For a long time, I’ve wanted to attend one of Darrell Scott’s Songfood Songwriting Workshops. It’s pretty much been a bucket list thing for me. Darrell is a master songwriter, musician, and performer; pretty much Nashville royalty. I’ve met him and his wife Angela several times over the past 5 or 6 years and always asked when the workshop would be. He hasn’t done one since before COVID. Awhile back, I received the word that he was doing a workshop in May. I’m not getting any younger, so I took the plunge.
I’m a very average songwriter and the Music Row guys in Nashville aren’t exactly beating a path to my door. My songs will never dominate the airwaves or sell millions of copies. I write songs in special categories such as “bug songs” or “catfish songs”, mostly for kids. Occasionally, I write more serious songs too. I hoped that I could somehow fit in with the far more skilled songwriters I knew would show up at the workshop. There was eager anticipation, balanced with certain feelings of “imposter syndrome” as I made the drive to Nashville.
Part of the fun of the trip was staying with Nashville friends Shawn and Amy Byrne and their 6-year-old son Arlo. Arlo is a super smart kid and a ton of fun to be around. Shawn is a great songwriter, performer, music producer and like a kid brother to me. He really hit the jackpot when he married Amy. She’s an amazingly fun person, great mom and rising superstar in the business world with her mad marketing skills. I loved getting to hang with them while was in town.
On Monday morning, I drove to Darrell and Angela’s house for the workshop. It was way cool that they held the workshop in their home. I carried my guitar in and met my new family for the next 4 days – my tribe, so to speak. Darrell had prepared a great breakfast for everyone, which made it easy for us relax and get to know each other. It was easy to see that it was a really talented group of songwriters, and everyone came with a ton of positive energy and gratitude to be a part of the workshop. Darrell, his wife Angela and son Abraham, were perfect hosts and everyone seemed relaxed and ready to really work on their craft of songwriting with the master, Darrell.
I settled into an old brown recliner with worn out springs and a broken back. Darrell told me that the original owner of the chair had been Owen Bradley. Along with Chet Atkins, Owen was a key player in creating the “Nashville Sound” in the 1950s and 1960s. Bradley produced country greats such as Ernest Tubb, Burl Ives, Red Foley, Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty. That chair had a ton of country music mojo and I could feel it.
Darrell shared his philosophy that the best songs are the ones that engage the listener on a deeply personal level. He doesn’t write songs to Nashville formulas for chart busters. We were there to go much deeper in our writing, to explore emotions and vulnerability, because that’s where the great songs are. He said we’d start by going around the room with each of us introducing ourselves, sharing what we wanted to get out of the workshop and playing our most vulnerable song. I was about 6th from the start, so I had time to think about what I’d play.
One person after another introduced him or herself and then play a song they were working on, or felt was an example of their writing in a vulnerable way. Darrell would give them feedback. Shorten this. Lengthen that. Cut something else. His message was always to listen for what serves the song and the song will tell you. Don’t add another verse when you’ve already finished the story. Like a laser, he’d dissect a song and figure out what’s working and what’s not. He’d explain why he thought as he did, and it always made perfect sense, at least to me. Each of us got maybe 20-30 minutes of feedback on our writing. We all soaked up a ton of wisdom listening to Darrell talk about the songs.
When my turn came, I played the song I had written most recently, called “Jenya’s Song”. I’d received good feedback on it from my local songwriter group, but I thought that it still needed something. What it needed that day was a better voice, as my allergies were kicking in. I croaked it out as best I could, knowing that it was far from my best. When I finished, I said I should have capo’d up to a higher key. Darrell agreed and asked me to put the capo on the 5th fret and try again. I did so, and after the song, I looked at Darrell for the verdict, expecting “add this, cut that, do something else”. Instead, he looked at me and said, “that song is done, don’t do a thing to change it”. You could have knocked me over with a feather.
That night, and for the next few nights we held group song circles in Darrell’s living room led by Darrell’s buddy, Britton Morgan. Everyone brought their best stuff and we really had fun together. I played my bug and catfish songs, and my Roanoke County Jail song, and everyone laughed at all the right places. The creative juices were really flowing, and we all seemed to feel like old friends. It was magic. That night, I stayed up late with Shawn, watching him fix a vocal track he had just recorded for some guy in L.A.
