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Songwriting

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January 2016

January 05, 2016

My Top 10 Gospel Songs of 2015

Christmas break has afforded me the pleasure of picking through the best of the best...

October 2015

October 12, 2015

An Interview With Rachel McCutcheon

Rachel McCutcheon is quickly becoming one of my favorite current songwriters. Discovered by writer/producer Wayne...

December 2014

December 22, 2014

The Grinch Critiques… Revisionist "Joy to the World"

The last carol revision that came under the Grinch's eye involved changing ye olde-fashioned grammar to...

December 12, 2014

The Grinch Critiques… Revisionist "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"

This Christmas I... uh, I mean the Grinch thought he would get a few complaints off...

June 2014

June 03, 2014

On New Hymns and Perfect Rhymes

A while back, I ran across some new hymns by progressive southern gospel songwriting regular Lee...

April 2014

April 01, 2014

An Interview With Rebecca Peck

Apologies for not posting anything yesterday. First I thought it was April 1st, then...

March 2014

March 26, 2014

Featuring… A Reader's Music

A gentleman named Judson Hair left a nice comment on one of my songwriting posts...

March 04, 2014

Songwriting Tip: Using Colors In Your Lyrics

There are many marks of a clever songwriter. One is the quiet insertion of little...

November 2012

November 15, 2012

The Hardest Part of a Song to Write

What's the hardest part of a song to write, assuming you're not a genius who...

October 2012

October 12, 2012

Oh, Just Sing About Your Girlfriend Already

They're a soft target, most worship songs. Partly because they tend to be lousy musical...

September 2012

September 18, 2012

David Phelps on the Spiritual & the Secular

Some people are wondering whether or not to classify David Phelps' upcoming Classic project as...

August 2012

August 21, 2012

Songwriting: The Old, the New and the Ugly

I recently subscribed to Wayne Haun and Joel Lindsay's new You Write Songs site [Edit,...

February 2012

February 03, 2012

Ballad Buffet!

"It's a ballad!" "Oh, that's helpful." There's been some recent discussion around the southern gospel...

November 2011

November 03, 2011

Folk Rhyme Meets Southern Gospel: He Saw it All

The Booth Brothers' "He Saw It All" was probably embraced largely by virtue of its...

October 2011

October 18, 2011

Poetry in Song: "If We Answer"

Okay, time for more music. I have at least one reader who wanted more in...

July 2011

July 18, 2011

A Hymn Bridge Done Right: "Greater Still"

Some people think it's "cheating" for a songwriter to make use of a hymn for...

June 2011

June 22, 2011

Christian Doctrine and Music: How are They Connected?

Hat tip to Daniel Mount (and David Bruce Murray in a subsequent comment), for inspiring...

May 2011

May 10, 2011

The Problem With Modern Songwriters, or Ears of Tin and Clunky Cliches

This is an experience that’s all too familiar for me: I’m listening along to a...

April 2011

April 20, 2011

Songs you could never dig

This weekend I will be sharing some Holy Week music and meditations, but before we...

March 2011

March 28, 2011

A Song You've Never Heard: "Calvary"

Oh the myst'ry of that cursed, blessed hill Where the sinless Son fulfilled the father's...

March 22, 2011

Songs that aren't your cup of tea, but…

Some time ago, I came across a piece by respected Christian songwriter Joel Lindsey about...

March 17, 2011

Songwriting Tip of the Day

If you can't remember your own melody by tomorrow, it probably wasn't that great of...