songwriting

Judy Rodman on “Singing in the Studio” at the Nashville Berklee Jam

Our guest speaker for the June, 2014 Nashville Berklee Jam was award-winning vocal coach, Judy Rodman. In this in-depth workshop she covers many facets of the most challenging endeavor a vocalist will encounter, singing in the studio. Here are some highlights from her talk (her entire presentation can be viewed below).

JudyRodman“The studio is an odd place to sing, it’s very artificial…it requires perfection, because the mic is really sensitive… and recording is forever.”

To optimize a studio performance, Judy offered many practical pieces of advice:

  • Make sure that you get the cue mix that you want.
  • Make sure you get the right amount of reverb.
  • Try singing with one side of the headphones on and one side half off. This allows you to “be a little grounded in the room acoustically”.
  • Take some things out of the mix that are swimmy or distracting.
  • When singing lead, experiment with tracking the song in sections, for instance verses first, then a high chorus
  • Regarding tuning and compression – “You want to sing as well as possibly can so you can use as little of that correction as possible…then the song is going to sound more natural and you’ll be in control.”

One reason that singing in the studio is hard is that you are missing an audience. Most singers that are new to singing in the studio tend to look down at the mic. “I can’t think of any song I’ve ever heard that the lyrics were directed to the mic, and when you sing to the mic that way, it’s going to sound like you’re not singing to anyone.” To remedy this, Judy’s suggests singers don’t face the control room. Face a corner or somewhere you’re not distracted and imagine you’re singing in a concert hall. “Create your own holideck.”

Another thing that makes studio singing hard is that most studio settings are not set up for optimal singing. “I’ll bet you 95% of the studio’s I ever go into, the mic is not set up, the music stand is not set up, the cue box is not set up in ways that would help a singer automatically have the best breath control.” During her talk, she demonstrates the proper way to place a mic stand, music stand and cue box to give the singer the space they need to optimize breath control. “Move the music stand and cue box back a little.” The singer shouldn’t have to lean forward to reach the mic.

Regarding multiple takes of a vocal, sometimes an engineer or producer might say, “okay, this pass, give me everything you’ve got!”. This doesn’t mean to push harder. Often, the louder you sing, the smaller you sound. The louder you sing, the more they have to pull you back because your pinging the meter. And you lose resonance. “More is two things – passion and resonance.” The magic formula is “back off the pressure, add passion”. The power comes from your butt, hence the phrase “sing your butt off!”

Lastly, “You want to know how to maximize your efforts so you get magic”. Know how to prepare for the studio, know your songs backwards and forwards, know your keys and tempos. The day of your vocal session – get a massage, drink water like a fish, watch what you wear (noisy fabrics, ball caps, sun glasses – don’t let anything come between you and the vocal).

Judy Rodman is an award winning vocal coach, session singer, recording artist, stage and television performer, songwriter and vocal producer. Named ‘Best Vocal Coach” by NashvilleMusicPros.com and “Vocal Coach in Residence, August 2013” by TC Helicon’s Voice Council Magazine, Judy teaches her trademarked vocal training method “Power, Path and Performance”™ to singers and speakers nationally and internationally in her office, by phone and Skype. She is a published author with several professional vocal courses; her “All Things Vocal” blog has over ½ million views. Her vocal clients include major and indie recording artists and labels, touring and studio background singers, national public speakers and voiceover talent. She has had #1 records as an artist, songwriter and producer, and won ACM “New Female Vocalist” and BMI Millionaire awards. She is member of NATS, AFTRA, SAG AFofM, BMI. Judy’s vocal students include: Kacey Musgraves, Mat Kearney, Pam Tillis, Dakota Bradley, Radney Foster and Brian White, to mention a few. To learn more about Judy or for more practical vocal tips please visit her website, JudyRodman.com.

The Berklee Nashville Jam is a bi-monthly event held on the last Monday of every other month at the Rutledge and hosted by Berklee alum, Eric Normand ‘89. The event, which is open to the public, is free for alumni and a guest; and $5 for non-alums. After the guest speaker, attendees are welcome to jam with the house band and others from the Nashville music community. For more information about the Berklee Nashville Jam, visit www.nashvilleberkleejam.com.

