Songwriting is hard. Songwriting can also be profitable. However, not everyone who sits down to write a song is good at it, and even if you are good at it, that doesn’t mean you are going to make money. The entertainment business is loaded with songwriters who choose to write first, record second, artists who have chosen to put performance on the back burner at times, instead focusing on writing for others.
Three of those songwriters will be in Durango next week, stepping out from behind pen and paper and onto the stage, when the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College welcomes songwriters Marti Frederiksen, Brett James and Danny Myrick.
Nashville Songs & Stories – “Writers in the Round,” a fundraiser for La Plata Search and Rescue, will feature the three who chose a more behind-the-scenes role in the music business.
“The way Brett, Marti and I made our name is we all went from being artists first to being vocational songwriters. That’s where we’re writing songs specifically to pitch to artists out there who have record deals to make singles for radio,” Myrick said. “And that’s who we’ve made our money, and what has worked for us.”
If you go
WHAT: Nashville Songs and Stories with Brett James, Marti Frederkisen, Danny Myrick; Megan Linville opens.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
WHERE: Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
TICKETS: $30/$50.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.durangoconcerts.com.
Worked for them it has, as the three have written cuts that have been hits in the commercial music world of rock and modern country. James has written for artists like Martina McBride and Kenny Chesney, while writing “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” which Carrie Underwood made a hit in 2006. Frederiksen has a load of credits to his name, including writing songs for Aerosmith and Gavin Rossdale, Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue. Myrick has been behind numerous country hits, including “I’ll Sleep,” made known by Randy Houser.
It seems difficult to take something as personal as a song, especially if that song’s content is something from your own life and turn it over to someone else. For Myrick, however, the human condition has elements we all share; he figures if he’s writing a story about himself, the artist who ends up with it may have a similar tale.
“As soon as I put it into the world it becomes open fodder. We all live this universal experience, and although those are deeply personal, everyone else is going through similar things that I am,” he said. “That’s the only way you can do this – you have to assume. If it’s personal to me or if I’m open to Luke Combs doing it, I take an approach that I’d be willing to go out there and let an even larger audience find that personal story.”
Myrick is also stoked that he may have the best seat in the house when it comes to the show, as he’s on stage with colleagues, who he also admires as a fan. With the low-key vibe of the show, where these artists are playing hits they wrote while also talking up the songwriting process, its like he’s part of the audience while also performing.
“I feel like I’ve got a VIP seat. You’re hearing personal stories on the creation of these songs. I’ll play my songs and that’s all fun, but listening to them, and I’ll play along, and we’ll add harmonies to each others songs, its almost like a living room vibe,” Myrick said. “If you thought, ‘if I can get a personal, living room concert in my house, with these people that wrote the soundtrack of my life, what would that be like?’ And it’s like that vibe, it’s a really incredible show.”
Myrick will also be on hand at 1 p.m. Sunday to host a songwriter development session at Jimmy’s Music & Supply in downtown Durango.
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
