Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

PART ONE:It's mailbag time! What are you saying about us?PART TWO:Scott and Paul's in-depth interview with Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer Bob MorrisonABOUT BOB MORRISON:After an artist career recording for the Columbia, Barnaby, Capitol, and Monument labels, Bob Morrison hit the #1 spot on the country charts as a songwriter with Kenny Rogers’ recording of “You Decorated My Life.” Also a Top 10 Billboard pop hit, the composition earned Morrison a Grammy for Best Country Song. Additionally, he co-wrote “Lookin’ for Love,” a #1 country single and a #5 pop hit popularized by Johnny Lee from the soundtrack of the film Urban Cowboy. Other chart-topping selections from Morrison’s catalog include Debby Boone’s “Are You on the Road to Loving Me Again,” Conway Twitty’s “Don’t Call Him a Cowboy,” and Highway 101’s “Whiskey, If You Were a Woman.” Further highlights from his songbook include Olivia Newton-John’s cut of “The River’s Too Wide,” Reba McEntire’s Top 10 single “(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven,” Kenny Rogers’ Top 5 “Love the World Away,” Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn’s “I Still Believe in Waltzes,” Gary Morris’s “The Love She Found in Me,” George Jones’s “Shine On,” and the Dixie Chicks’ “Tonight the Heartache’s on Me.” Just a few of the many other artists who’ve recorded Bob’s songs are Ray Charles, Roy Orbison, Glen Campbell, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr., Ray Price, John Anderson, Barbara Mandrell, Dottie West, Mel Tillis, The Kendalls, and The Carpenters. He was named ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year in 1978, 1980, 1981, and 1982, as well as NSAI Songwriter of the Year in 1981. In 2016 Bob was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

SUMMARY:Our guest is Grammy winner Kristian Bush, best known as one half of the country duo Sugarland. He chats about a career that has earned him six BMI awards, five ACM awards, and five CMA Vocal Duo of the Year honors, as well as about his ambitious new solo project, which will include four albums in one year that will present a total of 52 songs.PART ONE:Paul and Scott talk celebrity softball tournaments, John Schneider, waterbeds, and Walter Payton. And it's even weirder than it sounds.  PART TWO:Our in-depth conversation with Kristian BushABOUT KRISTIAN BUSH:Kristian Bush is best known as one half of the platinum-selling country duo Sugarland. The Sevierville, Tennessee native spent his formative years making music with his brother Brandon, who would go on to play keyboards in the rock brand Train. Kristian launched his professional music career from Atlanta in 1994 with the folk-rock duo Billy Pilgrim, which released two albums for Atlantic Records. Within the decade, he moved on to form Sugarland with Kristen Hall and Jennifer Nettles, and the group’s debut single “Baby Girl” became a massive hit. Their debut album, Twice the Speed of Life, which was produced by Garth Fundis, was certified triple platinum. With the departure of Kristen Hall, Sugarland became a duo that went on to rack up five #1 hit singles, including “All I Want to Do” and the Grammy-winning “Stay.” Additional hits followed, including the double platinum “Stuck Like Glue” and “Babe,” a collaboration with Taylor Swift. Sugarland has sold over 22 million albums worldwide and was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Kristian has earned six BMI awards and is a four-time Grammy nominee. In addition to five ACM awards, Sugarland has won the CMA’s Vocal Duo of the Year honor five times. Kristian’s most recent solo project is called 52, a series of four albums comprised of a total of 52 songs. The first installment, called ATL x BNA is available now.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

PART ONE:Paul and Scott reflect on returning to large-scale concerts, and talk about their recent experiences seeing Paul McCartney and Pearl Jam.PART TWO: Our in-depth conversation with Ann WilsonABOUT ANN WILSON:Four-time Grammy nominee and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Ann Wilson is best known as the lead singer and co-songwriter for the band Heart, which she and her sister Nancy formed in 1973 and propelled to rock superstardom. One of the pioneering female-fronted rock bands, Heart’s self-penned classics include “Crazy On You,” “Magic Man,” “Dreamboat Annie,” “Barracuda,” “Little Queen,” “Heartless,” “Straight On,” “Dog & Butterfly,” and “Even It Up.” In the mid-1980s they reinvented themselves as mainstream radio hitmakers with a string of successful singles, including “What About Love,” “Never,” “These Dreams,” “Nothin’ at All,” “Alone,” “Who Will You Run To,” “There’s the Girl,” “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You,” and “Stranded.” As Heart, Ann and Nancy Wilson have sold more than 35 million albums worldwide. Since 2007, Ann has released three full-length studio albums and two EPs. Her most recent, Fierce Bliss, which was released at the end of April, is her first solo album to include original material.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

