What do you do during the day?

I’ve recently relocated back to the US after living abroad for some years. So right now, songwriting and music is what I’m continuing to work on while looking towards what and where the next step is.

Do you have any guilty pleasures in music?

Nope.

What does your songwriting habit look like?

It depends where in the process I am. Sometimes I’m just looking to make a habit and log 5 minutes of an activity. Sometimes I’m hammering away on a song lyrically or melodically. That turns into spending more time recording than writing so I can hear it back and continue to make adjustments. Although at this point in time, I think I’m somewhere in between all of it.

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?

The list is endless, really. Musically, Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, Robert Johnson, Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Louis Armstrong, Fleet Foxes, Andrew Bird, Jeff Buckley, etc. As for writers, John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut, Somerset Maugham... They just wrap you right up into their world and I can’t get enough of their stories. But really, I find that anyone and anything could come along at any time, so long as your antennae is up and tuned in.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?

Finishing them. It always seems to be a long, arduous process for me to get them into working order and not just snippets of ideas in need of developing.

What Day of 100 is your piece from?

72

Listen to his song here:

Click here to listen 

Check out Devin's work here:

https://soundcloud.com/devinjamesmusic

Clark is from Bozeman, MT, United States

What do you do during the day?

I just finished grad school in November and am currently seeking employment as a nonprofit program evaluation consultant.

Do you have any guilty pleasures in music?

I don't.

What inspired you to want to write songs?

I grew up in Montana, but my extended family is all in Texas. So growing up, my dad's boss and his wife, Jim and Jean, were like our "adopted grandparents". They inspired my parents to buy me a dulcimer kit at 7, and growing up, I'd often hang out at their house after school, and we would listen to The Beatles on vinyl in their basement. At 10, a counselor at church camp inspired me and my friends to start a punk band (called Ice Box). This was in 2001, when the art garage punk revival happened. All of that just happened at the right times in my life, I suppose. Truth be told though, I've always been more interested in film making. But, music is easier to do cheaply and when you don't have a team.

What does your songwriting habit look like?

Usually, ideas just randomly pop into my head and then I figure out what chords accompany them and go from there. It's handy, but it also means I work very slowly and rely more on inspiration than actual grinding. I'd like to be more proactive in uncovering songs, instead of waiting for them to come to me, through having a set period of time every weekday where I just sit down and write/record/mix.

How has developing a songwriting practice affected your life?

In addition to music, I also skateboard (very, very poorly), so between the two, I'm always seeing crappy sidewalks or sets of stairs and suddenly imagining all the dope lines a better skater could do on them, and then I start picturing the best angle to film it from, the accompanying music, etc. Likewise, I'll hear traffic noises and think about recordings of Moondog's street poetry or the intro to The Shape of Punk to Come or how I could sample it and add some synthesizers. To be super cliché and kinda douchey, creative activities cause me to see the whole world as a giant canvas and playground. Beauty and opportunity are everywhere.

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?

Quentin Tarantino, Banksy, David Blaine, Dave Chappelle, Harper Lee, Kendrick Lamar. All of these people are total masters of their crafts, while also being completely original. It's a hard combination to pull off. As far short as I fall, this is what I strive for.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?

I've never known how to do proper harmonies. I've kinda leaned into this in my records thus far, just doubling melody lines instead of using harmonies, but I don't want to HAVE to do it this way. A well-placed harmony can do so much for a song.

What Day of 100 is your piece from?

Roughly 50-80

EP Track 3

Last night I had a dream of nuclear war

And for the first time, I didn't ask what for

I woke up to piss then fell asleep just fine

And that's when I knew that I wasn't

Cause we censor the passion but not the violence

Tell God to f*** off and then pray to the tyrants

And worst of all, this is good as it gets

But I'm not sure if I even really give a s***

TV screen

Hear our plea

Let us down

Make us bleed

We want you

For ourselves

They can burn it down

But we won't help

I saw it on the evening news

One hundred men in Red and Blue

And as they stared each other down

I heard them cry a splendid sound

It went

Chorus

So God let me in on your master plan

I promise I won't tell my friends

And I won't try to change your mind

I just wanna know how this ends

Click here to listen 

Check out Clark's work here:

www.clarkmoorman.com 

What do you do during the day?