Judy’s Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gicktGzuIY8

‘Perspiration not Inspiration’ Ben Hayslip talks Songwriting at the Nashville Berklee Jam

Our latest Nashville Berklee Jam at the Rutledge was a great success. This was our most well attended event to date during which we were treated to a master class about songwriting and some inspired performances during the jam that followed. On this night we were very fortunate to have hit songwriter and Peach Pickers member, Ben Hayslip as our special guest. I would like to thank fellow alum and guest blogger Shantell Ogden ’05 for writing the following article.

‘Perspiration not Inspiration’ Ben Hayslip talks Songwriting at the Nashville Berklee Jam

By Shantell Ogden, ‘05

Ben Hayslip found his way from Evans, Georgia to the top of the country music charts. And, we were lucky enough to hear his story at the most recent Nashville Berklee Jam at The Rutledge in downtown Nashville, hosted by Eric Normand. Ben Hayslip 022414

Ben attributes his success in the music business to three things: refusing to fail, working hard at it every day and writing songs that he loves.

But navigating the industry wasn’t always an easy journey for Ben, who took his mom’s advice and moved to Nashville in 1994 to join his childhood friend Rhett Akins (who then had a record deal).

On one hand, Ben had three publishing offers after his first year in Nashville to choose from. He had his first cuts within a couple of years with Trace Akins and Blackhawk. Other successes in his career, though, he worked for years to see.

“I spent a lot of years trying to be someone I just wasn’t,” says Ben. “I was trying to write songs that I thought other people would like, and put more chords in them because I thought I should. The moment I started to forget about what was on the radio and just write what I loved, things started to change in my career.”

Ben had built up a successful company selling ball caps on the side while writing songs to provide for his growing family. He would sell caps from 7:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. every day, then write in the afternoon. His business was really taking off when he got a call from Rusty Gaston.

Crowd 022414Rusty was starting a new publishing company, This Music, and he wanted Ben to be his first signed writer, but there was a condition.

“Rusty told me that he would only sign me if I focused on 100 percent on writing songs, not selling ball caps,” Ben recalls. “He said that he believed that I had it in me to be a songwriter of the year. It was a really important shift in my focus and career.”

Haylip’s career really started to hit a new level when he focused on writing songs and ‘doing what he loved.’ When Ben and Rhett connected with Dallas Davidson, something even more magical started to happen.

“We just instantly knew each other because we had all grown up in Georgia,” says Ben. “They understood who I was. We started writing songs that we loved and wanted to listen to, and it turns out that other people loved them too.”

Their ‘tailgate and truck’ songs resonated with people and redefined country music. The songwriting trio, known as the Peach Pickers, has churned out dozens of hits in recent years, Ben with 15 number ones in five years to his credit.

“Even though I have a lot of songs in my catalog I can’t sing, I can sing and play every one of my hit songs,” says Ben. “I’m not the best musician or singer, but I think that if I can sing it so can Bubba driving down the road in his truck. There’s something to that kind of

Ben Hayslip performing hits with Eric Normand (guitar), Mike Chapman (bass) and Nick Forchione (drums).

Ben Hayslip performing hits with Eric Normand (guitar), Mike Chapman (bass) and Nick Forchione (drums).

simplicity.”

Ben recognizes that even though tailgates and trucks are still very real to him because of his rural roots, country music needs to shift into something different because “it’s all been done.” He’s working on figuring out what’s next every day he writes.

So what’s next for this two-time Songwriter of the Year winner?

“I’d really like to someday be inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame along with some of the legends I grew up listening to like Ray

Charles and Otis Redding,” he says.

Given his work ethic, long list of success and passion for doing what he sets out to do, I have no doubt that it’s just a matter of time.