SUMMARY:Our guest is seven-time Grammy nominee and 1997 Best New Artist Grammy winner Paula Cole. She joins us to chat about her early work with Peter Gabriel, her monster hits “Where Have all the Cowboys Gone” and “I Don’t Want to Wait,” her work as an instructor for the Berklee College of Music, and her ongoing musical development, including her latest album, American Quilt.  PART ONE:Paul and Scott chat about background singers. Or do we call them backing vocalists? Additional vocalists? I'm not sure we really ever settled it.PART TWO:Our in-depth interview with Paula ColeABOUT PAULA COLE:Our guest on this episode of Songcraft is Paula Cole. The 1997 Best New Artist Grammy winner rose to prominence with her self-produced second album, This Fire, which spawned two massive hit singles. “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone,” a Top 10 hit that earned three Grammy nominations, and “I Don’t Want to Wait,” which was used as the theme song for the show Dawson’s Creek. Subsequent albums explored a range of stylistic ground, earning Cole critical acclaim and an eventual place on the faculty at the Berklee College of Music. She was the first woman in history to earn a Grammy nomination for Producer of the Year with no male collaborators. The BMI Pop Award winner has a total of seven Grammy nominations, and continues to write and release new music. Her most recent album is American Quilt.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

SUMMARY:Our guest is Richard Thompson, a  three-time Grammy nominee who has earned lifetime achievement honors from the Americana Music Association and the BBC Awards. Named one of the top 20 guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, Thompson is a highly revered musician and songwriter whose music has been covered by Elvis Costello, Robert Plant, REM, Emmylou Harris, and many others. Algonquin Books recently released the paperback version of Richard’s memoir Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice, 1967-1975.  PART ONE:Paul and Scott talk about which music books they love, and one that Scott really hates. PART TWO:The guys chat about their friends at Pearl Snap Studios.PART THREE:Our in-depth conversation with Richard Thompson.ABOUT RICHARD THOMPSON:Our guest on this episode of Songcraft is three-time Grammy nominee and Ivor Novello award winner Richard Thompson. Named as one of the top 20 guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, Thompson began his career as one of the architects of the British Folk Rock movement with his band Fairport Convention in the late 1960s. The 1970s and early ‘80s brought a series of critically-acclaimed duo albums by Richard and his then-wife Linda Thompson. Two of those releases—I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight and Shoot Out the Lights—were named among Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Returning to a solo career after the musical and marital partnership concluded, Thompson has released more than 20 solo studio albums and film soundtracks, and has earned lifetime achievement honors from the Americana Music Association and the BBC Awards. He was bestowed with an Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, and his song “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” was named by Time magazine on its list of the 100 Greatest Songs Since 1923.” As influential a songwriter as he is a guitarist, Richard’s music has been covered by Elvis Costello, Robert Plant, Don Henley, REM, Sleater-Kenny, David Byrne, Linda Ronstadt, The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos, The Del McCoury Band, David Gilmour, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Shawn Colvin & Loudon Wainwright III, among others. Algonquin Books recently released the paperback version of Richard’s memoir Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice, 1967-1975.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

