Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

PART ONEScott and Paul dive deep on Rolling Stone's controversial revision of its "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list and discuss how valuation of music changes with the progression of each decade.PART TWOOur in-depth career spanning conversation with Will HogeABOUT WILL HOGEAs a songwriter Will Hoge is perhaps best known for “Even if it Breaks Your Heart,” a #1 country hit for Eli Young Band that earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song as well as both CMA and ACM nominations for Song of the Year. Originally recorded on Hoge’s own album The Wreckage, it is one of many acclaimed compositions from the pen of the outspoken singer-songwriter who celebrates both his southern heritage and progressive social views. In addition to performing “You Make Me Happy,” the theme song to the CBS sitcom Still Standing, Hoge has released more than a dozen albums. Though his music ranges from rock to folk to Americana, his single “Strong” earned mainstream country radio airplay and was featured in a national Chevy truck commercial. He has collaborated with writers such as Brett Beavers, Tommy Lee James, Hillary Lindsay, Gordie Sampson, Chris Stapleton, Hayes Carrl, Brendan Benson, and Wade Bowen. Other artists who’ve recorded his songs include the group Trigger Hippy and Lady A, formerly known as Lady Antebellum.   American Songwriter Podcast Network

PART ONE: Scott and Paul chat about watching Cobra Kai, 80s nostalgia, and why bands are re-recording their classic hits for movies. They discuss why Brandy is the first guest to appear on Songcraft twice, and return to 80s movie sequel nostalgia yet again whereupon Paul floats his theory that Rocky III and Rocky IV are the Rubber Soul and Revolver of movies. Somewhere in there's it's decided that Brandy Clark is the Empire Strikes Back of Songcraft. PART TWO: Our in-depth conversation with six-time Grammy nominee Brandy ClarkABOUT BRANDY CLARKBrandy Clark has made a successful career writing songs for other artists, including The Band Perry’s #1 hit “Better Dig Two,” and Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart,” which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song and CMA and ACM nominations for Song of the Year. Other highlights from her catalog include Kasey Musgraves’ “Follow Your Arrow,” which won CMA Song of the Year, as well as cuts by artists such as Reba McEntire, George Strait, Jennifer Nettles, Darius Rucker, Keith Urban, LeAnn Rimes, Lindsay Ell, Toby Keith, and Sheryl Crow. As a critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter, her debut album, 12 Stories, earned her Grammy nominations in the categories of Best Country Album and Best New Artist, regardless of genre. The single “Hold My Hand” was nominated for Best Country Song. Her second album, the Grammy-nominated Big Day in a Small Town, was named one of the best albums of the year by Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and American Songwriter, while the single “Love Can Go to Hell” earned Brandy yet another nomination for Best Country Solo Performance. Her most recent album, Your Life is a Record, was released earlier this year, with The New Yorker review noting that “no one is writing better country songs than Brandy Clark is.”   American Songwriter Podcast Network

PART ONEScott and Paul chat about the loss of Justin Townes Earle, talk about how to get a good demo of an original song, and reflect on the unique cultural movement that emerged from Stax Records.PART TWOAn in-depth conversation with Eddie FloydABOUT EDDIE FLOYDEddie Floyd first found success on the Billboard charts as a songwriter for Carla Thomas, Solomon Burke, and Wilson Pickett, who had hits with "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)" and "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won’t Do)." He went on to top the charts as both writer and artist, recording soul classics “Knock On Wood,” “Raise Your Hand,” “Big Bird,” “I’ve Never Found a Girl,” and “California Girl.” Other artists continued to hit the charts with his songs, including Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, William Bell, Rufus Thomas, Esther Phillips, and Amii Stewart, who reached #1 on the pop charts with her disco version of “Knock On Wood” in 1979. From his early life as a doo-wop singer with The Falcons to his successful career with Stax Records, to his stints as the lead singer of both The Blues Brothers Band and Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, Floyd has always considered himself, first and foremost, a songwriter. His catalog has been covered by Mavis Staples, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eric Clapton, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Tom Jones, Ike & Tina Turner, Albert King, Seal, James Taylor, Al Green, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, and others. He has been inducted into both the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, and has recently released his autobiography Knock! Knock! Knock! On Wood: My Life in Soul. American Songwriter Podcast Network 

ABOUT MAC POWELLMac Powell is best known as the lead singer of the contemporary Christian band Third Day, which sold more than 12 million albums in the US, earned two dozen Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, and won four of the eleven Grammy awards for which they were nominated. Powell was a writer on most of Third Day’s singles, nearly 20 of which hit #1 on Billboard’s Christian charts. These include “Nothing At All,” which was also a Top 40 hit on the rock charts; “Alien,” “Sky Falls Down,” “40 Days,” and the gold-certified single “Cry Out to Jesus”—all of which won Dove Awards for rock song of the year; as well as the church standard “Your Love Oh Lord,” “Sing a Song,” “Mountain of God,” “Revelation,” “Born Again,” I Need a Miracle, the gold-certified “Soul on Fire,” and “Call My Name,” which was subsequently covered by Keith Urban. In addition to his work with Third Day, Powell has released four albums, either solo or with his group Mac Powell and the Family Reunion. He is an inductee into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame alongside fellow Songcraft guests including Mac Davis, Bill Anderson, William Bell, and Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls.  American Songwriter Podcast Network 

