Drew Kennedy live and in-person

Here's my very first YouTube video filmed by me. I saw (and met!) Drew Kennedy, Austin Collins, Matt Skinner and the Josh Grider Trio last night and took this early in the evening. The quality's not great, but not bad at all for a basic digital camera. I hope to have a write-up about the show and some thoughts that came out of it soon, but for now here's Drew Kennedy with "Amarillo Highway."

YouTube Gems: Truth and Salvage Co.

Loving this band! Hating that I missed them at Riverfest!

YouTube Gems: Austin Collins

From one of my favorite albums of the year so far, Wrong Control, here's Austin Collins (who I'm hoping to see this weekend along with Drew Kennedy and Josh Grider) with "Island."

Songs Illustrated #20

John Rich's Songwriting Tips #37

Everybody has a different standard for how and when they write. Some people say you should set aside a time to write every day, no matter what. Some people say you should only write when the inspiration strikes you. As you might expect, I do neither. To tell you the truth, half the time I don't remember even writing a song. I just kinda wake up and find it written down or recorded for me like some little f*ckin' fairies (the winged kind, not the switch hittin' kind) came in and did it for me. Once after a 4 day bender that involved at least 2 call girls and 3 cases of boxed wine, I came to and discovered a kickass song already on tape - with me friggin' singing it! I swear don't know how it got written or recorded, but 3 months later, Jason Aldean took that song to #2 on the charts. True story.

*Not actually written by John Rich.