SUMMARYOur guest is critically-acclaimed singer/songwriter Paul Thorn, who has carved out an independent career from his home base in Tupelo, Mississippi, that has earned him legions of dedicated fans. His latest release is a highly personal album titled Never Too Late to Call. PART ONEPaul and Scott chat about the Grammy Awards, somehow find a way to make it all about them, and figure out that being a guest on Songcraft is a great way to get a Grammy nomination. PART TWOOur in-depth conversation with Paul ThornABOUT PAUL THORNTupelo, Mississippi, native Paul Thorn started out as a professional boxer before being discovered by Miles Copeland and signing a recording contract with A&M Records. Thorn eventually struck out on his own and formed the independent Perpetual Obscurity Records with manager and songwriting partner Billy Maddox. They’ve gone on to release nine studio albums, four of which have hit the Billboard charts. All Music writes that Thorn’s catalog has “balanced blues, rock, gospel, country, and soul in a singular strain of Americana with songs that embrace the human condition with their humor, irony, pathos, tenderness, heartbreak, grief, anger, and joy.” Though his songs have been recorded by Shenandoah, Tanya Tucker, Toby Keith, Sawyer Brown, Kim Richey, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jerry Jeff Walker, Diane Schuur, and others, nobody delivers a Paul Thorn song with the same touch as the man himself. From “It’s a Great Day to Whup Somebody’s Ass” to “Pimps & Preachers” to “I Don’t Like Half the Folks I Love” to “Mission Temple Fireworks Stand,” Paul’s diverse catalog has built a dedicated audience who love his unique sense of the craft and his mesmerizing skills as a performer. His latest album, produced by Matt Ross-Spang in Memphis, is Never Too Late to Call.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

PART ONE:Paul and Scott talk about Pearl Snap Studios, contrabassoons, penny whistles, and bagpipes. PART TWO:The guys remember Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who recently passed away, chat about Taylor's previous gig playing for Alanis Morissette, and talk about why Debbie Gibson deserves serious respect. PART THREE:Our in-depth conversation with Debbie GibsonABOUT DEBBIE GIBSON:You may know Debbie Gibson for her late 1980s hit pop singles “Only in My Dreams,” “Shake Your Love,” “Out of the Blue,” and the chart-toppers “Foolish Beat” and “Lost in Your Eyes.” What you might not realize is that Debbie wrote all those hits completely solo while still a teenager. At the age of 16 she became the youngest artist ever to have written, produced, and performed a #1 single on the Billboard charts. She once shared the ASCAP Songwriter of the Year honor with Bruce Springsteen, the same year she was nominated for Best Pop Female Vocalist by the American Music Awards and Favorite Female Music Performer by the People’s Choice Awards. Now more than 35 years into her career, Debbie has sold over 16 million records worldwide, and has released 10 studio albums. Her most recent, The Body Remembers, was released last August, and is her first US studio album in 20 years to feature all original songs, including a new duet version of “Lost in Your Eyes” with Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block. Though she was named one of Billboard magazine’s Top 60 Female Artists of All Time, Debbie has also found success in musical theater, starring in Les Miserables and Cabaret on Broadway, and in the London West End production of Grease, among more than a dozen other productions. Never a pre-packaged pop invention of record label executives, Debbie was a musical prodigy who has continued to make her mark as a singer, songwriter, producer, musician, actor, and entrepreneur.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

SUMMARY:Our guest is Jerry Cantrell, the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and primary songwriter of Alice in Chains. The nine-time Grammy nominee has written more than 20 Top 10 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, and was named one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” by Guitar World magazine. His latest solo release is the critically-acclaimed Brighten.  PART ONE:Paul and Scott chat about their high school years, the Seattle explosion, Chuck Klosterman's new book, and why certain bands from the much-hyped grunge movement evolved and survived when others burned out.  PART TWO:Our in-depth interview with Jerry CantrellABOUT JERRY CANTRELL:Nine-time Grammy nominee Jerry Cantrell is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and primary songwriter of the hard rock band Alice in Chains. Signing with Columbia Records in 1989, the Seattle-based band got lumped into the grunge explosion of the early 1990s when Cantrell-penned classics such as “Man in the Box,” ”Would?,” “Rooster,” and “Down in a Hole,” took over MTV and Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. But Alice in Chains was always about more than Seattle hysteria. By the middle of the decade they’d released three multiplatinum selling studio albums—Facelift, Dirt, and the self-titled Alice in Chains—as well as three EPs, including Jar of Flies, which went triple platinum and became the first EP in history to top the Billboard 200. A string of Top 10 singles, including “No Excuses,” “I Stay Away,” “Grind,” “Heaven Beside You,” and “Again” established the band as rock radio mainstays. Plagued by struggles with addiction, Alice in Chains took a hiatus from live performances before regrouping in the spring of 1996 for an appearance on MTV Unplugged. The subsequent album hit the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Platinum. That same year the band found themselves on another extended hiatus, leading to the release of Cantrell’s debut solo album, Boggy Depot, in 1998. The death of Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley in 2002 could have meant the end of the band, but they eventually regrouped and released the Gold-selling Black Gives Way to Blue in 2009, and the follow-up album, The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here. Both releases hit the Top 5. Alice in Chains has continued to release new music as recently as 2018’s Rainier Fog album, and the band has now sold more than 30 million records worldwide. In addition to his first solo release, Cantrell put out the album Degradation Trip Volumes 1 & 2 in 2002. His most recent release, the critically-acclaimed Brighten, is his first solo record in almost two decades. Named among Guitar World magazine’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time,” Jerry is also a formidable songwriter. More than 20 of his compositions, both with Alice in Chains and as a solo artist, have hit the Top 10 on the Billboard rock chart.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

