Videos by American Songwriter
Music fans and aspiring songwriters of all genres packed Nashville’s music clubs last week for the Nashville Songwriters Association International’s 24th Annual Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival. Writers (and artists) of all levels of skill, success and name recognition performed throughout the city, demonstrating once again that, as Shakespeare might say, “the song’s the thing.”
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 writers – some legends, some current tastemakers, some hoping for another shot at success, and some still struggling after many years in town – took to the stages of 10 Nashville clubs to share their songs during the five-night celebration. At Nashville’s newest music venue, The Country, 2015 SESAC Songwriter of the Year Cary Barlowe (tobyMac, Florida Georgia Line) played a round with songwriter friends Jonathan Singleton (Gary Allan, Chris Young), Jessi Alexander (Miley Cyrus, Blake Shelton), and Josh Thompson (Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw). Following that set, the club played host to Doobie Brother Tom Johnston, his rising artist daughter Lara Johnston, legendary New Grass Revival vocalist (and Doobie Brothers touring bassist) John Cowan, and renowned Nashville writer Paul Overstreet, who has had 27 top !0 songs on the country charts.
A few blocks away, a group of perhaps less successful but no less talented writers wowed the crowd at the Blue Bar. Writers Mark Irwin, Jaida Dreyer, Gavin Slate and Sara Beck performed for an enthusiastic audience, some of whom were no doubt familiar with Beck from her work with Kevin Costner and Modern West, the band her husband, Park Chisolm, plays guitar for. Chisolm himself was part of a Tin Pan South round at the Commodore Grille that included writer Walker Hayes (Colt Ford, Rodney Atkins).
“Park was playing at the Commodore at 6:00,” Beck said, “so I sang with him, and then we ran over to the Blue Bar for my set. Park writes with Mark Irwin a lot, and Park and Jaida and I write a lot, so it was a cool synergy throughout the night, which is one of the big strengths of Tin Pan South. That people write together in various pairings, sometimes write for the same [publishing] companies, and run in the same songwriting circles.”
The music at Tin Pan South continues to evolve from year to year, between the increasing pop influence in Nashville and the explosion of Americana and the various sub-genres it encompasses. This isn’t lost on NSAI Executive Director Bart Herbison, whose office sees nearly every type of writer come through its doors in search of advice and direction. “I believe that [the diversity] is just really a reflection of the times in Nashville,” Herbison said. “Nashville’s the ‘it’ music city on the planet right now, so this year’s Tin Pan South was a fun melting pot.”
As the songwriters played to full houses throughout the city all week, many fans showed up just to see some of their favorite artists. Singers like Kelsea Ballerini, Mac Davis, Tracy Lawrence, Kacey Musgraves, Dave Barnes, Sugarland’s Kristian Bush, cast members from ABC’s Nashville, and others played both the anticipated and the unexpected.
So what’s on tap for the 25th anniversary of Tin Pan South next year? Herbison is coy.
“Well, we actually have three anniversaries next year,” he said, “the 50th anniversary of NSAI, the 25th anniversary of Tin Pan South, and the 35th anniversary of the [NSAI-owned] Bluebird Café’. So it would be a little premature to say anything right now, but we’re considering several things. We’ll definitely be including all three anniversaries in our year.”