Over the next two days, we finished up the first round of song critiques and started a second. We also talked about co-writing, and I mentioned that I found co-writing to be a challenge, as my best songs always showed up late at night, right before I fall asleep. The goal for Wednesday was to write a song to be performed with Darrell and recorded on Thursday, the final day. That seemed like a pretty tall order as sat in Owen Bradley’s chair and was fading fast from too much fun and not enough sleep. My eyelids felt like 50-pound bricks as I tried to stay focused on the workshop. Just as I was about to lose the battle, I felt a familiar tap, tap, tap on the window of my brain. It was a new song telling me “I’m here and I’m not going to stick around for long - whatcha gonna do about it?”
Songwriters know that when a song shows up like that, you don’t ignore it - you grab a pen and paper and write. You also do your best to ignore the world around you, because good songs seldom come back once they leave. Everyone in that room probably knew what was going on and left me alone with my nascent song as it came into the world. It was an old-school Nashville country tune, about a guy who uses work to escape life’s troubles. It wasn’t my usual groove at all and certainly not the pop country that you hear on the radio. The Owen Bradley mojo was working, and I should probably give him co-write credit on the song.
When we took our lunch break, I went out on the back porch and invited a couple of folks to look it over and refine it. Before long, there were 4 strong verses, but no chorus. All that it needed was a chorus and it would be ready for the next day. After the day’s session was over, I did what seemed natural for a songwriter. I drove to Kroger, bought some cold chicken, and went out to the car to find the missing chorus. A phone call derailed the hunt for the chorus, but the chicken served its purpose.
That night, we were treated to a songwriter’s round at Darrell’s house with three outstanding songwriters - Beth Neilson Chapman, Bill Miller and Darrell. I invited Shawn and his friend Charlie to join us. It was a memorable Nashville night for all of us. Late that night, I arrived back at Shawn and Amy’s house. I still needed a chorus, but the urge to pick a few with Shawn and pass out around midnight prevailed. In the morning, I opened my eyes, took a shower, and the chorus came to me as easy as pie. Against all odds, I had a new song to record with Darrell.
I arrived at the house for the last day, where we’d all perform our new songs and be accompanied by the master. The names were put in a hat, and with luck of the draw, my name was drawn for the first slot. I was thrilled, as I knew many of my fellow writers would bring killer songs that I wouldn’t want to follow. I was fresh and ready to go. I sat down next to Darrell, who had a mandolin in his hands. The sound engineer, John, placed the mics and got the recording levels set up. I played through once to show him what I had. He made a few small suggestions, and we did it again with the recording going. I was a bit froggy, but still happy to have made it through the song without murdering it too badly. We tried to improve on it with a 3rd recording, but I got lost in Darrell’s mandolin break, because he’s so insanely good. I had to give up the chair for the next writer, but everyone cheered - the ice was broken! If you promise not to judge, you can see the video here
https://photos.app.goo.gl/WyEVhGDo2oqJYXj69.
The rest of the day, I sat back and enjoyed the wonderful vibes as each writer brought one killer song after another until all had achieved a decent recording. We finished up with my new friend Becky bringing a great new song that cried out for a chorus of background singers (think “We Are The World” from years ago). With Darrell leading us, the entire group provided the chorus and we all felt like we had climbed the tallest mountain of our songwriting careers. After we were done, we all enjoyed some of Darrell’s terrific chili that had been simmering all week, shared many hugs, a few tears, and the feeling that we’d become lifetime friends.
As I drove home, I tried to wrap my brain around the entire experience. It was way more than I expected – part therapy, pay revival, a whole lot of bonding and the feeling that I just climbed a mountain with people who started out as strangers, and we all became friends for life. I hope that I get to go back someday and certainly would recommend it for anyone else who like to write songs.
If you’ve come this far, you are probably a songwriter or, at the very least, a serious music lover. Please leave a comment letting me know that you enjoyed it (or maybe not), and any similar experiences you’ve had. You may know others who enjoy this sort of thing and, if so, I invite you to share it with them.
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