I am a copier technician/network specialist for an office equipment company.

Do you have any guilty pleasures in music?

I love to listen to The Monkees - especially their deeper cut stuff that didn't get a lot of radio play. And the early BeeGees.

What inspired you to want to write songs?

Listening to The Beatles, Paul Simon and Jackson Browne inspired me to write from an early age. I was writing lyrics when I was about 12 or 13. I picked up the guitar when I was 15.

What does your songwriting habit look like?

100 Days of Songwriting has really focused my creativity. By setting up a daily writing routine, it has allowed me more freedom to write - I don't have to wait for inspiration to strike.

How has developing a songwriting practice affected your life?

It has opened up my creativity and allowed me to collaborate with others more easily. I am more open to ideas coming to me when I am not writing.

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?

In addition to famous songwriters, there are a lot of local writers that inspire me. I started Tiny Stage Concerts (my web series of original music) to promote some of the local songwriters that inspired me. Whenever I hear a great song, it reminds me that we all have that music inside of us - waiting to come out.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?

The biggest challenge we all face is overcoming that inner critic - or least getting him to be quieter! The more I write, the easier it is.

What Day of 100 is your piece from?

43-100

A Very COVID Christmas

We’ve been trying to hold it together

We’ve been hoping this all would get better.

Waiting for a hero in the dark of the night

Wishing for a cure that’s still out of sight

And we’ve been doing what we can do -

But this year, Santa – it’s all up to you –

No lords a-leaping, no golden rings

No swans a-swimming, don’t bring us these things.

We don’t need a partridge in a pear tree…

Please, Santa – Bring us a COVID vaccine!

Santa, if you bring us two turtle doves-

We might strangle you with our latex gloves.

We’ve been staying in our houses so much

If it wasn’t for "the cloud", we’d be losing touch.

But these walls are starting to close in I'm telling you

Santa, we could all use a win..

No lords a leaping, no golden rings

No swans a-swimming, don’t bring us these things.

We don’t need a partridge in a pear tree…

Please, Santa – Bring a COVID vaccine!

Oh Santa, we really hate to ask

But will you be wearing a mask?

No lords a leaping, no golden rings

No swans a-swimming, don’t bring us these things.

We don’t need a partridge in a pear tree…

Please, Santa –

Bring a COVID vaccine!

On the first day of Christmas

My true love gave to me – A COVID-19 vaccine.

Click here to listen 

Check out Louis's work here:

www.TheAcousticGuy.com

What do you do during the day?

Well I’ve been a pirate, a poet, a teacher, a designer, a director, a playwright, and a bartender and now I’m retired. Or repurposed. When there is no epidemic I am a pirate for kids at a local bookstore, playing original sea shanties.

Do you have any guilty pleasures in music?

Well, yeah. Showtunes and Jazz standards. I love me some Bobby Darin, and Louis Armstrong. In an alternate reality I’m a Lounge singer in a 1930’s night club. (Until the gangsters start machine gunning.) Another is good old fashioned Folk music. From Woody Guthrie all the way through to Old Crow Medicine show.

What inspired you to want to write songs?

I’ve been writing songs as long as I’ve been breathing. I wrote my first song probably when I was 4 years old. It went something like “Oh, I’m sitting in the bathtub and the water is really really cold and there are lots of bubbles and the water is really cold.” I like to think that my genius was already shining brightly. My birth mother, may she Rest In Peace was always writing songs although she had no musical training and couldn’t play an instrument. She would have a friend transcribe her melody and help her find the right harmonies, then she would get a copyright. She was very proud of the fact that her songs resided in the Library of Congress. So naturally I was writing songs in every quiet moment I could find. Or drawing. Or writing poems. As I told my students “The meaning of life is to create.”

What does your songwriting habit look like?

Much like everyone else here I jot ideas down in my digital notebook, then when I want to create something new, I mine the notebook. I find I have to put myself into an alternate state of mind, almost a trance. Then I open a tab for the thesaurus and one for the rhyming dictionary and pick up my guitar.

How has developing a songwriting practice affected your life?

It has reminded me of the need to see things through and finish them. When you finish something, you have something. When you don’t, you don’t.

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?

Let’s see - Harry Nilsson, Shel Silverstein, Tom Lehrer, Mose Alison, The Beatles, John Prine, Leonard Cohen, Shakespeare, Billy Collins - because they appreciate both the absurdity and the wonder of life.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?

