Hello Delta

I remember the day so clearly. It had rained overnight and the morning brought a load of muddy obstacles to overcome before I got to the office. White pants were out of the question so I wore black jeans and biker boots,  just in case a dog paw found my leg or there were standing pools of water at the stupid cattle gate that ruins my life on a daily basis. I got to work on time, thank God, and started on my long-list-of-things-to-do-before-you-leave-for-Nashville. I had just told my bosses at Delta Magazine, Scott and Melissa, that I had a deep passion for singing and songwriting and that I needed to take some time off to move to Nashville and explore the opportunity of making my dreams a reality.

So there I was, on my second-to-last day of work, scrambling to get things in order for my replacement and tying up thousands of loose ends, when my office phone was buzzed.

On the other end of the phone was Bill Twyman, President of Ride Records, asking me about a photo he saw online that I had taken in Clarksdale. After a few minutes of chatting, I realized that Ride Records was Mississippi Delta native Steve Azar’s record label! Steve Azar has the greatest story. He was raised in the Delta, loved songwriting and grew up listening to Delta bluesman play music behind his family’s liquor store. He moved out to Nashville after college and landed a recording deal with Mercury Records. He hit it huge with a song he wrote called “I don’t have to be me until Monday” on the album “Waiting on Joe.” Please download the entire album. “Damn the Money” is also on that album and will be your new favorite song, hands down!

So there I was at work, talking to Bill Twyman…

I could not believe that he found the “Welcome to the Delta” photo above on Facebook and was trying to track it down so he could use it for Steve Azar’s new album (Delta Soul, Volume 1). I went on and on about how much I loved Steve and Bill said “Hang on one second.”  He clicked over, called Steve on his cell phone, and then clicked back over to me. I sat there and talked to Steve Azar, told him I was moving to Nashville to pursue a career in singing and songwriting and he said “Hey, good luck! When you get back to the Delta, give me a call and let’s start writing some songs together.”

My heart kinda stopped. No..it most definitely stopped. Write music with Steve Azar? He had written hits. Like, real hits. He had those shiny records hanging all over the walls in his office from BMI! He had written songs for Reba McEntire and for the love of pete, Morgan Freeman was in one of his music videos!! But calmly I said, “Sure. That sounds great! I’ll be in touch when I get back! Nice to meet you.”

I hung up the phone. I rannnnn down the hallway and told everyone in my office what happened. They told me to shut up and get back to work.

So I did.

Fast forward……………………………………

It was about three weeks after I moved to Nashville, and I found myself coming to a halt. I had met with all of my available contacts and while the feedback was all positive, no real doors had been opened for me. I was hearing a lot of :

“You are great, but you aren’t ready.”

“Keep writing. Develop your craft.”

“You need time to develop, but you’ve got “it”.

I was frustrated. I scanned my phone and emails looking for a possible contact I may have overlooked, when all of a sudden I remembered Bill Twyman and Steve Azar. I was in the driver’s seat of my car, just sitting in the parking lot outside of my apartment complex, when I picked up the phone and dialed Bill Twyman. I asked him if he would set me up with another interview to play my music for someone in Nashville and he happily called his friend at Sanctuary Management on Music Row.

Two days later, I was sitting in the driver’s seat of my car outside of Sanctuary Management, putting on lip-gloss and nervously flipping my hair back and forth ten minutes before I walked into my interview. Twenty minutes after that, I had already walked into the wrong building, taken the wrong elevator and dropped my cell phone in the waiting area. Splat. Battery pops out of my Blackberry and slides across the floor. Receptionist gives me the “you’re an idiot” look…

I walked into Tom Storms office and played him my demo. He listened to the first two songs and then stopped the CD player.

Long story short (haha..none of my stories are EVER short..) I got an email from Bill Twyman telling me that Tom Storms was “wowed with my talent.” That is what gave me “street credit” with the Steve Azar crew and the rest is pretty much history. I came back to the Delta after a wonderful journey to Nashville, and it’s crazy to think that what I was looking for the whole time was thirty miles up the road in Greenville!

What was I looking for?

Well, I was looking for someone that believed in me, believed in my music and was willing to give me a chance. That is exactly what Ride Records is doing for me. They are giving me a chance to make the music I want to make while I develop a fan-base, and they are using their decades of experience and connections to pave the way for me.

I’m siiiiiiiked.

We just got back from recording in Nashville (more to come on that!) and ummm, while I don’t usually like name-dropping, I am going to have to take a moment to name-drop. I’m sorry, but Emmy Lou Harris’ keyboard player and Taylor Swift’s drummer were playing on my record. Daddy say whaaat?? Okay no more name-dropping, I promise.

