Writer's Room

Music has always been a reflection of what is happening in the world. Before the modern age of the internet and social media, music was one of the best ways to reach people. Of course, it still...

Reflections through the centuries on "The People's Key" “I find C major to be the key of strength, but also the key of regret.” -...

Featuring Merle Haggard, David Byrne, Townes Van Zandt, Tom Petty, Laura Nyro, Bob Dylan, Lindsey Buckingham, Dave Brubeck, Elvis Costello, Joe Henry, Rickie Lee Jones, Darryl Hall, Brian Wilson, Lamont Dozier & Randy...

Welcome to “Between The Rhymes,” a new Songwriter U column powered by SongTown and featured in American Songwriter every other print issue, and monthly on AmericanSongwriter.com.  This issue, I want to talk about something...

And how to avoid the comfort zone of incompletion If you want to write a song about the moonYou want to write a spiritual tuneThen do it!Write a song about the moonFrom “Song...

One of the questions I get most often when I mentor songwriters is “Why does everyone tell me I need to write more conversational lyrics?” While there is no “one size fits all” answer to how your lyrics...

Welcome to “The Music Lab,” a new column powered by SongTown and featured in American Songwriter every month.  One of the most noticeable style shifts in songwriting over the last few years is the emergence of chorus-like hooksin...

Welcome to “The Music Lab,” a new Songwriter U column powered by SongTown and featured in American Songwriter every other print issue, and monthly on AmericanSongwriter.com. I’m obsessed...

In times of crisis, I am like a lot of other songwriters who go to the place we always go when we need to make sense of the world — music. Having spent most of my life...

Welcome to “Between The Rhymes,” a new Songwriter U column powered by SongTown and featured in American Songwriter every other print issue, and monthly on AmericanSongwriter.com. This column...