For more information about Ben, find him on facebook or follow him on twitter. You can also watch Ben’s talk and performances in their entirety below, special thanks to Jack Zander for videotaping this event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flAH56OPHRc&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTz1gzvhbvI&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQlUYv5rq9M&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-OsurnB0PQ&feature=youtu.be

The Berklee Nashville Jam is a bi-monthly event held on the last Monday of every other month at the Rutledge and hosted by Berklee alum, Eric Normand ‘89. The event, which is open to the public, is free for alumni and a guest; and $5 for non-alums. After the guest speaker, attendees are welcome to jam with the house band and others from the Nashville music community. For more information about the Berklee Nashville Jam, visit www.nashvilleberkleejam.com.

The Nashville Berklee Jam presents “Inside the Nashville Music Industry” with Eric Normand and Mike Chapman – August 26, 2013

As host of the Nashville Berklee Jam, the job of booking special guests at this bimonthly event has been an interesting one. The Nashville music industry is chock full of music industry insiders and this fact has yielded some great talks for us over the past year and half. During this time, I’ve been asked a few times to give one of these talks and on Monday, August 26 I decided to share my perspective. Earlier that month I had given an in-depth clinic about the Nashville music industry at the Berklee College of music in Boston, so a continuation of that theme seemed like the logical thing to do. I decided to take it one step further and enlisted the help of my friend and colleague, A-list session bassist, Mike Chapman.

I spoke first, giving a talk that was essentially an overview of the Nashville music industry. Much of this “street level perspective” of the music related jobs in Nashville was basically a condensed version of my book “The Nashville Musician’s Survival Guide”. After my talk, Mike gave a talk which covered some finer points about the recording industry side of Music City. Rather than elaborating on these discussions in a blog, I thought it would be more beneficial to simply share the following videos of these talks (special thanks to Jack Zander for filming, editing and posting the videos). For a different perspective, you can also check out this blog written by Berklee alum, Amanda Williams.

So here you go, videos of our talks and a few performances!

The Nashville Berklee Jam is held at The Rutledge on the last Monday of every other month, with the next event to take place on Monday, October 28 with special guest, performance coach, Diane Kimbrough. After Diane’s talk, she will be sticking around and offering free critiques and coaching to performers and jammers. Please e-mail me if you would like to take part in this part of the event. Or just show up and let me know that you are interested in participating, we’ll do our best to squeeze you in!

For more info about future events, please visit the Nashville Berklee Jam website NashvilleBerkleeJam.com

If you would like to learn more about the Nashville music industry, please check out my website and book “The Nashville Musician’s Survival Guide”.

Nashville Berklee Jam with Bryan Beller – April 29, 2013 – Videos

For those of you who missed our second Nashville Berklee Jam at the Rutledge, you missed quite a special night. Berklee alum and bassist for Steve Vai and  Joe Satriani, Bryan Beller shared a fascinating story and some great insight, as well as a great performance with our house band and his wife, Kyra Small. Fortunately, we captured the whole evening on video (special thanks to Jack Zander for filming and video editing). Here are some highlights from this great night!

Bryan’s Talk

 

“Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” performed by Bryan Beller and the house band


“Signed, Sealed, Delivered” performed by Bryan & the house band, vocals by Kyra Small


“Cissy Strut” performed by Bryan Bller and the house band


“Ain’t No Sunshine”
performed by Bryan & the house band, vocals by Kyra Small

 

Here are some links to performances from the jam portion of this event:

The Nashville Berklee Jam is held at The Rutledge on the last Monday of every other month, with the next event to take place on Monday, October 28 with special guest, performance coach, Diane Kimbrough.

For more info about future events, please visit the Nashville Berklee Jam website NashvilleBerkleeJam.com

If you would like to learn more about the Nashville music industry, please check out my website and book “The Nashville Musician’s Survival Guide”.

Dave Pomeroy at the Nashville Berklee Jam, June 24, 2013: Videos

Here’s the videos of Dave Pomeroy speaking at our June Nashville Berklee Jam, plus a video of Dave performing one of his original tunes “Old Friends”. Video courtesy Jack Zander.


