I recently spent the weekend with my producer and mentor going over songs for the new album. It was a lot of fun, but hard work.

Chords, melody line, lyrics, structure all needed to be justified. One of the best things about rewriting with someone else, is that you get to look at your songs from another angle.

Sometimes what you thought you meant to write actually comes across as something else. Sometimes just changing one chord can bring a dead phrase to life. Sometimes I get lazy with a certain song, and don’t want to push through the pain of making it better.

I got pushed. It was just what I needed to take me into the realm of the art songwriting. I don’t want to just write another song…there are plenty of them in the world.  I want each song I write to be more than just another song, but something of beauty, substance, and unique design.