FREE SONGWRITING SEMINAR DRAWS HIT SONGWRITERS FROM NASHVILLE TO PIGEON FORGE

Composers of songs for Kenny Rogers, the Oak Ridge Boys, Jimmy Wayne and George Strait are among the panelists who will participate in the free Songwriting Seminar@Winterfest in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee on February 21.

Tim Johnson, Joe West and Dave Pahanish, the trio responsible for Jimmy Wayne's number one hit "Do You Believe Me Now" are panelists. Johnson has had cuts by Kellie Pickler, Mark Chesnutt, Tracy Byrd, LeDoux and Darryl Singletary. West and Pahanish also co-produced nine of the tunes on Wayne's album "Do You Believe Me Now." They have also had songs recorded by Julianne Hough.

Pam Belford, who co-wrote George Strait's "If I Know Me" and "Holding My Own," will join the roster of panelists, along with Wood Newton, who has had hits with Kenny Rogers recording of "20 Years Ago" and the Oak Ridge Boys "Bobbie Sue."

Newcomers Meg Allison and Joshua Stevens will round out the singer/songwriters on the panel. Meg was in the top ten of season five of "Nashville Star" and was named the Newest Rising Star of 2008 in Campus Activities magazine's Reader's Choice Awards. Stevens is also an alumni of "Nashville Star," landing in fourth place on the 2007 season. He is newly signed to Robbins Nashville, with his debut single "Rock 'N' Roll and Pensacola" released last year. He has had songs cut by Danielle Peck and Canadian artist Michael Carey. Another of his tunes, "That Could Happen To Us," was in the Fox movie "Kissing Jessica Stein" and on the soundtrack album for the film.

Industry VIPs on the panels this year include Robbins Nashville label head Phyllis Stark; Warner Brothers Records vice-president of A&R Carole Ann Mobley; and songplugger Gayle Richardson.

Moderators for the panels will be Deborah Evans Price, a freelance journalist based in Nashville who writes for "Billboard" magazine and the Gospel Music Channel, among other outlets; and Hunter Kelly, the Nashville correspondent for ABC New Radio and ABCNews.com.

The seminar is coordinated by Vernell Hackett, a Nashville-based journalist who has interviewed many songwriters and publishers. She had a short story included in the book "Literary Cash" which is loosely based on Cash's song "Tennessee Flat Top Box." Hackett also co-wrote a book on Las Vegas ghosts, gamblers and gangsters with Michelle Honick and Liz Cavanaugh, which should be out in 2010.

The seminar, held in conjunction with the City of Pigeon Forge's Saddle Up! Celebration will take place at Music Road Hotel & Convention Center. It begins at 9 a.m. on February 21.

Panelists will discuss various aspects of songwriting and publishing and will take questions from attendees in the morning during three different panels. There will be two Song Critique Sessions in the afternoon, as industry professionals listen to songs written by those people attending the seminar.  Attendees should bring a CD with no more than three songs on it, along with the lyric sheets to the songs, and be prepared to play at least one of the songs for the folks who will do the critique sessions. The CDs and lyric sheets will be returned at the end of the sessions.

This is a free seminar sponsored by the City of Pigeon Forge. Those who wish to pre-register may do so by emailing songseminaratpf@bellsouth.net and putting Pigeon Forge Seminar in the subject line. Please include name, city and state, and email address in the body of the email. Lunch will be available for a nominal cost at the seminar site.

WinterFest is produced by the City of Pigeon Forge, Tenn. For more information on WinterFest and Saddle Up! contact 1-800-946-8373.

We have added our fifth panelist!

..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />Apparantly my second blog entry didn't make it out to you so you have no idea that we have already had two panelists sign on back in October! I'm very excited about these guys. You'll see why so read on.....

Sherrill Blackman arrived in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Nashville in 1980 and graduated from Belmont University with a Music Business degree in 1982.  Since then, his many jobs have included a one year stint as production coordinator with American Image Productions, six years on staff at The Nashville Songwriters Association, and four years as general manager for Buckhorn Music.  Founded in 1994, his sdb music group, a publishing and independent songplugging company, has secured recordings in Country, Pop, Gospel, Bluegrass, Blues, Jazz, and Polka.  Blackman is a co-founder of The Independent Pluggers Association, a three term past president of The Nashville Publishers' Network, and was named Music Row Magazine's Songplugger Of The Year in 2004, 2005, and 2006. 