Dave Pomeroy Talk – Building a Career in a Changing Music Industry – Part 1

 

Dave Pomeroy Talk – Building a Career in a Changing Music Industry – Part 2

 

“Old Friends” – performed by Dave Pomeroy

The Nashville Berklee Jam is held at The Rutledge on the last Monday of every other month, with the next event to take place on Monday, October 28 with special guest, performance coach, Diane Kimbrough.

For more info about future events, please visit the Nashville Berklee Jam website NashvilleBerkleeJam.com

If you would like to learn more about the Nashville music industry, please check out my website and book “The Nashville Musician’s Survival Guide”.

A-list bassist and Union President, Dave Pomeroy speaks at the Nashville Berklee Jam; June 24, 2013

by Eric Normand

Long before recording with artists like Emmy Lou Harris, Alison Krauss, and Peter Frampton, Nashville Musicians Union President and our guest speaker on this night, Dave Pomeroy was learning how to play the standup bass in a school orchestra in Virginia. Growing up as the son of a military man, Dave experienced life in a few different places and also learned how to play the electric bass before eventually permanently relocating to Nashville in 1977. Following a musical heart inspired by the British Invasion, his foray into the world of the fretless bass would eventually come full circle when his skills landed him session work with Keith WhitleyDavePomeroy and Trisha Yearwood many years later.

The road that led to A-team session work in the Nashville studio scene of the 80’s and 90’s was filled with a plethora of life and music enriching experiences. Working with the legendary Don Williams from 1980 to 1994 was a “journey into minimalism” which ultimately taught him the power of the song. Under the wing of this world-class songwriter and performer, Dave learned how to become a great songwriter, studio musician and producer in his own right.

“Don changed my life… these are all things he taught me, just by example and by encouraging me and giving me respect…”

A key moment in Dave’s life came 10 days after he finished recording on Keith Whitley’s fourth album, when the legendary singer died suddenly of an alcohol overdose.

“…It really shook me up and I realized that I was not at a good place in my life, I needed to change some things and make myself a happy person…it really did change my life and made me realize that life is precious and you better get on with what you’re trying to do…”

Dave continued on as an in-demand session player, his work with Keith Whitley ultimately leading to recording the bass tracks on Trisha Yearwood’s first seven albums as well as countless other major-label projects.

“One of the lessons that I really want to impart is that you have to listen to your inner voice when it talks to you, because if you don’t, it will stop talking…”

He joined the Nashville Musicians Union, AFM Local 257 in 1978, gradually becoming more and more involved in the years that followed. As the years rolled by he became frustrated with the status quo of the Union, feeling there was a growing “disconnect between players and leadership”. In 2008 he ran for union president and won the election. Dave shared that the Musicians Union has totally changed, both here and nationally and spoke about its role in regards to the rights of the individual musician.

“It’s really about trying to spread the word that it’s okay to take care of business, and not all musicians are good at that…in this day and age, if you don’t protect yourself who’s going to? If the Musicians Union doesn’t have your back, it’s you against the music business, good luck with that, it works for some people, but at the same time it’s good to know that there are resources and that you do have something you can fall back on.”

One of his roles as union president is fighting for musician and songwriter rights to be paid for their work, and the reality of digital piracy.

“We’ve been through this terrible thing with digital piracy… it really just decimated the way things were. But now we’re starting to see that people are actually understanding that it’s not that big of a deal to spend $1.29 or $.99 to buy a song instead of stealing it, and that if you want to have a music business in the future it may not be there if you’re not willing to pay for stuff…it’s okay to be a consumer, it’s okay to be a fan, I’m still a fan.”

Near the end of Dave’s talk he shared a few pieces of advice one can only learn from a lifetime of pursuits in the music business:

  • Take nothing for granted
  • Don’t be afraid to ask questions
  • There are no stupid questions
  • Strive to play with players who are better than you
  • Be honest with yourself
  • Be a nice person, nobody wants to work with a jerk
  • Don’t take it personal if you don’t get the call
  • Owning your own stuff is the way of the future

DavePerformanceAfter some questions and answers Dave played a brief set of original solo material using a very unique approach. Tying into his theme of “individual entrepreneurship in a changing music scene” he used two basses, one on a stand and one he wore around his neck to create loops on the fly using a loop machine. He then sang tunes over the loop accompanying his performance on the second bass by playing secondary parts, fills and solos. It was an inspired performance that everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy.