Singer, songwriter, musician, producer, and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Linda Perry first made her mark as an artist, serving as lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the group 4 Non Blondes, which is best known for the Top 15 pop hit “What’s Up?” Following a couple of solo albums, Linda emerged as a powerhouse songwriter and producer thanks to her work on P!nk’s multiplatinum Misundaztood album. The debut single, “Get The Party Started,” which Linda wrote solo, was a global smash. She followed it up with another solo-written composition, “Beautiful,” which became a chart-topping ballad for Christina Aguilera that earned a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year. Subsequent chart success came with Gwen Stefani’s debut solo single “What You Waiting For,” Alicia Keys’s “Superwoman,” Ariana Grande’s debut single “Put Your Hearts Up,” Miley Cyrus’s “Hands of Love,” and additional singles for Aguilera, including the Top 10 hits “Hurt” and “Keeps Gettin’ Better.” Recently, Linda collaborated with Dolly Parton on the soundtrack of the film Dumplin’, including the song “Girl in the Movies,” which was nominated for both a Golden Globe and a Grammy award. Linda is a four-time Grammy nominee, including a 2019 nomination for Producer of the Year, making her the only solo female producer to ever earn a nomination for their work producing other artists. The long list of artists Linda has produced, collaborated with, or had her songs covered by include Adele, Courtney Love, Cheap Trick, Faith Hill, Britney Spears, KT Tunstall, Weezer, Pat Benetar, Solange, L.P., Joan Jett, The Chicks, Vanessa Carlton, Celine Dion, Elvis Costello, and Lady Gaga. In addition to her prolific songwriting and production activities, Perry is a multi-faceted music industry entrepreneur, having worked as a music publisher, manager, or mentor with artists such as James Blunt, Dorothy, and Natasha Bedingfield. American Songwriter Podcast Network

PART 1Co-hosts Scott B. Bomar and Paul Duncan chat about how they’re continuing to adapt their Songcraft recording sessions for the world of COVID-19 before getting into a discussion about whether they’d take a time machine to Abbey Road Studios in London, Stax Studios in Memphis, Motown in Detroit, or FAME in Muscle ShoalsPART 2 - 12:35 markThe in-depth interview with David Porter: Named one of Rolling Stone magazine’s “100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time,” Porter is best known for his songwriting partnership with Isaac Hayes that helped define the sound of Memphis’s legendary Stax Records. As the first African American staff songwriter at Stax, Porter, along with his partner, wrote and produced songs such as “B-A-B-Y” for Carla Thomas, “Your Good Thing (Is About to End)”—an R&B hit for Mable John that later became a pop and R&B smash for Lou Rawls, and his own recording of “Can’t See You When I Want To.” Hayes and Porter are best known, however, for their work with Sam & Dave, including such classic hits as “You Don’t Know Like I Know,” “You Got Me Hummin’,” “Hold On! I’m Comin’” (which later became a country hit for Waylon Jennings and Jerry Reed), “Soul Man” (which became a hit a second time thanks to the Blues Brothers), “I Thank You” (which was later covered by ZZ Top), and “When Something is Wrong with My Baby” (which was reimagined as a memorable duet between Otis Redding and Carla Thomas, a country hit for Sonny James, and an adult contemporary hit for Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville). The list of artists who’ve covered Porter’s songs includes Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, William Bell, Melissa Ethridge, Bonnie Raitt, Garth Brooks, Etta James, Celine Dion, Wilson Pickett, George Benson, Dusty Springfield, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Staple Singers, Solomon Burke, James Brown, Eric Clapton, B. B. King, Tina Turner, Jackie Wilson, and more. His songs have been used as samples in countless recordings by artists such as Jay-Z, Eminem, Wu-Tang Clan, The Notorious B.I.G., Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, and others. A highly celebrated giant among celebrated songwriters, Porter was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005.  American Songwriter Podcast Network

The Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Famer discusses getting clean and sober with the help of Stevie Ray Vaughan; why he hated his first album; the Flannery O'Connor quote that guides his songwriting life; his collaborations with Eric Church; and the little trick he played on Ringo Starr. American Songwriter Podcast Network

In this mini-episode / announcement, Scott and Paul talk about what's changing at Songcraft...and what's staying the same.

Songcraft chats with Brett James, a two-time ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year who has earned 25 #1 hits with songs such as “Who I Am” by Jessica Andrews, “Bottoms Up” by Brantley Gilbert, “I Hold On” by Dierks Bentley, and Carrie Underwood's “Jesus Take the Wheel,” which was nominated for ACM and CMA Song of the Year awards and won a Grammy for Best Country Song. In addition to his remarkable career as a behind-the-scenes Nashville songwriter, Brett has a recently-released artist EP called I Am Now. American Songwriter Podcast Network

Grammy winner and two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee (as a member of both The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash) chats about his remarkable career, including producing the debut album for then-girlfriend Joni Mitchell, the song he wrote as a message to George Harrison, his magical connection with Jerry Garcia, the song Jackson Browne forced him to finish, the writing partner with whom he has the best chemistry, and why he's blown away by Marc Cohn, Shawn Colvin, Sarah Jarosz, and Jason Isbell. American Songwriter Podcast Network