I will admit that I hit a bit of a creative wall about a week ago and made the grand decision to take an extended break to not only spend more time with family (which there is no such thing as too much of if you ask me), but to take a few days off from writing. I'm not even going to pretend like songwriting is a difficult job. But sometimes you just need a few days to reboot the creative rhyme/melody/hook/lyric bank inside of you. Can I get an 'amen' from all my fellow writers?
On the writing front, I've always felt that it's really important to keep coming back to the midwest because these are my people. This is my audience. This is who I am ultimately writing for. Not the tourists at the Bluebird. Not Robert K. Oermann (no offense. I really like that guy.). Not the college kids at Belmont (especially not them). Not even my fellow songwriters on the Row. I'm writing for the farmer's daughters and the high school quarterbacks and the kids who makeout on dirt roads. And the dads who work 40-hours-a-week to take care of the women who drive minivans and teach Sunday school. I'm not saying that my music doesn't apply to people in the city. Because I think it does in a big way. But there's something about the country music value system that comes in the most concentrated version around these parts. And, I figure that it only helps me understand myself better as an artist to better understand my audience. Which is the main-street-drivin' midwest.
So, here I am. Still toolin' around town. Inhaling dangerous amounts of wind-blown dirt. Shootin' hoops with the neighbor kids in the driveway. Talking to everybody I know at the grocery story. And letting it all soak in.
So that in a few days I can run back to Nashville and write an honest country song about the honest to God country.
sister i think right there you have a country song at it's best... the part about the farmers daughters and highschool kids.. the husbands and wife... give it a melody and you've got a song that'll touch each one of your fans!
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