KEEP THE SONGS ON COMING!

Over the past few years, several people have asked me what inspires me to keep writing, performing, and recording songs. Some are impressed by the number of CDs of original songs and instrumental arrangements I've recorded over the past twenty-five years. The current total is eleven, that is, not including one of two CD compilations of Walker Open Stage participants that fellow songwriter John Bennett recorded for me in 2008.

Yes! What inspires me to write songs and keep on performing and recording them? That is a good question. There are many factors. For one thing, songwriting combines my love of singing and playing music with my love of the written word. Songs are the ideal blend of words and melodies. In many ways, they resemble poems set to music. Indeed, my first love was poetry which I began writing in high school and college.

However, I didn't start writing songs until I was living in Germany in 1971. At that time, I was inspired by singer-songwriters like Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, John Denver, Donovan Leitch, and Cat Stevens, as well as folk-rock groups like The Beatles, The Bee Gees, The Beach Boys, The Mamas and Papas, The Doors, and The Moody Blues. But it took me years before I gained enough confidence to write and play my own songs. And for a long time afterwards, I did mostly cover songs.

One thing that prompted me to start writing my own songs was hearing a songwriter from Walker Church (which I joined in 1986) named Howard Kranz perform his own material. That made me want to emulate him. Furthermore, I can't emphasize enough the important role Open Mics played in getting me to perform my own songs. There, I met other aspiring, like-minded singer-songwriters who provided me with a music community I came to depend on. For twenty years, I even hosted my own monthly Open Stage at Walker Church. There, I began performing my own songs on a more regular basis.

Around this time, I also joined an earlier version of MAS (Minnesota Association of Songwriters) that was started by John Bennett, another prolific songwriter like Howard. There, I not only tried out new songs, but also had them critiqued by other songwriters. I'll never forget some of the first comments I received. Somebody told me that all my songs sounded like kids' songs. Although I found that somewhat disparaging, it didn't prevent me from continuing to work on improving my songs.

In 1990, I began recording my own songs, something I wrote about in a MAS newsletter article. Although I enjoy the recording process, I feel somewhat intimidated and overwhelmed by the ever more rapidly changing technology in the music scene. Just when I've become comfortable recording CDs, that technology has already become outdated since many musicians no longer make CDs. But I still like the solid feel of a CD which I can buy and play at home.

I believe that I will always enjoy writing songs. I never seem to run out of material to write about, and I've become more confident in my songwriting ability. I keep several notebooks in which I jot down song fragments, ideas, and hooks. Often, I won't write down the final version of a song until years after my first draft. And I'm not afraid to keep on revising a song if I can make it sound more effective. I've also done some collaborating with other songwriters. In the past, I've usually been asked to add a melody to lyrics the other person has written. I find this ironic since I consider writing lyrics to be my strong suit. Reading books on songwriting has also helped me come up with new ideas and song structures. Two favorite authors are Pat Pattison's Writing Better Lyrics, and Paul Zollo's Songwriters on Songwriting. I've come across many other good books on songwriting.

Two years ago, I taught a community ed class at Southwest High School called Songwriting Workshop. Teaching not only prompted me to write new songs so I could practice what I preached, but also got me to examine songwriting in a more deliberative way. I believe the best way to learn something is to teach it.

Of course, I always look forward to our monthly MAS song review sessions where I can get valuable critiques for my songs from fellow songwriters. I've also enjoyed attending various MAS songwriting workshops and round-robins where I get a chance to play my own songs and learn from seasoned songwriters, including some from Nashville.

Writing songs gives me a chance to express my thoughts and feelings with a blend of words and melodies. In my songs, I like to cover a wide range of topics which include

socio-political concerns, friendship, death and dying, my mental health struggles, spirituality, extra-planetary exploration, my love of music and nature, animals and pets (dogs, cats, rabbits, and birds), and the wild and wacky side of life. On my CDs, I accompany my vocals on a wide assortment of instruments like autoharp, guitar, banjo, fiddle, keyboards, piano, harmonica, tin whistle, and kazoo. Each instrument adds its own special flavor to the final musical mix. I think that one of the most important lessons I've learned in fifty-five years of songwriting is that it's always better to be part of a community instead of trying to do it all by yourself.