His portion of the night concluded, and the open jam began featuring a combination of Berklee alumni and others from the Nashville music community. The jam covered a lot of ground, everything from blues jams to original songs by some up-and-coming Nashville songwriters.

I would like to extend a big thank you to Dave Pomeroy for sharing his wisdom and music, Jack Zander for videotaping this event, The Rutledge, Berklee alumni volunteers Shantell Ogden, Heston Alley, Blake Branch, and everyone else who came out for this event. See you at the next one!

The Nashville Berklee Jam is held at The Rutledge on the last Monday of every other month, with the next event to take place on Monday, August 26 when I will be giving a talk about navigating the Nashville Music Industry

For more info about future events, please visit the Nashville Berklee Jam website NashvilleBerkleeJam.com

If you would like to learn more about the Nashville music industry, please check out my website and book “The Nashville Musician’s Survival Guide”.

AlumsPlaying

Nashville Berklee Jam with Dallas Davidson – February 18, 2013 – Part II

By Eric Normand

We were only halfway through our very first Nashville Berklee Jam at The Rutledge and those in attendance had received some amazing perspective, and enjoyed an inspired performance from one of Nashville’s top songwriters, Dallas Davidson. After Dallas’s portion of the night was over we took a moment to reorganize and then began the open jam portion of this night.

Among those who performed were alums, Amanda Williams (also one of the organizers of this event), Mason Stevens, who played a Delta blues instrument known as the “Diddly Bo”, drummers, John Rodrigue and Russell Garner, and bassist, Austin Solomon (Austin took a means solo in Cissy Strut). A few others from the Nashville music community also sat in on drums, Austin Marshall and Tom Drenon.

All the performances were strong and everyone who participated had a great time, but don’t take my word for it, check out the videos below to get a better idea of what can happen at The Nashville Berklee Jam!

The Nashville Berklee Jam is held at The Rutledge on the last Monday of every other month, with the next event to take place on Monday, April 29 featuring special guest, Bassist, Bryan Beller (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Mike Keneally) who will also be joined by his wife, Kira Small.

For more info about future events, please visit the Nashville Berklee Jam website NashvilleBerkleeJam.com

If you would like to learn more about the Nashville music industry, please check out my website and book “The Nashville Musician’s Survival Guide”.

Nashville Berklee Jam with Dallas Davidson, February 18, 2013 – Part I

By Eric Normand

A cold, damp rainy night wasn’t enough to stop Berklee alumni and others from converging on one of Nashville’s coolest venues, The Rutledge in what would be the first Nashville Berklee Jam to be held in downtown Nashville. Monday, February 18 marked the one-year anniversary of this event which had previously been held in the suburb of Kingston Springs, and the move to downtown aims to kick the event’s profile up a notch as this centrally located venue is perhaps one of the finest performance rooms in the city.

People began rolling in around 6:30, and the guest speaker on this night, 2012 NSAI, ACM, and BMI songwriter of the year, Dallas Davidson began his portion of the night shortly after 7:00 PM. Dallas, Rhett Akins, and Ben Haslip, make up the songwriting team known as “The Peach Pickers”, who in recent years have become the most successful songwriting team in the history of Nashville. Since moving to Music City from Albany, GA in 2004 Dallas has had over 100 of his compositions recorded including 13 number one hits – “Gimme That Girl”, “Just a Kiss”, “The One That Got Away”, and “I Don’t Want This Night to End”, to name a few.

I gave him a brief introduction, he spoke briefly about his journey to Nashville and how he got his start as an “in-the- trenches commercial songwriter”, and then he quickly got into some questions and answers.

In response to a question about naysayers along the way during the years leading up to his recent success, Dallas candidly responded:

“The list is long and distinguished… starting with my dad… [Laughs]… a lot of publishing companies passed on me, all of ‘em did… the first time around and the second time around.”

