Dear fellow songwriting enthusiasts,

Our songwriting seminar with Pierce Pettis went very well. We had a good group of enthusiastic participants hanging on every word of Pierce's sage advice and opinions on the craft and business of songwriting. All the logistics worked out well. As you may know from the info I posted earlier, Pierce was in town for the Riverbend Festival, the week-long big-hairy-deal event in Chattanooga. He performed on an acoustic-friendly stage at the same time as the main act; somehow Lynyrd Skynyrd got more press (imagine!), but I believe Pierce's audience got more substance.

He spent at least an hour and a half discussing songwriting with us (he came prepared with detailed notes!), including some critiques and a song. He had us consider the reasons (good and bad) of why we write/perform; from his own experience he warned against doing music for selfish reasons such as venting your anger or propagandizing, and advocated doing it as a way to serve the audience. He reminded us of the cold hard truth that listeners don't really care about us and our lives, they care about themselves, so we should speak to them with that in mind and with the goal of affirming and lifting up the truths they already know on some level. Of course, he recognized the exceptions that exist; I could argue on a general level with some of the points he made, but agree with the overall message. He admitted his own fallibility at the outset; he told us how, when in Texas, he knew an upstart songwriter who had this song about a pony and a boat...and thought the guy would never get anywhere in the business with these quirky songs...and, despite his predictions, Lyle Lovett did OK.

I didn't remember to ask the group of 10-12 how many came due to my publicity efforts, but most were NSAI members or had been to a recent meeting. Of course, I would like to have had the place packed to the gills (and I was ready, with a sound system!). But the number we had was nice and manageable and informal. At worst, the event was a good excuse to get the name of the [NSAI] group (and Pierce Pettis) out there. Every little bit helps!

I did slip up a little by not making sure I knew what time he wanted to leave, though I had an idea, so he felt a little rushed on the way to the stage, but I think we got there in plenty of time and it was no major deal.