We have amazing things on the horizon for 2012 and I plan to keep ya posted along the way. Sorry I’ve been missing in action, but I’ve got a good excuse!

So like I’ve said before, one of my big dreams in life is to have a hit country song on the Billboard charts. Kind of a huge dream, but whatevs. Somewhere in my twisted mind I really do think it will happen if I keep writing and pitching and trying and praying and drinking.

Just kidding about the drinking.

Or am I?

This past month in Nashville I talked to a lot of songwriters, a lot of publishers and a lot of other people who have been working in the country music business for decades. I would come home after my days of meetings, drink-dates and interviews, and I would grab my laptop and start typing out everything I learned. Who did I meet with? What advice was I given? What was their experience?

I tried to narrow down all the advice I was given and shape it into ten important tips that would be useful for anyone trying to make it in the country music songwriting business. Please don’t hang on every word that I say. I’m just a normal girl with a normal dream and a normal talent for writing music. No big hits under my belt, no one knows who I am and I am not a big deal at all.  My goal is to just pass along advice I was given for anyone else who shares the same dream and doesn’t know where to start. Capeesh?

#1- HOOK IT UP! The hook is the most important part to a song. It is the part that catches listeners attention within 60 seconds and makes them go “wow, that’s kinda cool, I think I’ll sit still for two more minutes and hear this one out.” Without a great hook, there is no great song.

#2- YOU’RE STARTING TO BORE US, PLEASE GET TO THE CHORUS. I made this mistake on the first three or four songs I wrote. I was getting so lost in the story and the lyric on the first verse, that it took me forever to get to the first chorus. People loooooove choruses. That is the part people love to sing and love to hum while they walk through the streets and love to hear years down the road to identify that old song they loved so much. So just keep that in mind when you are writing your next song….chorus chorus chorus!

#3-KEEP IT SIMPLE. There’s no need to over think lyrics when writing country music. It is more important to arrange words properly to make your simple statement sound more profound.

#4-KEEP IT CREATIVE. Think about the country music you listen to. Backroads, beers, bonfires and dirty trucks have been covered! Check that off the list. It doesn’t mean you can’t ever write about those things. It just means that if you do, it has to be able to compete with alllllllllllll of those songs that have already been written, recorded and played on the radio. Instead, try and find a subject that hasn’t been over-played. For example, “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” written by Dallas Davidson and made popular by Justin Moore.  Also, think about the way you are wording things and try to find a creative alternative. The best example is the Rodney Atkins song  ”Take a Backroad” written by Rhett Akins. “Put a little gravel in my travel” was a clever, creative and catchy way to reference the same old “driving down a gravel road” lyric we’ve heard so many times before.

#5- COMPARE and CONTRAST. Do your research! If you want to have a hit song on the Billboard charts, it would make sense to listen to everything that is currently in the Top 20 or 40. If it is in the Top 20, it means that radio listeners and fans loved the song and requested to hear it and of course, bought it.  If you hear something new, funky and not so typical for a country radio song, take notes and see how far listeners are willing to go and spot the trends for where country music is headed. The more you listen, the more you will learn from other successful songwriters.

#6- WRITE FOR RADIO. Country music stars can’t make it without country music radio. That might not always be the case, but right now–it definitely is. That is why it is so important to make sure your song is marketable for radio. If your song is seven minutes long with a two minute guitar jam before the last chorus, it probably won’t make it on country radio. They love three minute songs that get to the chorus quick with a catchy and creative hook. All of the songs on the Top 20 are hit radio songs, so make sure you listen and compare your songs to the charted hits.

#7- FIND CO-WRITERS. Writing with other people is a great way to network and enhance your songwriting abilities. Some songwriters are great with lyrics, others with melodies and combining the two can greatly increase your chance of writing a killer song. With that being said, I have written all of my music by myself and there were several people in Nashville that encouraged me to keep writing alone without needing others to finish a song. I’m still excited about writing with others, but for those who also write alone, always strive to keep that talent.

#8- THIS IS A REAL JOB. Unfortunately, this is a real business and a real job. Songwriters don’t make money because they wrote a hit song, the country music fairy came and recorded it and pitched it to publishers and then flew back to FarmVille and delivered their million dollar check. Songwriters have to be self-starters. I think that writing the song is EASY compared to being a self-starter. That means that you should know on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays you are going to wake up and spend 3-4 hours trying to write a song. Even on days when you don’t feel inspired, just toying around on the guitar, listening to other music and throwing around some lyrics may turn into the next hit. Truth be told, you just never know. That is why it is so important to schedule days you are going to write and stick to it! Don’t wait on your next “inspired” moment. Create the inspiration everyday or every week. As much as you can! Also, spend one part of your day on the internet, phone, email, facebook–reaching out to people in the business and trying to network and create new contacts. What are you going to do with all these songs you have written? You have to get them into the right hands which is going to take lots of real-life work.

