I started creating my own songs when I was a kid...a teenager somewhere around 1972. I was always better at writing music, and the words were forced together to fit the music. My lyrics were never any good because I was not really a singer, and I always borrowed themes and phrases from the many cover tunes that I had learned.

Then in the 2000's some things clicked into place. When Terry Rich and I started Caney Fork Bluegrass at the Silver Point Schoolhouse (Community Center) I had to sing many of the songs we did. Several years later Sherron Haney joined the group, and she became my vocal "coach" I owe Sherron a great debt of gratitude, because she was one of the few people that ever encouraged my singing, and tried to help me. Sherron is a most excellent singer/songwriter, and can also sing all kinds of harmony parts with near perfect pitch.

As Caney Fork got on its feet, I started writing lyrics again. I had always thought that my own life was rather dull, and that I really didn't have any experiences worth writing about. But I started writing down my dreams, and also I kept a text file with parts of ideas and phrases. Soon I hade a huge grab-bag of bits and pieces to draw from. Slowly, complete songs began to take shape. Virtually every song was based on my personal life experiences, although I took plenty of artistic liberty to disguise this fact...the writing just exploded after I discovered how to accentuate the profound truths found in everyday experiences. Also, I feel compeled to give credit to creative forces other than self. I am refering to "the Muse" which I think of as a spirit that visits from time to time. My finest creations just fell out of thin air in nearly finished form...its like the spirit just handed it to me. In other instances, the spirit is like Charles Dickens' "Ghost of Christmas Past"... mute, but pointing to fragments of memories and thoughts in my own mind. Cumberland Requiem, which I consider the best song in my catalog, came into being in this way.

I made another change in the way that I approached the creative process. I would start with a theme and some basic lyrical phrases, and create a rough draft of the words that resembled a free-form poem. Then I would experiment with the music until I settled on a rough draft of the chord pattern. The 3rd step, would basically be ad lib singing with the chord pattern to develop a melody that worked. Also, during this phase, I modify the lyrics and the music as needed to make them fit together. Time signature, tempo and key are also experimented with during this phase.

Finally, I would write it down as a fake sheet, or chart. Sometimes I record a rough scratch track so that I don't forget the melody. At this point it can be laid aside, or recording starts immediately, depending on my time constraints. Other changes are often made during recording to accomodate the recording process, or available instruments and voices. Often, the music that one "hears" in their head cannot be created accurately in the "real" world with a "real" budget

Now that I am getting older, and approaching retirement, I am no longer pushing myself to write new songs. What am I going to do? Go out on the road to perform and promote new original songs? I don't think so, not at this age. I have a huge catalog of originals that have never been recorded, and a huge bucket-list of cover tunes that I would like to record, also. So these days I stay busy in my studio...working on a backlog of recordings that will, no doubt, last many years. If a new song "shows up" then I will document it only enough to be able to pick up on it later, if required.

The internet has turned the music business on its head, and the old business model no longer works...one constantly runs across interviews with musicians and entertainers from the old school, and they are whining about how hard it is to make money anymore. Those old fossils don't want to change, and they don't want to accept that the music business has changed. But its fine with me. The computer, the internet, and their associated digital technologys have made it economically possible for many more people to produce, publish, and market music, video, and even movies. These advancements have made the technology available to the masses, and the little home studio is almost equal to the big name studios in LA and New York. There are so many competitors in the business now, that nobody can make any money, and we are all now equally poor. boo hoo hoo





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