American Songwriter’s 35th Song Contest received an abundance of remarkable entries, and we thought you needed to hear some of the songs that kept us dancing through the judging process. Check out the second part of the 100+ songs we love below. Volume I can be found here. The winners of this year’s contest can More
“Walk” Written by Lauryn Marie Interview by American Songwriter American Songwriter: What made you decide to enter American Songwriter’s Song Contest? Lauryn Marie: I had an assignment in my songwriting class with Victoria Banks at Belmont University to enter a song contest. I actually entered the first American Songwriter Song Contest in 2020 and got an More
“If Chris is going to sing it, it’s got to be a song for the girl.” That’s how Bill DiLuigi (known as Bill “D” to most) summed up “Parking Lot Dancer,” the song he penned earlier this month with RCA Recording Artist Chris Young during his “dream co-writing session” in Nashville. As part of his More
On Thursday (Nov. 11), Madison, Mississippi-based songwriter Ryan T. Miller was named the grand prize winner of the 2021 American Songwriter Lyric Contest for his song “Road That Coal Made Black.” “I am so grateful and incredibly excited to be named the grand prize winner for the 2021 American Songwriter Lyric Contest,” says Miller. “This More
photo by Rachel Briggs Quinten Collier, the grand-prize lyric contest winner for 2009, flew into Nashville this past week to lay claim to his coveted prize package. The spoils of victory included an all-expense-paid trip to Music City, as well as a co-writing session with the legendary Rodney Crowell. The Clifton, Colorado, resident flew into More
Who said dreams don’t come true? On Saturday night, amateur songwriter Matt Hoggatt – a detective from Gautier, Mississippi accustomed to gigging at dive bars on weekends along the Gulf Coast – performed in front of 14,000 screaming fans at Jimmy Buffett’s concert in Birmingham, Alabama. Hoggatt won the American Songwriter January/February 2012 Lyric Contest More
Have you ever related a deck of cards to a relationship? In country singer/songwriter Jesse Labelle’s latest single, “Two Hearts and a Diamond,” he finds a connection between the two. The idea for this song came to Labelle while he was attending a wedding in Canada, when he heard the preacher mention that marriage is More
Caroline Spence2013 Grand Prize WinnerCo-write with Lee Brice Looking back, I’d say winning the 2013 Lyric Contest was one of the first major validations in my career. I’d been in Nashville for a few years at that point, quietly writing in my bedroom and just starting to tour. When I finished writing “Mint Condition,” I More
When Matthew Francis Andersen won the 2012 American Songwriter Lyric Contest the prize of co-writing with Hayes Carll may have seemed – at least at the time – a dream come true. Now, closing in on a decade later, he is releasing his album Pine River – that features tracks with Gurf Morlix – and More
