Day two-Songwriting with Vince Melamed
By day three, I wake up feeling positively terrible, and now I know that my knotted stomache or supposed jet-lag from the last couple days is actually a terrible bug that is catching up with me. But it’s my first co-writing date with Vince Melamed, whose got a list of impressive accomplishments including writing “Walkaway Joe” for Trisha Yearwood and touring with the Eagles during their Hotel California Tour: www.myspace.com/vincemelamed
I force myself into the shower, through breakfast and to Vince’s where the creativity of the day will take over until I go home and crash.
On the way to Vince’s, the signs of spring are everywhere. Huge old cherry trees are in bloom. I see a bright red cardinal skirting about. Flowers in bloom and green buds everywhere, especially after the soft rain last night. It's stunning and grand down here, like nothing I would have imagined.
Writing with Vince is fun and effortless. He’s listened to my music and put together some riffs and ideas to see if I like any. There’s a really beautiful R/B sounding piece that instantly compels me. The music is sad; it’s got some tension, but some promise as well. I’m thinking of my lover. And so we decide the song is about distance and dig into it.
Vince is pretty flexible—he’s accepting of my quirky, poetic bent and I let him structure and guide the process, learning from the way he twists words, works out kinks in the melody, and plays with chords changes. We work off each other so easily. Vince is down to earth and immediately likable, so the day is an absolute pleasure. We laugh and joke and let the 4-month old kitten Josie interrupt and amuse us.
As we write and record sections of the song, I sing it over and over again. And I feel real emotion, real heart in what we’ve written—which is the ultimate test. I’ve always wondered if something written with another songwriter can be as pure, as emotional, as intimate as a song that comes from my own experience. But with Vince, I appreciate being challenged to go beyond my own experience, and find words and chords that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own. And in the end, I feel just as connected to this music as if I had written it on my own. What an excellent way to begin co-writing in Nashville.
A huge thanks to Jim Tract at Adroit Records for setting up this appointment. He is offering an amazingly warm welcome down here in Nashville and showing me the ropes: http://www.adroitrecords.com
I get home that afternoon and in time to collapse into bed, where I spend the next 20 hours. There is one blessing here: in the mess of extra blankets and covers that I gather to warm my chilled body, I find THE notebook, lost on day one. I am grateful. Day three in Nashville is spent in bed.
I force myself into the shower, through breakfast and to Vince’s where the creativity of the day will take over until I go home and crash.
On the way to Vince’s, the signs of spring are everywhere. Huge old cherry trees are in bloom. I see a bright red cardinal skirting about. Flowers in bloom and green buds everywhere, especially after the soft rain last night. It's stunning and grand down here, like nothing I would have imagined.
Writing with Vince is fun and effortless. He’s listened to my music and put together some riffs and ideas to see if I like any. There’s a really beautiful R/B sounding piece that instantly compels me. The music is sad; it’s got some tension, but some promise as well. I’m thinking of my lover. And so we decide the song is about distance and dig into it.
Vince is pretty flexible—he’s accepting of my quirky, poetic bent and I let him structure and guide the process, learning from the way he twists words, works out kinks in the melody, and plays with chords changes. We work off each other so easily. Vince is down to earth and immediately likable, so the day is an absolute pleasure. We laugh and joke and let the 4-month old kitten Josie interrupt and amuse us.
As we write and record sections of the song, I sing it over and over again. And I feel real emotion, real heart in what we’ve written—which is the ultimate test. I’ve always wondered if something written with another songwriter can be as pure, as emotional, as intimate as a song that comes from my own experience. But with Vince, I appreciate being challenged to go beyond my own experience, and find words and chords that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own. And in the end, I feel just as connected to this music as if I had written it on my own. What an excellent way to begin co-writing in Nashville.
A huge thanks to Jim Tract at Adroit Records for setting up this appointment. He is offering an amazingly warm welcome down here in Nashville and showing me the ropes: http://www.adroitrecords.com
I get home that afternoon and in time to collapse into bed, where I spend the next 20 hours. There is one blessing here: in the mess of extra blankets and covers that I gather to warm my chilled body, I find THE notebook, lost on day one. I am grateful. Day three in Nashville is spent in bed.
posted by Carrie Catherine at
9:38 PM
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