A Songwriter's Journey

IT’S Time!

The creation process of writing a song never ceases to amaze me. Some songs can take several hours, several sessions. One song I have I started over 20 years ago and I’m still not happy with the final product!! And sometimes a song practically writes itself in mere minutes.

That’s what happened last Saturday!

Saturday morning I awoke and checked my email – a music supervisor was looking for a song with specific criteria about leaving a situation and going home. Some 35 minutes later I had a full lyric and after another 35 minutes – by Noon – I had the music. I did a quick guitar/vocal demo, submitted to the opportunity and I hope for the best.

I placed it today on Soundcloud without promotion – someone in Germany has already “Favorited” the song so thought I’d share….”It’s Time”…
https://soundcloud.com/davecolvinsongs/its-time-dave-colvin

Have a great and musical weekend!

Dave – A Songwriter’s Journey

I thought it might be usefull and cathartic to look back over this past year and celebrate those things that changed my life! I will have a separate post for each “Gratitude” so bookmark this and check back often to see where I am at in being grateful! They won’t be in chronological order but as I remember them!

However, the first I am grateful for is Madalyn McHugh’s recording of a song co-written with Greg Shields and Bobby Rennert called “THIS SIDE OF LOVE”! The song was written three years ago at a Tunesmith writer’s event.

It started with my recieving the weekly RowFax listing for January 12th of artists looking for songs for their CD projects. The listing read as:

“Madalyn McHugh/Creative Soul Records/Eric Copeland/January/City: Thompsons Station, TN/Pitch Preference: MP3/Contact: xxxxx@gmail.com Description: Upbeat pop Country; a la Carrie Underwood’s “All American Girl,” or Kellie Pickler’s “Best Days of Your Life.” The song needs to have an upbeat feel, and be a belter for an alto. The artist is 18, so the song must be reflective of that age; no bar songs, offensive lyrics, or honky tonk type things. The lyrics must be positive, and can also be about God as this is a Christian artist. We have all the other songs we need, so please only send songs that fit the song description above. No ballads or P&W please. The artist will be recording at a major Nashville studio with the some of the top session players and engineers in the business, so besides standard mechanical royalties, you will have an incredible version of your song. Please send an MP3 with lyrics”

If you notice, the listing states that “We have all the other songs we need…” in other words this was to be the final selected song!!

So, based on that the only logical song from the Arnybarn Music catalog was “This Side of Love” (TSOL)!! Well, I believe I heard back from Eric at Creative Soul Records the next day or the day after that! They loved the song and were going to record it! Though a co-write, I finally was going to be part of an official “Song Cut”!! – for more detail see my previous post at dream!

Madalyn then decided later to release TSOL as her first SINGLE off her CD, Stepping Stone!

So this wonderful song with it’s hopeful message is now being heard on the radio and in her concerts! I am so grateful for Madalyn’s talent in singing the song and those around her supporting that talent which now has made TSOL a major event in this year for me. Visit her website for more examples of her CD – the whole album is wonderful!

I will always be grateful for being a part of “THIS SIDE OF LOVE”!!!

Dave

In late 2007 I was walking past our stereo and happened to glance down. On top of the turntable was my copy of the late/great Kenny Rankin’s Christmas CD. On the cover is a depiction of the three wise men and the Star of Bethlehem.
I stopped in my tracks! “One of these days…”, I thought, “I need to write a new song about the three wise men (kings)” As far as I knew the most famous song was “We Three Kings”.
So inspired, I went over to my 100+ year old grand upright piano and started playing some chords. One thing I learned from watching Paul McCartney discuss the songs he wrote for his “Chaos & Creation In The Backyard” CD – he allows himself to throw out phrases while playing and see where it leads him. So in thinking about the three wise men I sang, “One brought gold…..” “Hmmm” I thought, I know what the next lines will be! “One brought Myrrh…” (I had to look up how to spell that one.) The song really almost wrote itself!
2007 was a turning point for me as far as my songwriting is concerned. I am not sure why but beginning with a song I wrote in August called “Change The Way” there was a maturity and growth to my writing that had not been evident prior to that song. It was immediately followed by another song co-written by my Wife, Debbie, called “Gently Falls” which now can be heard in the Carbon Creek episode of season 2 of the TV series “Star Trek: Enterprise”!
So on December 15th, 2007 I finished “This Child Of Bethlehem” and asked Debbie to come in to hear it. With the old upright I must have my back to her so I wasn’t able to see her reaction as I was singing the song. When I finished, I turned around to discover she was wiping tears from her eyes! I asked “What’s the matter? Was it that bad?” She chuckled and said, “No. it’s BEAUTIFUL”!!
Two weeks later we attended the New Year’s Day service at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Antioch, TN. Being New Year’s Day , there was only about 6 people including the Rector in attendance! At the end of the service, Debbie asked the other’s if I could sing my new song for them of which they replied “Of course!”
Singing a capella, my voice really carried in the nearly empty sanctuary! They all thought the song was very good!
Since then it has been my dream for the song to become a Christmas time standard! The track you hear was produced by Kent Goodson of Digitracks Demo Service here in Nashville. Kent has done many of my demos over the years. The wonderful fiddle you hear in the song was played by Suzanne Rohrer a.k.a. The Fiddle Queen!
Last year, I re-recorded the vocal and added the song to MY first Christmas CD “Christmas Memory“!

I had always wanted to make a video of the song but could not find the right images to make it the best it can be. I recently discovered a new website called www.FreeBibleImages.org that allows the downloading of their images as long as they are used to tell the stories of the Bible accurately! The photos are perfect for the song I believe!
Please enjoy the song/video – feel free to share it on your Facebook or websites or email it to family/friends! I wrote it to be heard and share the story of the 3 Wise Men who followed a star to find Jesus! Don’t forget to comment below as well!
Merry Christmas!!
Dave

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I know I said esterday on Facebook how much I love getting to do what I love! But there is so much cool stuff going on with Arnybarn Music – much I can’t share yet because to be treated like a professional one must ACT like a professional. When you do act professionally I can assure you the major players in whatever your industry is, will treat you professionally as well!
Someone recently wanted me to share the “secrets” of how I got a song on Star Trek Enterprise or got a song(s) cut. Well there is no ‘secret’! Hard work and having a good product and a splash of luck (the point where opportunity meets preparation) – that is the “secret”.
Also, eliminating any shoulder chips and eliminating negativity – in my case no longer asking for song critiques – all of this helps move things along!
Believe in yourself first!
Best to all
Dave