He went on to tell of how he got his first big break, a story which underscores the importance of a person’s character.

“A guy named Brett Jones actually signed me to a publishing deal. He started a company called Big Borassa, I was his first writer that he ever signed, and he swears that he didn’t even listen to my songs; he just got to know me and believed in me… I was very, very fortunate to have somebody like that guy come in there and give me a shot and write with me and teach me a lot of stuff.”

Dallas spoke about how he uses his small-town roots to provide topics to write about, as he wants to be “the mouthpiece” of his rural friends. He shared that he likes to write the melody first, then the groove before starting on the lyrics.

In response to “What advice would you give aspiring songwriters?” Dallas replied:

You’ve got to write a bunch of songs… I mean this in the friendliest, competitive way… your direct competition is me and Rhett Akins and were writing 100 to 150 songs a year… Work harder than us and believe in yourself, because that’s all we did… don’t take no for an answer…

Concluding his portion of the night was a mini set of four of his recent number one hits, which we were fortunate to capture on video (courtesy Jack Zander). The band behind him on this night consisted of the players who backed Dallas and Rhett Akins on the 2012 Luke Bryan Farm Tour – Tom Good on bass, Nick Forchione on Drums, and me on guitar. Dallas’s heartfelt performance was well received, and upon its conclusion I thanked him and took a few minutes to reorganize for the jam portion of this event (which will be explored in part two of this blog). Meanwhile, please enjoy the videos below from Dallas’s performance!

The Nashville Berklee Jam is held at The Rutledge on the last Monday of every other month, with the next event to take place on Monday, April 29 featuring special guest, Bassist, Bryan Beller (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Mike Keneally) who will also be joined by his wife, Kira Small.

For more info about future events, please visit the Nashville Berklee Jam website NashvilleBerkleeJam.com

If you would like to learn more about the Nashville music industry, please check out my website and book “The Nashville Musician’s Survival Guide”.

 

Rhett Akins: Hit Writer, Small Town Swagger

Our most recent Nashville Berklee Jam featured hit songwriter and country music artist, Rhett Akins as the guest speaker and performer. The Georgia native and member of the red hot songwriting team, “The Peach Pickers” is currently one of Nashville’s hottest songwriters, and his talk focused on just about every aspect of that world you could imagine. Working with Rhett as his tour manager, bandleader, and lead guitarist for the last seven years has given me some great perspective on what goes on in the world of a Nashville songwriter. And on this comfortable late summer night he gave the crowd of alums and locals at the Fillin’ Station a real peek behind the curtain into that otherwise secret society. Rhett preceded and followed his talk by performing some of his most recent mega-hits with two members of the alumni house band (Heston Alley on drums and me on guitar) and two other members of his touring band – session aces and former “G-men”, Mike Chapman on bass and Chris Leuzinger on guitar. Rhett also invited fiddle player/singer and Berklee alum, Michel Lambert to the stage to perform some classic country and bluegrass. Today’s guest blog post about this event was written by performing writer and fellow Berklee alum, Shantell Ogden ’05. Here’s her recap of this great talk:

 

Rhett Akins: Hit Writer, Small Town Swagger – by Shantell Ogden

After twenty years in the music industry in Nashville, there isn’t much that Rhett Akins hasn’t seen. He stopped by our recent Berklee College of Music alumni event (hosted by Eric Normand) to share some of his experience as an artist and songwriter.

The early days…

Rhett described music itself as his biggest motivator as a kid. He said he “always had his head between speakers” and joked that he listened to the Kiss Alive II album so much that he probably knows “every sound on that record.”

“Not having access to music at all times made me love it more,” he said. “We didn’t have iPods back then so you had to make the effort to buy and listen to it.”

Rhett said his early songs were very personal. “I would write songs in deer blinds about girls back in high school. Back then, I was just writing what I knew and what was true to me.”

Rhett first came to Nashville with his grandpa who knew an entertainment lawyer through a family connection. Through this connection, Rhett met John Jarrard, a hit songwriter in town. John was blind and counted the steps from his home to his Music Row office to write each day.

