Recently, Steve Denyes, the hardworking songwriter behind the Southern California duo Hullabaloo, came to me with a suggestion. He said that he'd participated in songwriting clubs where a group of musicians are given a song title or phrase and use that as a jumping-off point for writing a song. And, given my big interest in collaboration, he was wondering whether or not I'd be interested in hosting a songwriting club for family musicians.
I think you probably can guess my answer.
So I'm excited to announce the creation of the Kindie Songwriting Club and the first set of participants. Denyes went up and down the West Coast, picking some of his favorite songwriters and making some new friends, resulting in these five fine songwriters (going up the coast from south to north):
Steve Denyes from Hullabaloo (San Diego)
Gregory Hollow Tree from The Hollow Trees (Los Angeles)
Charity Kahn from Charity and the JAMband (San Francisco)
Matt Clark (Portland)
Johnny Bregar (Seattle)
The basic concept of the KSC is this:
1) Readers suggest a song title. Or two. Or twenty. Go ahead, stuff the ballot box!
2) I pick 3, then readers vote on their favorite.
3) The favorite having been chosen, the songwriters craft a song using that song title as inspiration.
4) They record that song however they'd like (though this isn't intended to require fancy studio time).
5) The songs get posted for your enjoyment.
6) World peace is achieved. (OK, probably not. But I'm not ruling it out.)
So it's time for the first step -- your suggested song titles. Post 'em here in the comments, on Facebook, or even send me an e-mail (ksc AT zooglobble DOT com). Suggestions for this first round are due by Tuesday, May 31.
And stay tuned for further details (voting on your favorite title, hearing the final results). Should be a blast.
