Nixons rhymes with Kittens..kinda

I’m playing a co-headlining acoustic show soon with Tyson Meade. He was the frontman for the Chainsaw Kittens. I will now step outside my body, re-read that and truly not really be able to believe it. For those of you who don’t know the Kittens; here’s the perspective from me. Let’s back up and go to the brain (and heart and guts) of my 20 year old self. I was a student at OU in Norman, OK. Just getting my rock band, The Nixons, off the ground. What you do in that case is look around at other bands and artists. Here are the first two I had front and center in the local scene: Flaming Lips and Chainsaw Kittens. Both those bands moved us in a massive way. Now, if you know The Nixons music, you’re thinking...what the hell? There’s not much of those bands influence in The Nixons. But, yeah there is. Especially the live shows. They both rocked. They went all out. All in. Lights. Sweat. Show. And personality. They were just cool. And we just wanted to be some version of that.

Fast forward to an event I founded, The Oklahoma Songwriters Festival. Last year was year 3. It’s a 3 day event where we bring in songwriters from Nashville to perform, write and talk music in OKC. On the way to an event one night I get a text:

“...Tyson Meade here. I am proud of what you’re doing with your song fest. I would love to introduce you at the Saturday event and say a few words”.
He did intro me that year and tell flattering stories and say nice things. Fast forward again (last time) to this past Fest. He got on stage and we performed “She’s Gone Mad” together. Rewind (last time for that too) to me playing

acoustic gigs in Norman in college. I played songs and many nights not many people paid much attention. But that song. It was by that cool band that literally lives down the street. Made those nights better. Getting to duet it with Tyson over 20 years later was truly awesome.

Now, the moment that might just best it (woven into a shameless plug). Tyson and I will share the stage again in Tulsa July 26. Vanguard (plug #2: go buy tickets). We will trade songs. I will sing one, then the Kitten, then the Nixon, etc.

Selfishly, I would’ve done this just for fun. No money. Don’t tell the Vanguard that.

“She’s gone mad again, she does it silently. And all of the feathers from her pillow fall on the floor. And does this mean, she doesn’t love me anymore?”

When Music Heals

I’ve been lucky enough to have written a few hit songs as a writer and former artist. And to have had around 200 songs cut and released on major and indie record labels over the years.

But the best part of what I do, is provide a little goodness in someone’s life when it’s maybe just not so good. I cannot tell you how many people have sent letters, messages and personal “thank you’s”; because of a song I was part of writing or recording. 

It started with my band the Nixon’s highest charting song, “Sister”. Regardless of the fact that my sister’s move to the west coast provided the inspiration for the song; it became a touchstone for siblings that I never really saw coming as a twenty something, long haired rock singer from Oklahoma. But I now know of that song being played at countless memorial services or just “getting us through a tough time”. It continued with my solo release “Early Morning Phone Call” which prompted much more of the same. I did write this one when I actually lost my grandfather, who was a huge musical and life influence on me. Turns out people could relate. Then came “Temporary Home”; it has been used in charity campaigns for everything from veterans to housing initiatives. When you write a song like that, as I did with the superb Carrie Underwood, you don’t think about that or see it coming.

But, I think perhaps I just witnessed the power of music in one of the most profound ways ever this past weekend. My sons and I sang at a service for a family friend we lost. And midway through the third stanza of “Amazing Grace”; I looked down and saw the family on the front row…smiling. They had not done much, if any of that recently. And just seeing and hearing 3 friends/father and sons strumming the simplest of chords, singing a familiar song, maybe helped them heal. 

Just a little. 

Music is amazing. Music has made careers, paid for houses, made people dance and provided a soundtrack for millions of lives.

My favorite part: when music heals.

PIECES OF A SONG PT. 1 'THE VERSE'

There's no science in songwriting. Well, Rivers Cuomo might disagree. But there is some method to the madness. I'm gonna do a short series of mini-blogs about the art, method, struggle and magic of writing a song. Let's start at the beginning...

Verse 1.

I'd argue that the most important part of a song is the hook. We'll save that for later. The next most important, I'd argue is the line right before the hook. Some might say the title is up there too. Truth is, it's all way important, but we're here to talk verse. See, without the verse, there's no chorus, or hook.

Here's the experiment: we're gonna write a song (you're not getting any publishing). And I will take a look at each section, with each blog. While, this first one's about the verse, we're still gonna need a title. For our purposes, let's go with "Ferris Wheel". And let's just say for the sake of focus, that it's a country song. Not "twangy" country. We don't really do that around here. So, if I walked into a writing room with that title, the next thing that would be discussed is...what's the concept here? What's it about? Is it about the guy who invented the Ferris Wheel? Well, no that's awful. Is it about a runaway Ferris Wheel that destroyed a town? Of course not. It's obviously about a boy and girl who met on one.

So, verse 1. We need to establish...what's up? A carnival or fair has clearly come to a, we'll say small, town. Bobby is a bit of an outsider and Jenny is the prom queen. They're both in line for the, well you know; and they end up sitting on it together (wonder if anything happened interesting to put them in that fateful position? Remember that for verse 2). Then we need to establish what happens. In this case and in around 60% of all modern songs, they fall in love (yes, there was a study). We should, also set the scene best we can. Fill it out with some heart racing and introspection.

So something like this:
Small town, summer love started at the county fair
Jenny's waiting to take a ride Bobby's trying not to stare
Somehow they end up together his heart starts beating fast
Funny where you sometimes find the one, the one that's gonna last

Tune in soon for the next mini-blog: The Chorus, where things get...BIG.

STAY WITH THE SONG

I've had the pleasure of working with and becoming friends with the incredibly talented Travis Hill, who writes under the name Scooter Carusoe. Travis has written several hit songs, including perhaps my favorite country song ever, "Anything But Mine". Go listen and I'll wait.

See? Right? The melody on that "Cleveland" part. The verse lyrics that just put you in that seaside pavilion seeing them laugh when they trade "I love you's" cause they know it's not true.

I sat recently on a panel at a songwriter's event and he talked a lot about grinding...staying with a song. And I also can tell you he practices what he preaches. We have written a dozen songs together and not one happened in a day. We talk, get coffee, talk, maybe start a little idea; grab lunch, get a little further down the road on the idea; decide it's not quite right and make a minor adjustment that makes the whole first verse unusable, then we have to end the session to go pick up our kids at school (we record where the song is at into our phones before we leave).

Then we reconvene the next week and exchange notes. This is where he usually says something about waking up early this morning with a new first verse; which turns out to be brilliant; but makes the bridge not quite right. We plug in all the pieces then play the song down into our phones.

He calls me the next day and says he sat in bed last night tweaking the ending; one little twist makes the song all the more poignant. He sends me a voice memo of the latest version of our song.

Some days I write a song and demo it by happy hour. But with Travis I know it's gonna be different. That's his process and it works. Find your process (and trust it like Philly) and get to work.