Told You So" moment in Nashville! On a serious note, I received a PM from a well regarded member, here, that made a lot of sense regarding my continuing desire to "prove my point" re the last thread and how Michael started this thread. Although I thought it was not cool for Michael to call me out the way he did in the post that started this thread considering the facts of the matter, hear me now and believe me later, I have taken my last shots, and I am done trying to "prove my point" on the issue of the other thread. I realize that nothing good will come of it. (BTW, I did learn yesterday that "The Song I Didn't Write WAS FORWARDED to an independent label looking for songs (it was a listing Claire submitted it for when she was still a member)--so it turns out I do have one country forward at TAXI instead of the zero I thought I had -- I think I will have an O'Doul's to celebrate.)-Pmy tunes are at www.perrysmith.com You are SUCH a lawyer. That's okay....my dad was a lawyer, and my uncle's a retired judge. And I've never won any debates in my family as long as I can remember.

[perrysmith]

You've probably won several, it's just that we lawyers will never admit you won!

[Casey H]

Well it looks like I'll be flying in Monday morning and back home Tuesday afternoon... I hope I get to see a whole bunch of you all day before the event on Monday.I hope they have a drop box for CDs and can listen to as many songs as possible-- 2 hours goes by fast. I don't write country so I wouldn't 'drop' anything but I'd love to see as many attendees as possible get their 60 seconds worth! Two of my favorite country songs by taxi folks are Chits' "Silence" and Adrienne's "Don't You Mind Me"... But I haven't listened to a whole lot of country songs (so don't feel slighted). I also love Cam's "Lucky", though I see where it might not be what Nashville folks want these days. See a whole bunch of you on June 8th!!! Casey

[jchitty]

May 21, 2009, 9:24am, hurowitz wrote:Well it looks like I'll be flying in Monday morning and back home Tuesday afternoon... I hope I get to see a whole bunch of you all day before the event on Monday.I hope they have a drop box for CDs and can listen to as many songs as possible-- 2 hours goes by fast. I don't write country so I wouldn't 'drop' anything but I'd love to see as many attendees as possible get their 60 seconds worth! Two of my favorite country songs by taxi folks are Chits' "Silence" and Adrienne's "Don't You Mind Me"... But I haven't listened to a whole lot of country songs (so don't feel slighted). I also love Cam's "Lucky", though I see where it might not be what Nashville folks want these days. See a whole bunch of you on June 8th!!! CaseyYes! Yea, Casey's coming....I'll see you there! And I'm pretty sure Squiddy and Bill, my hubby, is coming too. Thanks for the kind words about "Silence."

[jchitty]

May 21, 2009, 9:15am, perrysmith wrote:You've probably won several, it's just that we lawyers will never admit you won! ;-)I sense some lawyer jokes will be posted here in the future.

[claire]

For some reason I gravitate towards writing with lawyers. Perry, Will Hopkins, my friend Brian Payne, one of the attorneys here where I work. I don't know what that says about me - or about anything other than...strange.Perry, the only thing I can say to you about the submission histories on "The Song I Didn't Write" is that I had no complaint when the song wasn't forwarded to specific artists. Specific artists have their own style and maybe our song didn't fit those styles. I did think, however, when the song got 8's and 9's and was on target for the listings that were for indie publishers who were supposedly looking for a variety of songs in the style of a variety of artists, the song was perfectly forwardable (if that's a word). Nevertheless, rejection is part of this game and taking it well is also part of the game - especially here. Once you get a reputation for being cranky and/or defensive in this town, there are 500 more unsigned writers who are friendly and receptive and who at least on the surface accept rejection willingly and who can move up a notch in the "I'd rather work with that guy than you" sliding scale of who's a pain in the ass and who isn't. The rejection isn't personal and after a while it becomes less painful, although it does become more frustrating. It's a tough biz.Enjoy Nashville!Claire