Please shop now!
WE ARE IN THE FINAL DAYS OF CLOSING THIS SITE FOR GOOD!!!
Please make your selection and purchases NOW!
This site is slated permanently shut down any day!
The Art of Songwriting: Panel VI
Dissecting the craft with a panel of experts.
By: Gina Kay Singerhouse
Jack Rosenquist
Hosts of Around The Campfire radio show
Gently comes the season of change. One morning we awake to find cooler temperatures mixed with fog and frosty windows. It is then that we finally open our eyes to truly enjoy the beauty that Mother Nature beholds as the green leaves that once graced our favorite trees turn to bright yellow, orange, red and brown.
If you are aware or truly are in tune with Mother Nature, you will notice that even the birds change their tunes. The black capped chickadee, who so eagerly bounces from tree branch to tree branch, notifies us of the coming winter as their song changes from a ti-ti-ti to a fee-be sound. Even the cardinal will change their beautiful song as they greet us amongst the pines.
If one were so inclined to being aware of these gradual changes, one will notice and witness the gentle changing of the seasons. Perhaps, it is the bird’s song that gives voice to Mother Nature as she reminds us of what is more important in our journey through life.
As the seasons change, so must we. Like the birds who change their songs, the music industry also changes. Some of these alterations we can embrace, nonetheless most we can not. Perhaps one of the biggest blunders in the music industry today is the proposed popularity of entertainers recording their versions of well known previously recorded songs, which are called cover songs. Just within the last couple of years we have heard more versions of Dolly Parton’s ever popular hit song “Jolene” then we have heard Dolly perform it.
Nearly every album that we reviewed within the last year has contained at least one if not two or more cover songs! The staff at Strictly Country is strongly against entertainers, especially unknown performers, recording cover songs. Like many aspects of the music industry, we turned to the experts for their advice.
Each year we, at Strictly Country, listen to thousands of songs. We are always looking for that one particular original song that will touch your heart as it enters into your soul. The song can be a heartfelt ballad that may bring tears to your eyes or it can be an exhilarating melody that encourages you to stand up and dance. Either way, it touches you in such a manner that it begs you to listen to it over and over again.
Too frequently, we are entertained by albums filled with songs with the same melodies. As the years progress, we find that majority of the songs released by various entertainers often contain duplicate and identical melodies. It's these duplicate melodies mixed with substandard lyrics that have prompted us to turn to the experts on the process of songwriting. Just a year ago, we started this extended expose` as we explored The Art of Songwriting.
So to help us all understand the songwriting and recording process we thought that we would open up this discussion to the professionals. I put the call out to some of our friends who happen to be entertainers, songwriters and teachers of songwriting to come together to help us understand and address these issues. In each issue of Strictly Country, we will continue to address another concern about songwriting and we will discuss each of these with our panel of professionals. Let us introduce you to our panel of professionals...
The first to join our panel is Mark 'Brink' Brinkman. Brink is one of the most highly sought after songwriters in Bluegrass, Country and Gospel genres. His songs have been recorded by some of the most notable entertainers including Larry Sparks, Grasstowne, Don Rigsby, Lou Reid & Carolina, Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road and Dave Adkins. He has won various awards including six Spirit Awards. Many of his songs have earned positions in Strictly Country’s list of Top Songs of the year, while earning nominations for the Spirit Award’s Song of The Year. Today, he continues to write songs and is also a songwriting instructor.
Our next expert is Judy Rodman. Judy hit the country music scene with her 1986 hit song "Until I Met You." Throughout her vocal career, she has sung background vocals for some of country music's most notorious entertainers like Johnny Cash and Tammy Wynette. Prior to the release of her third album, her record label folded. Instead of being in the spotlight of the music industry, Rodman focused on the behind the scenes portion. She has earned a wide variety of awards including the 2016 Spirit Award - President Choice Award for Best Country Album for her album Here We Are, recorded with her husband John Rodman. Today, she is an award winning vocal coach, recording artist, stage and television performer, public speaker, author, multi-genre hit songwriter, studio producer and vocal consultant.
Joining our panel next is Rick Stanley. Rick is the second cousin of the infamous Stanley Brothers, Carter and Ralph Stanley. Growing up Rick spent many hours with his father, with Carter and Ralph singing and enjoying time well spent through music. By the age of fifteen, Rick penned the very famous Bluegrass song "Home In The Mountains." The song was originally recorded by Ralph Stanley, however, it was recorded by many other great Bluegrass artists and even earned Rick a Grammy nomination. In the 1990's he held a major publishing deal with Maypop Music and enjoyed touring with Stonewall Jackson. Today, Rick tours with his wife Donna Ulisse as a member of The Poor Mountain Boys. He also continues to write songs and is an instructor for Donna's Songwriting Escape workshops.
Our final professional to join our panel is Donna Ulisse. Donna first emerged onto the music scene in the 1980's as a demo singer and background vocalist in Country music. In 1991, she released her debut album Trouble At The Door. Since then she has migrated over to Bluegrass and recorded nine more albums. Donna is another very highly sought after songwriter in Bluegrass. She has earned many numerous award nominations and was named Songwriter of The Year by the IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) in 2016. In January 2016 she earned The Spirit Award's coveted President's Choice Award for Best Bluegrass Album for Hard Cry Moon. Her songs have been recorded by a variety of artists. In 2014, Donna wrote her first book, The Songwriter In Me, to earn great reviews. Today, she continues to demo, write songs and tour with her band The Poor Mountain Boys. She also is the owner and teacher of Songwriting Escape, a touring songwriting workshop.
