A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. A songwriter who mainly writes the lyrics for a song is referred to as a lyricist. The pressure from the music industry to produce popular hits means that song writing is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed among a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with the task of creating original melodies. Pop songs may be composed by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own music publishers, while others have external publishers.
Holly Audrey Williams is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is the granddaughter of Hank Williams, the niece of Jett Williams, daughter of Hank Williams Jr., half-sister of Hank Williams III, and aunt of Coleman Williams. Williams has released three studio albums: The Ones We Never Knew in 2004, Here with Me in 2009 and The Highway in 2013. The Highway was released on Williams' own label, Georgiana Records, and reached No. 146 on the Billboard 200
"Heart of Gold" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young. From his fourth album Harvest, it is Young's only U.S. No. 1 single. In Canada, it reached No. 1 on the RPM national singles chart for the first time on April 8, 1972, on which date Young held the top spot on both the singles and albums charts. Billboard ranked it as the No. 17 song for 1972.
Peter Andrew Furler is an Australian musician, songwriter, producer and record executive, best known as the co-founder and former lead vocalist of the Christian rock band Newsboys.
Sarah Jane Buxton is an American country music singer formerly signed to the independent Lyric Street Records. Between 2006 and 2008, she issued three singles from an extended play titled Almost My Record, in addition to co-writing her song "Stupid Boy", which was later recorded by Keith Urban. She released her self-titled debut album in early 2010, led off by the Top 25 single "Outside My Window," shortly before Lyric Street Records closed.
Phil Swann is an American singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, arranger, teacher and author. His songs have been heard in television, film, and theater, and have been recorded by numerous artists including Clay Aiken, Lee Ann Womack, Eamonn McCrystal, Blake Shelton, Neal McCoy, Rodney Atkins, Kristin Garner and Lee Greenwood. He has also achieved international success as a playwright and mystery novelist.
Nashville Scene is an alternative newsweekly in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1989, became a part of Village Voice Media in 1999, and later joined the ranks of sixteen other publications after a merger of Village Voice Media with New Times Media early in 2006. The paper was acquired by SouthComm Communications in 2009. Since May 2018, it has been owned by the Freeman Webb Company. The publication mainly reports and opines on music, arts, entertainment, and local and state politics in Nashville.
Taylor Swift is the debut studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released by Big Machine Records on October 24, 2006, in the United States and Canada, and March 18, 2008, internationally. Swift had signed with Sony/ATV Tree publishing house in 2004, at age 14, to pursue a career as a country musician. Her contract with Big Machine Records in 2005 enabled her to work on the album during her second high school year.
Amy Loftus is an American singer-songwriter, now resident in Los Angeles.
"Picture to Burn" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and the fourth single from her 2006 self-titled debut studio album. Big Machine Records released it to country radio on February 4, 2008. Written by Swift and Liz Rose, the lyrics were inspired by a narcissistic classmate of Swift and narrate a protagonist's contempt for and vengeance against an ex-lover. Nathan Chapman produced the track, which is an incorporation of country rock and alternative rock and features prominent plunking banjo and distorted guitars.
Jennifer Kate Foster is an American singer-songwriter, musician, performer, record producer, and owner of her own record label Fosterchild Records. Her music incorporates elements of rock, pop, R&B, folk, country, and dance. She has released 3 studio albums, 3 EPs and has contributed to various film, television and multi-media soundtracks and exceeded sales of 50,000 units as an independent artist.
Jason Todd Deere is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and music executive. He has written memorable songs for acts like Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, LeAnn Rimes, Jessica Simpson, Cory Marks, Jim Brickman, SHeDAISY, Marie Osmond, Be Be Winans, Natalie Grant, Point of Grace, Wanessa Camargo, Leonardo, Luiza Possi, The Wreckers and he has a lengthy list of film, television and production credits.
Christopher Robert Volpe was an American songwriter and folk musician. Starting in 2006, he won more than twenty international songwriting awards including an Independent Music Award for Best Folk Album.
Brett Beavers is an American country music songwriter and producer and the co-author of the book Something Worth Leaving Behind.
Speak Now World Tour – Live is the first live album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on November 21, 2011, by Big Machine Records. It consists of two components: an audio CD and a visual accompaniment either on DVD or Blu-ray. Recorded on Swift's Speak Now World Tour, which she embarked on to support her third studio album Speak Now, the live album consists of songs and performances on various dates.
Xavier and Ophelia is an American indie rock and electropop music duo based in Nashville, Tennessee. Formed in 2009, members include DeAnna Moore (vocals) and Dave Tough. The band has released two albums including their debut Xavier & Ophelia, which had songs win industry awards. "Falling Down," a track from their 2012 sophomore album I Hate Birds, won Grand Prize at the 2013 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Their songs have been placed in movies, television and commercials, and in 2013 their song "Heartbeat" was featured on Twisted.
Dave Tough is an American multi-instrumentalist, producer, engineer, songwriter and music industry educator. He is also a member of the band Xavier & Ophelia who released their debut album X&O in 2011. Tough has released two solo albums, one in 1999 and one in 2005, and he has won the grand prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest twice, in 2009 in the country category, and in 2013 in the electronica category. He has also written and produced songs for shows such as Hart of Dixie, Nashville, Hemlock Grove, and the Seth Rogen film Observe and Report. Tough has won two GMA Covenant Awards for his work producing, engineering, and writing songs with guitar instrumentalist Sean Spicer.
The Great American Song Contest is an international music competition run annually by Songwriters Resource Network since 2000.
"Treacherous" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her fourth studio album, Red (2012). Swift wrote the track with its producer Dan Wilson. Blending styles of country and pop, "Treacherous" is a slow-burning ballad that builds up into a finale. Its lyrics are about a narrator's attempt to protect a fragile and dangerous relationship. A demo of the song was included in the track-list of Red's deluxe edition.
Jim Malec is an American journalist and pop music critic known for writing about country music. Malec attended State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, where he worked as an editor for the college's student newspaper and was involved in a censorship dispute regarding student free speech rights. He was named "Best Local Blogger About Country Music" by the Nashville Scene in 2009, with the paper commenting that he is "rough on country music in the way that only a person who loves and thinks deeply about an art form can be." Malec's work has appeared in American Songwriter, Slant Magazine, Westword and other outlets, and he is a contributor to the Nashville Scene's annual country music critics poll.