“I guess he liked me and thought I had potential,” said Rhett. “We started writing songs together and I learned a lot from him.”

Not long after, Paul Worley signed both Rhett and Terri Clark to Sony/ATV publishing as writers and artists. Rhett was with Sony from 1993 to 1996. [Note: He didn’t have a publishing deal for 10 years (because he was writing songs for himself as an artist). He signed a co-publishing deal with EMI in 2006, and since EMI was purchased he now writes for Sony again.]

Rhett admits that in his early career, the biggest mistakes he made were in trusting people on a handshake, like he had in his hometown in Georgia.

“I’m really glad that my granddad and our lawyers were smart enough not to lock us into lifetime contracts,” said Rhett. “Those contracts cost a lot of bands a lot of money to get out of.”

He said that sometimes speaking his mind has also been a mistake, but that’s not something he regrets much. Even though some choices weren’t the best for his career, they were the best for the music he was creating.

Pinch me moments…

When asked about some of his career ‘pinch me moments’ Rhett said there were a lot of them. Here are a few he mentioned:

• When he was 22, Rhett was sitting in Donna Hill’s office when the phone rang and she said, “Hang on a minute, it’s Conway.” Rhett was a huge Conway Twitty fan, and could hear his idol’s voice on the phone.

• He was at the AMA awards one year sitting between LL Cool J and The Smashing Pumpkins.

• Hank Williams Jr. recorded one of his songs, “Thirsty,” on an album he did in 2010.

• He toured with Reba and was on the David Letterman show.

Nowadays…

Rhett said he’s evolved as a writer in how he writes and where the ideas come from.

“When you write over a 100 songs a year, you start pulling ideas from anywhere and everywhere,” he said. “I still want to write what’s true, it just might be someone else’s story.”

And sometimes he even has a specific artist in mind when he’s working on a song.

“When we were writing ‘Honeybee’ the chorus came first,” he said. “We knew that the verses had to be a little crazy because a girl would just laugh if a guy actually said, ‘you be my little Loretta, I’ll be your Conway’ and the other lines in the chorus. Ben [Hayslip] and I were thinking about Blake Shelton for it because he has the sense of humor to pull off a song like that.”

“Honeybee” became a number one Billboard hit for Blake, making it just one of the songs that Rhett and the other Peach Pickers (Dallas Davidson and Ben Hayslip) have written in recent years.

So, what is a writing session like with the Peach Pickers?

“We are really laid back about it,” said Rhett. “We usually get together around 11:00 every Wednesday and talk about hunting and sports for a bit. We eat lunch and then usually someone has an idea to work on. If we don’t finish it that week, we get to it again the next week.”

Dallas and Rhett are usually thinking about the music, while Ben is more focused on lyrics. The three have written so much together they’ve built up a lot of trust.

“We tell each other when we don’t like something, and sometimes we think the songs should go in different directions,” said Rhett.

Despite all of his success, Rhett is quick to point out that the music industry and which songs get cut is still a mystery to him.

“I don’t understand why some songs suck and somehow they become a hit, while other songs you think are hits never make it,” he said. “I just show up everyday because you never know when the magic is going to happen.”

Rhett likes being a songwriter because writers don’t have the pressure of radio that artists do and “you can write 10 bad songs and not worry about it, but an artist can’t record too many bad songs in a row if they want a career.”

Rhett isn’t afraid to cross genres as a writer. He recently collaborated on some rap music with T-Pain and said that in his view the new era of country is really headed musically in a more rock/pop/hip-hop direction.

Accomplishments aside, you can’t help but want to shoot the breeze with Rhett. He’s got a laid-back small town swagger, and he isn’t afraid to be who is his.

For more information on Rhett, visit his website. For more information on monthly Berklee alumni events in Nashville, visit Nashville Berklee Jam (events are free and open to the public). To view the original blog post and other music industry articles by Shantell, please visit her website at www.shantellogden.com. If you’re interested in reading a in-depth interview with Rhett about songwriting, check out “The Nashville Musician’s Survival Guide” by Eric Normand

Share
Buy The Book!