#9-DEVELOP YOUR CRAFT. Get used to hearing this sentence in Nashville. “You need to work on and develop your craft.” Even people who have no ideer what they are talking about still have that sentence memorized and ready to spit out at you. To be honest, it is a very true statement. The more you write and understand hook placement, rhythm and rhyme and havin’ a good time (see that rhyme? I’m so developed), the more chance you have of really developing a hit. The best way to develop your craft is to A. keep writing B. read a book or two about songwriting and C. study other hit songs. If you do that, your craft will develop naturally. It just takes some time.

#10-GET A RECORDING DEVICE. Iphone, Blackberry, Android–doesn’t matter. Just make sure your phone has a recording device that is easy to access in any given moment. Most of the songs I have written have started off on my Blackberry voice recorder. You never know when a creative hook, catchy melody or cool lyric is going to pop into your brain. Trust me on this one, you won’t remember it the next day! I’ve written an entire song, memorized it, played it over and over and the next morning, it took me three hours picking around on the guitar to figure out what melody I had been singing the day before. That is why it is also so important to record your writing sessions. I also pull up my Macbook Pro and just leave the video recorder on for my entire writing session. Just in case I get a cool lyric or melody and can’t remember exactly what I sang, I can rewind the video and start from there. Record everything you can so you never forget!

ROCK OUT!! Love, KK

You always hear about people who follow their dreams of being a movie star, singer, songwriter…etc and allllll of the rejection that goes along with it.

“Oh I got turned down by everyone in Hollywood and then on the plane flight home, the guy sitting next to me was so-and-so’s son and he believed in me and I finally got my big break.”

I don’t think you could ever compare Nashville to Hollywood or New York. I’ve only been here a short time and it amazes me how small this town feels for being a big city. Errrrrbody knows everybody. I’ve been on several lunch dates or drink dates or interview dates and everyone is connected in this town. I like the “small-town” feeling you can get here. It really surprised me.

I don’t have a ton of advice to give people who are attempting to break into the Nashville music scene because I am so new myself, but I will share with you the two most important things I’ve learned so far.

#1–NETWORKING.

If you have dreams to be the all-out-real-deal-famous-musician, you can’t just move to Nashville and play in a bar. Could you be discovered that way? Of course. I’m a firm believer that there is an exception to every rule and you just might be the exception. You could totally get discovered in a bar because the right person was there at the right time and saw something special in you, but the name of the game is networking. It increases your odds of getting you to the right door. What is the right door? Well it is kind of like a game. You start by contacting everyone you know in Nashville. Post on Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Myspace and beyond that you are moving to Nashville and are looking for contacts. Even if someone just has a “friend” for you to meet, go meet them! You never know who they know. This isn’t rocket science. The saying “It ain’t what ya know it’s who ya know” is so so so so so true, especially in the music business. In my case, my parents had more contacts than my friends! I had my mother post on her Facebook wall that I was moving to Nashville and got three amazing contacts on Music Row. Anytime you sit down with someone, explain to them why you are in town and what you are trying to accomplish. You’d be so surprised at how many contacts will fall in your lap. Reach out to each contact and set up lunch dates, drink dates or interviews. They are the doors! Your goal is to try to keep moving forward to the next door in hopes that they keep opening. Make sure you ask each contact to please introduce you to someone else. The more people you know, the more connected you will be and the better your chance will become for meeting that person that may be key in making your dreams become a reality.

#2—LEARN HOW TO DEAL WITH REJECTION.

This is plain and simple and I’m gonna tell ya just like my Momma told me.

“Kallie, you have had FIVE THOUSAND people tell you that you are amazing and the only thing you chose to hear was the ONE person who told you weren’t. Sometimes God closes doors on purpose. Trust that He will open another one.”

I hope that anyone who has a talent of singing, songwriting, performing—whatever it may be—will know how truly brave it is to share it with the world and how proud you should be of that accomplishment. Regardless of fame and fortune, being an artist and sharing your talent with others is a unique gift that no one has the right to put down.  Walk the streets, shake some hands, find someone that truly believes in you and make sure it feels right.

It might take awhile, so be patient…. but if you want to speed the process, buy a short-black-mini-dress, get a spray tan and wear 9 inch heels. Pilates doesn’t hurt either.

Just Kidding.

Not really.

Block out the bad energy, harness the good, pray a lot, be confident and rock out!

Trust me. You can do it.

xoxo, KK

Yesterday was recording day.