Of course I have to add Jack and I to this panel as well. Jack is my co-host of Strictly Country's Friday night radio show Around The Campfire. Jack served in the United States Army, is a fan and a great aficionado of Rock, Country and Bluegrass music. As for myself, for almost twenty-five years I have been the owner, operator and Editor in chief of Strictly Country magazine.
Now that you know our panel of experts, let's continue with the the subject of the art of songwriting. Getting back to cover songs, the next question we asked our panel of experts was - there are many great songwriters out in the world; there are four incredible songwriters on this panel, as a songwriter how do you feel about cover songs verses entertainers releasing new original songs?
“Somebody wrote that song too, so somebody is benefitting...that actually wrote the song.” shares Brink Brinkman. “I wish that they’d all do original things. But I know as a band that when you played live, there becomes some songs that you do on stage that people love...and the crowds go crazy over that! The fans are saying ‘where can I buy that on an album’ before they even put it on this last album.”
So are the fans to blame for not investing in new songs and just sticking with the songs that they know and love? Are the entertainers to blame for performing these covers during their live sets?
“...It becomes a marketing decision.” adds Brink. “It’s on there to sell albums, mainly.”
“Doing cover songs is absolutely a marketing strategy and that is all it is.” shares Judy Rodman. “Sometimes its fun to do it your own way. If you think about it, every artist that sings the song that they didn’t write is doing a cover tune. They’re doing somebody else’s song their own way. There’s nothing wrong with it. The way that people are marketing their originals is to get themselves known on the internet through YouTube so that when somebody looks for a hit song, they might find their performance on video on YouTube. That’s a way that people are promoting themselves so that they can pull people into their original music.”
Back in the day, record labels hired people who became scouts. These scouts traveled the back roads of the United States looking for the next great artist. Today, this job no longer exists. Therefore, potential candidates have to either plaster their music all over the internet or head to Nashville and perform some where on the performance circuit.
As for songwriters, back in the day record labels hired songwriters to write songs at a leisurely pace. Opry member Jeannie Seely is one of many entertainers who got their start as a songwriter for a major record label prior to earning her own record contract. Today, a record label still has hired songwriters. However, today’s songwriters are forced to write three to four songs within an eight hour period. The end result is four songs with no heart and soul that contain the same baseline melody.
“Well, having done one cover record and eight self written things...I think for an audience, performing it I like to put a couple of covers.” shares Donna Ulisse. “I like to keep it my stuff because it makes me—me! I am very appreciative of any of the cover tunes that I’ve done getting airplay, so I don’t want to take away from that! I love to sing an old country song and I love to sing an old Bluegrass song and make it my own. But I have to have some connection with the writing of it. But I love introducing the audience to my songs. Rick now… you tend to perform more covers in our shows…”
“I’ll kind of hang with the traditional Bluegrass type things when she calls on me to sing a song…” adds Rick Stanley.
“He’ll throw in an old Stanley thing or something.” interjects Donna. “But we both love doing our own stuff!”
The staff and I find that performing a cover live as a tribute to the entertainers whom inspired you is acceptable. Nonetheless, to include a cover on your personal album is just a waste of time, energy, and money!
“That’s part of Bluegrass tradition.” adds Donna. “I kind of was really resistant for a long time because I thought it was selling out for myself as a writer until I realized its as much a part of Bluegrass as a banjo! It really is a part of the tradition of Bluegrass.”
“At some point in your career you are going to have to…it’s the Bluegrass way.” adds Rick.
“People like it!” includes Donna.
Back at the height of good country music there was a producer named Owen Bradley. Bradley was known for bringing entertainers like Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty to the forefront of country music. When an entertainer would approach Owen to record a cover of a song, he would always say ‘if you can’t record it better than the original, don’t record it!’
Through the years we have heard covers that sound much better than the originals.
“When you talk about covers I think of the British rock group Whitesnake.” shares Jack. “In 1982 they released their song ‘Here I Go Again’ on their album Saints & Sinners and it didn’t do that well. Whitesnake recorded a cover of their own song for their 1987 self-titled album. Later that year they re-recorded the same song, for the third time, in a new ‘radio-mix’ version. It’s this version that became more popular than the original.”
If you look towards the country side, Reba McEntire is an artist who has brought to the forefront many covers. Perhaps her biggest cover song was The Everly Brother’s 1960 hit song “Cathy’s Clown.” McEntire released the song in 1989 on her Sweet Sixteen album. However, it was Reba’s version of “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia” that brought this song to life. This song was originally recorded by Vickie Lawrence in 1972. Nearly a decade later the song was re-recorded by Tanya Tucker for the movie of the same title. Nonetheless, it was Reba who truly gave this song the life it so deserved thus heeding to Owen Bradley’s statement that one should not record a cover unless one can perform it better.
Like Rick stated before, everyone in this industry will record a cover sometime in their career. But is it necessary? Are we setting the bar so low that entertainers must resort to the songs that have already earned their place in music history?
Just a few years ago, it would take me about one to three hours to review an album. Today, due to the mass volume of cover songs, it now takes me six to eight hours to review an album as I have to research who originally recorded the song. Entertainers are now wising up to reviewers like myself and are changing the titles of these songs to offset our research, thus creating more time spent on an album.
Is this creativity or is this considered a fraudulent act? Have we as music listeners refuse to open our minds up to new music? Some say that every possible music scenario has been explored, but has it? I can not agree with that statement. Personally I feel that it is the industry that we need to blame for creating a substandard and less creative mentality.
Tune in next time for more of the Art of Songwriting...
(This article was printed in the September / October 2017 issue of Strictly Country Magazine.)
© 1993 - 2024 Strictly Country
All Items contained on this site may not be used without written permission
from Strictly Country Magazine.
All Rights Reserved
