Nashville Songwriter Series: Don Poythress

(PHOTO: Don Poythress, right, with multi-genre music legend Ricky Skaggs on mandolin.)

Don Poythress is one of the most under-the-radar professional songwriters in Nashville. While other writers may lead their own high-profile bands or even have their own television shows, Poythress is a humble guy who leads the music in a Nashville-area church on Sundays and has writing appointments every week with the same old friends. A Mississippi native, Poythress has long believed that writing and singing for the country and Christian genres is his calling, and if it isn’t, well, he’s done all right with it anyway. His songs have been recorded by country stars like Trisha Yearwood, Blake Shelton and Jake Owen, and such Christian artists as Jaci Velasquez, Guy Penrod and former Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell, just to name a few.

American Songwriter caught up with Poythress while he was in the midst of preparing himself to lead worship at the Break Forth Canada Christian conference in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where acts like Casting Crowns and Geoff Moore were performing.

When I ask other writers who they would like to have cut one of their songs, some of them say Willie Nelson. But you’ve already had three Willie Nelson cuts. How did those come about?

My first Willie Nelson recording was one of those odd things that you couldn’t plan if you tried. My friend Leslie Satcher and I had written a song called “You Remain,” and Willie’s harmonica player Mickey Raphael had just recorded the song with her for her new record. Mickey really liked the song and told us that he really wanted Willie to hear it, but that he had never had much luck getting Willie to record songs he pitched to him, much to our chagrin. Nevertheless, Mickey took a copy of the song with him to the studio in California where Willie and Matt Serletic were to begin recording the The Great Divide project. Mickey said that he walked into the studio and there was a small table where Matt had placed the songs he had planned to record, and without saying a word he placed our song on the table. After recording all week and finishing the songs Matt had brought, they were wrapping up, and the musicians were leaving the studio. Mickey said, “All of a sudden I turned around and Matt had walked over to that little table and picked up that CD, put his headphones on, and started listening to it. A few minutes later he took his headphones off, turned to the guys, and said we’ve got to cut one more song!” Mickey said he almost fainted. They caught Willie as he was about to leave as it was late at night, and asked if he would cut one more song. Lucky for me, he did! The other two cuts basically went thru the regular channels. My songplugger played songs for Lost Highway’s A&R folks and they played them for Willie’s producer James Stroud.

You do a lot of co-writing, and recently scored big with Easton Corbin’s debut single, “A Little More Country than That,” which you wrote with Rory Lee Feek (of Joey + Rory) and Wynn Varble. How long ago was that song written, and how was it pitched?

“A Little More Country” was written about five years ago specifically for another artist that was preparing to record his second album. We were really disappointed when it didn’t make his project. I know the songpluggers kept pitching it over the years, but it wasn’t until Carson Chamberlain heard it and recorded it on Easton that the song found its home.

Co-writing can be a delicate proposition. When you’ve got what you think is a great idea, how do you decide which co-writer to approach with it at the risk of having it go nowhere, and having to be shelved because that co-writer would ultimately want credit if it ever gets finished?

When I begin co-writing with someone I try to do my homework and know what his or her musical style is, lyrically and musically. That helps me to know what kind of idea might work well with them. Also, as you build your community of co-writers you know which ones to take certain ideas to and which ones not to. Not because they are any more or less talented, but because each writer has a certain style.

You’re a devout Christian and the longtime worship leader at a Nashville-area church. Do you have any trouble reconciling being part of Music Row, which isn’t always regarded as the most ethical place of business?

No. I’ve always felt like it was the Lord’s will for me to write country music and to be a part of that community. The challenge as a Christian is to not let myself be sucked into the greed, jealousy, and resentment that the music business can foster. C.S. Lewis wrote, “The world does not need more Christian writers, it needs more good writers and composers who are Christians.” I think that’s right.

A lot of writers with your kind of success start their own publishing companies, but you choose to keep a publishing deal, in this case with the Vibe Room. Why is that?

Well, I do own publishing companies that work in conjunction with some of the publishers that I’ve signed with. This allows me to retain a certain amount of ownership without having to do all of the administration and songplugging myself. There are certain people that enjoy the administrative and political part of the business as much as the creative part and sometimes it makes sense for those people, if they have the means, to totally self-publish. But personally, I would rather concentrate on writing songs as much as possible and be a part of a team that can help me with the other aspects of the business. I think it can be very easy to lose focus on what you do best when you start trying to wear too many hats.

The music business is changing faster than we can keep up with it and the old models are going out the window. What would you tell a new writer coming to town to focus on in his or her first 90 days here?

No matter what the new distribution or marketing models are, we still have to write great songs that move people. So, I would encourage young writers to try and find seasoned writers to mentor them in their songwriting skills. With regard to publishing and record deals, I would tell them to keep their minds open as the music business evolves and don’t look to the past models as the only, or even necessarily the best, choices. The times they are a changin’!

Since Willie’s already covered, who would you like to get a cut on before you die?

Jimmy Buffett, I think! I love to have songs recorded by other writers that have inspired me, and Buffett’s music has done that for me for years. I’m a Parrothead from way back!