Seventeen years ago this week I became Executive Director of the Nashville Songwriters Association. THE BEST—My favorite part of this job has always been the writers and their songs. Whether it is a successful songwriter or someone just starting their journey, their songs keep me passionate and motivated. The songwriter community is really a family. I want to thank mentors such as Wayland Holyfield, Steve Bogard, Jim McBride, Marijohn Wilkin, Dottie Moore, Roger Cook, Connie Bradley, Kenny O’Dell and Layng Martine, Jr. I’ve loved sharing the successes of friends like Craig Wiseman, Chuck Cannon, Brett James, Gretchen Peters, Tim Nichols, Philip White, Allen Shamblin, Stephony Smith, Rivers Rutherford and Tom Douglas who started around the same time I did. I’ve loved watching writers such as Jessi Alexander, Dallas Davidson, Lee Miller, Kelly Lovelace, John Rich, Kenny Alphin, Nicolle Galyon and Jim McCormick make their marks after years of hard work. I love watching our future: Luke Caccetta, Mindy Braasch, Bonner Black and Little Honey, Mockingbird Sun and others. All of NSAI’s advocacy accomplishments, from passage of THE SONGWRITERS CAPITAL GAINS TAX EQUITY ACT to participating in and winning Supreme Court cases was a thrill. NSAI Board members and Presidents, the NSAI staff and our members made this job easy. I offer a special thank you to Erika Wollam-Nichols and Jennifer Turnbow who have dedicated their lives to serving songwriters through NSAI. Purchasing the historic Music Mill as NSAI headquarters and The Bluebird Café were high points. My favorite song during my tenure is LEAVING OCTOBER written by Tom Douglas and Drew Womack recorded by Drew’s group SONS OF THE DESERT. It was released about the time I was hired and I actually teach a seminar based on that song. THE WORST—Watching opportunities for songwriters to earn a decent living dramatically erode. Internet music piracy, then obscenely low streaming royalty rates claimed 80 to 90% of America’s professional songwriters since the year 2000. In my position that has been hard to take. But, for the first time in my tenure I truly feel we are on the cusp of some major changes in copyright law that can make a huge difference in the way songwriters are paid. Losing friends has been hard too. NSAI founder Marijohn Wilkin, Don Wayne, Tim Johnson and many others are no longer with us. But their songs live on. I just want to thank everyone I’ve met through NSAI since 1997. You are my family, you are my friends. Every single day I feel blessed to hold this position and serve American songwriters.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 17:34:40 +0000
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