Buddy Cannon is a songwriter, producer and musician. Now he can also claim his place as the writer of CMA's 2006 Song of the Year – "Give It Away" by George Strait – with Bill Anderson and Jamey Johnson. Buddy has produced chart-topping hits by artists like Kenny Chesney, John Michael Montgomery and Reba McEntire. He's also been involved in launching the careers Shania Twain, Sammy Kershaw and Billy Ray Cyrus. As a songwriter he's written hit songs for everyone from Vern Gosdin and Mel Tillis to Alabama and George Strait. Buddy got his start in the early 70's as the bass player in Grand Ole Opry star Bob Luman's band. His songwriting ability turned the head of CMA's 1976 Entertainer of the Year, Mel Tillis, who promptly hired Buddy to work in his band and with his publishing company. During their eleven-year association, Tillis recorded several of Cannon's songs, including the popular "I Believe In You," which went to the top of the charts and was also recorded by Englebert Humperdink. After the acquisition of Tillis' publishing interests by PolyGram, Cannon was hired by PolyGram's Mercury Records as Director of A&R for the company.  He was eventually recruited as VP/A&R for Polydor/Nashville but, not long after, elected to leave that position in 1995 to pursue independent production projects. Check out some of his other production work -- George Jones ("High Tech Redneck"), John Michael Montgomery ("The Little Girl"), Chely Wright ("Single White Female"), and Kenny Chesney ("Young", "A Lot Of Things Different", "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy", "There Goes My Life", "The Good Stuff"), Jamey Johnson ("The Dollar") Sara Evans ("No Place That Far"), Joe Nichols ("Tequela Makes Her Clothes Fall Off") and Chad Brock ("Ordinary Life", "Yes").  His hit songs include Vern Gosdin's "Set 'Em Up Joe," "Dream Of Me", and "I'm Still Crazy," Billy Ray Cyrus' "She's Not Cryin' Anymore," and George Strait's "I've Come To Expect It From You," and, most recently, Strait's record breaking 53rd number one song "Give It Away" also  named Song Of The Year at the 2007 Academy Of Country Music Awards . "Set'em Up Joe" has also been recorded by Garth Brooks for inclusion in an upcoming project.

Hey everyone. I'm just getting this page started for Song Seminar @ WinterFest in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I plan to keep you informed on the panelists and keynote speaker as they are confirmed.

For those who aren't familiar with Song Seminar, 2008 will be its eighth year. The first few years it was sponsored by American Songwriter magazine, where I was editor. When the new owners took over they decided not to sponsor it any longer so I volunteered to coordinate it with the City of Pigeon Forge.

We've had some great panelists over the years and 2008 is shaping up to be a great one as well. I try to bring in folks from a variety of backgrounds, from songwriters to publishers, producers and managers, in order to give you a variety of opinions about this business of music.

While the seminar is free, I do ask that you register so I'll know how many people to expect. You can email me at songseminaratpf@bellsouth.net. If you'll put in the subject line Pigeon Forge Seminar then I'll know how to direct the email. I'll post a basic schedule below so you'll have an idea of what the day will be like -- just know it is subject to change as I sign on folks who will be there. I'll keep this site updated but after you register you will also get seperate emails from me about the seminar. Just wanted you to be aware of that.

The seminar is free but we do try to provide lunch at a nominal cost. We found in the beginning that by the time we break for lunch and folks leave and come back, it takes more than an hour. Also if we keep everyone there then you can mix and mingle with the panelists and get a little one-on-one time with them. I'm not sure of the cost yet but I'm guessing it will be no more than $15 per person. In the past we've had either sandwiches or burgers. If you need vegetarian we will try to accommodate if you let us know a couple weeks out.

I'll have some names to announce within a few days so check back. Feel free to tell your friends about the website and check back often for more news and information.

I'm also open to suggestions for topics you would like to see us discuss. Drop me an email and let me know what you'd like to hear our panelists talk about.

Here's a very tentative schedule:

2008 Seminar Schedule

Friday Night

Get-together and Mystery Theatre. We did this last year and I think those who came had a good time. It's a "your on your own" dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and a good mystery to solve. Attendees take part as actors and in the end we figure out "who dun it.' Keep in mind you're all suspects! This year we have "The Ghost of Abbey Road" which takes us over to jolly ol' England and a mysterious apparition at world famous Abbey Road Studios. Joey Molland from Badfinger and Mark Hudson of The Hudson Brothers fame have agreed to let us use their names in the play. More on the plot later. I'd like your input as to whether you want to do this again this year.

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Saturday

8:30 a.m. Registration and panelist/moderator meeting

9:00  – 10:15 –Panel TBA

10:15 – 11:30 –Panel TBA

11:30 = 12:30 – Panel TBA

12:30 – 1:30 = Lunch and Mingle with Registrants (Lunch provided at nominal cost)

1:30 – 3:00 – Song Critique One

3:00 – 4:30 – Song Critique Two

4:30 – Dismiss with Thanks to all and possible ITR with songwriters

The song critiques are done by some of the panelists (and moderators if they are also songwriters). We break the attendees up into groups and let them go to two different sessions. In order to participate in the critique sessions you must bring a CD and lyric sheet of the two songs you would like to submit. We try very hard to make sure everyone has at least one critique. If time permits each attendee will have two songs critiqued.