SUMMARY:Our guest on this episode is Roland Orzabal of Tears for Fears. Known for such classics as “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “Shout,” “Head Over Heels,” “Mad World,” and “Sowing the Seeds of Love,” the group has a brand new album, The Tipping Point, and is embarking on a major world tour. PART ONE:Scott and Paul read listener emails and set the record straight on their opinion of the moon landing.PART TWO:Our in-depth conversation with Roland Orzabal.ABOUT ROLAND ORZABAL AND TEARS FOR FEARS:Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith formed Tears for Fears in Bath, England, in 1981 and have gone on to sell 30 million albums worldwide. Their major breakthrough in the UK came in 1982 with the Top 5 single “Mad World” and the subsequent platinum-selling album The Hurting. They gained major steam in the US with their sophomore album Songs From the Big Chair, which included the hit singles “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “Shout,” and “Head Over Heels.” Featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Songs From the Big Chair reached #1 and was certified five times Platinum by the RIAA. Tears for Fears’ follow-up single “Sowing the Seeds of Love” was another massive hit, but Curt departed the group not long after. Following a couple of albums with Orzabal at the helm, the duo reunited for the Everybody Loves a Happy Ending album in 2004. Now, after a long wait of 17 years, Roland and Curt have just released their seventh studio album The Tipping Point, and are embarking on a major tour. Even as they bring us new music, their legacy is well-established as one of the most unique and influential British groups to emerge in the last few decades. Their songs have been covered or sampled by Gary Jules, Adam Lambert, Lorde, Kanye West, Drake, and many others. And, in 2021, the band was honored with the Outstanding Song Collection honor at the Ivor Novello Awards in London.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

SUMMARY:Our guest is nine-time Grammy nominee and two-time winner Janis Ian, who is best known for her classics “Society’s Child” and “At Seventeen,” both of which were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. She joins us to chat about her long career and her latest studio album, The Light at the End of the Line.PART ONE:Scott and Paul talk about "We Don't Talk About Bruno" and the changing definition of how something becomes a hit. PART TWO:Our in-depth conversation with Janis IanABOUT JANIS IAN:Though best known for the folk-tinged classic “At Seventeen,” Janis Ian is an artist whose musical creativity crosses several genres. The nine-time Grammy nominee and two-time winner first gained national attention at the age of 15 when her self-penned “Society’s Child” became a Top 20 Billboard pop hit in 1966. Produced by Shadow Morton, who had built a reputation as the producer of radio friendly girl groups like The Shangri-Las, the song took a new direction and tackled the considerably heavier and controversial topic of interracial romance. It was banned from radio and Janis was targeted with death threats.After several albums for the Verve and Capitol labels, Janis signed with Columbia in the mid-1970s and found her greatest commercial success with the album Between the Lines. In addition to the Top 20 Adult Contemporary hit “In the Winter,” the album featured the chart-topping “At Seventeen.” Janis performed both songs as the musical guest on the very first episode of Saturday Night Live. On the strength of that LP she was nominated for Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Album of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Performance, the latter of which she won. Both “Society’s Child” and “At Seventeen” have since been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Other classics from the Janis Ian songbook include “Jesse,” which was a hit for Roberta Flack, and “Stars,” which has been recorded by Nina Simone, Cher, Shirley Basse, and Joan Baez. A truly international artist, Janis’s “Love is Blind” reached #1 in Japan, while “Fly Too High” topped the charts in South Africa and reached the Top 10 in Australia and the Netherlands. In the mid-1990s Janis launched her own label, Rude Girl Records. Her most recent release, The Light at the End of the Line, is Janis’s first album of new material in 15 years. She has announced it will be her final solo studio album.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.