The recording day I had been thinking about for about two months now.

I’m so new to this “music scene”. I don’t know studio lingo, I don’t know what key I’m in and it still takes me three years to tune my guitar. I hate that feeling of insecurity when you are going into a new place and you don’t feel like you know what you are doing. People always say they can’t tell that I’m nervous, but trustttt me, I am.

My morning was SO typi-Kallie. My roommate Lindsey and I are JUST alike. This is a very very very bad thing. I repeat. BAD thing. We misplace things and run into things and trip over things and spill things and then laugh about all those things just about everyday. This past week in particular was no exception. I lost the swipey key that gets you into Lindsey’s apartment complex and I’m still very confused about this. I was already inside the building when I realized I lost it, which means that 3 seconds earlier I had swiped myself into the door of the building, which means I had lost it inside the building somewhere.

So I walked up and down the stairwell.

No key.

I tore apart the couch cushions.

No key.

I even looked inside Millie’s dog kennel.

No key.

So I wrote a check for $50 bucks and we ordered a new key. Rats.

On top of the lost key fiasco, the battery in Lindsey’s car was dead and we had no clue who she was parked next to on either side so we couldn’t ask them to move their cars so that I could pull in next to her and jump her car off.  So poor Lindsey had no car and I had to take her to and from work for three days. Well yesterday morning, on my big recording day, I woke up and took Lindsey to work like I had been doing the few days before. Only this time, of course, there was backed up one-lane traffic all the way back to the apartment. I didn’t have to be at the studio until 10am, so I had plenty of time, but I still wasn’t 100 percent sure on where Skyville Records was located–so I was hoping to be showered and ready to go by 9:15.

I didn’t get back to the apartment until 8:50am.

I was frantic. Was I really going to have to get ready in less than 30 minutes? Ugh. I jumped in the shower and two seconds later jumped out. I got dressed, braided my wet hair and ran down to my car. Crap. I forgot my guitar. I ran back upstairs and got my guitar and then ran back down to my car. Now I was sweating! Awesome!

I jumped in the car, looked at the directions written on my planner and jumped on the interstate. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. WHERE IS EXIT 82?

I would pass exit 85, 86, 87 and think “Ok Kallie, turn around. It will be a few exits back in the other direction.” So I would exit, turn around, and drive back in the opposite direction. Exit 86, 85, 84, 8333333333333…almost there….exit 2707! What in the Sam Hill?? How did it just go from Exit 83 to 2707. My heart sank. I was going to be late for my recording day. Of course I was! Typi-Kallie.

I called my mom at home. She could mapquest the address and walk me through it. No answer.

I called my sister Carrie at home. She could mapquest me through it. No answer.

I cursed myself for not having an iPhone. People with iPhone’s don’t get lost and they take really cool pictures.

I called Lindsey at work. She answers but says she is going into a meeting and will call me back.

I call my other sister Casey at home and she answers.

“CASEY–PLEASE MAPQUEST 2603 WESTWOOD DRIVE AND TELL ME HOW TO GET THERE. I’M IN NASHVILLE. IT IS RECORDING DAY. I’VE GOT TO BE THERE IN TEN MINUTES. KINDA FREAKING OUT. HELP!”

She tells me to calm down…and then, just like the amazing big sister that she is, she walks me through step-by-step directions and manages to have me at Skyville Records at 10:02am. I then profess my love to her and I tell her that I want to marry her. She accepted. We are thrilled!

Once I pull in the parking lot I remember how nervous I am, but thank God I got lost and was so focused on that ordeal because I didn’t have time to sit in the parking lot and throw up before I went inside. Just kidding.

Not really.

So I ran inside and of course, my sound engineer was late so it made me look like I was on time. Whew. Freaking out for no reason?? Typi-Kallie. I walked inside, said hello to everyone and twenty minutes later I was singing my first song.

I’m almost positive that my mother prayed for me that morning. And probably the night before too. This has happened more than one time; this crazy thing where I’m so nervous and build things up to be such a big deal and almost have a panic attack about them and then, like magic, all the nervousness and anxiety just melts away and I’m having the time of my life–completely at ease. That’s exactly what happened yesterday at the recording studio. I walked in and sang like I had been singing in studios my whole life. I didn’t act nervous because I didn’t feel nervous. It was just natural and fun and I didn’t want to leave.

Thanks for the prayers, Mom.

This was my studio guitarist Adam. Sorry we look possessed with red-eye, but my Blackberry takes awful photos. Oh iPhone 4—where art thou? Adam was so talented and such a fun guy to hang out with for the day. Thanks Adam!

To listen to music from yesterday’s recording session, click HERE.