Trying to say something worth saying is sometimes the hardest. Not that everything has to be didactic- songs can be funny, ironic, touching, heart wrenching (I don’t think I’ve written one of those yet.) Or anything else as long as they’re not a waste of the listener’s time.

What Day of 100 is your piece from?

Day 32

A Little Something for the Pain

I know the sky is sunny

But I can tell it's going to rain

Things never do work out quite right

Still I’m not one to complain

But I was just wondering

ain't you got a little something

Just a little something

I just need a little something

for the pain

They say the good life's waiting out there

But sayin ain’t making it true

I know I’ve hurt a lot of good good people

But I was just trying somehow to get through

Ain't you got a little something for a friend

What's the point in building up your hopes

When you know they'll just crumble and fall

Seems the closest I ever get to happy

Is when I don't feel anything at all

Have you ever watched a sparrow

smash into a window and then

instead of taking off into the sky

just flies back at the window again

he just needs something for the pain

I hope you know I ain't looking for a handout

I'd rather open up a vein

I work hard, you know that I do

I hope you don’t mind that I’m sayin it plain

Ain't you got a little something for the pain

Click here to listen 

Check out Joe’s music page here:

imaginesongs.com

What do you do during the day?

I'm a homeschooling mom and music teacher.

What Day of 100 is your piece from?

I generally don't write a song per day, I'm a very slow writer; I wrote a song over the entire course of the 100 days. I can't remember exactly which 100 day cycle it was, but it was one of the 2nd or 3rd cycles, I think. I didn't write it down, and it was under the old platform, so I don't have a record of when I posted it. 🙂

Flesh and Blood

V1
I was raised in these cotton fields
The canvas for our sins
We reaped and sowed our land with the evil
Of men in chains

V2
Lincoln came in ‘61
To condemn the wrong I’d done
I turned my ploughshare into a sword
And bid farewell my only son

Chorus:
But now I’d give my rifle
To work these fields with my own hands.
If I could go back
To before this Hell began

Cause I see it now,
It washes o're me like a flood,
The price of my greedWas flesh & blood

V3
20 years ago this day
Lord, it won’t leave me eyes
Along the banks of Bayou Teche
Union took us by surprise

V4
Young boy came at me running
I fired a shot in reckless haste
Underneath that soldier’s cap
I found my own son’s face

Chorus:
I’d give my rifle
To work those fields with my own hands.
If I could go back
To before this Hell began

‘Cause I see it now,
It washes o're me like a flood...

I’d give my rifle
To work those fields with my own hands.
If I could go back
To before this hell began

‘Cause I see it now
It washes o're me like a flood,
The price of my greed
Was flesh & blood

Click here to listen 

Do you have any guilty pleasures in music?

I secretly want to be the bass player for Clutch. Their Psychic Warfare album is my go-to music when I'm in the Jeep running errands alone.

What inspired you to want to write songs?

I was dared by a childhood friend to write a song for my husband as a first anniversary gift when we were broke. So I did. A horrible, horrible first song... hahaha. But I was addicted after that.

What does your songwriting habit look like?

Typically in the evenings after homeschooling, music students and dinner, I'm able to take a wee little moment for practicing or writing. Sometimes on Saturday too. But family always comes first, so that doesn't always work. 

How has developing a songwriting practice affected your life?

I think the coolest and most unexpected thing is that my son has started to take part in my writing process at times, therefore boosting his own musical exploration. A few months ago he sat down next to me and wrote a small piano part for a song I was working on. It'll be on the album! Also, I've added songwriting to all my student plans, and have really enjoyed hearing the songs that even my youngest students come up with. And my students LOVE it.

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?

I am inspired by everyone from Rachmaninov to Rush, and all points in between & beyond. I come from a family of musicians, and was lucky to be exposed to a very wide array of music growing up, always playing in the house... and that all comes in to play when I'm writing.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?

Free time! I have been homeschooling my son since the beginning, and I'm a music teacher in the afternoons/evenings... so free time is in the shortest supply around here.

Check out Cece’s music page here:

ceceyentzen.com 

A SKY WORTH REMEMBERING

You and me, and nothing else

For as far as the eye can see

A getaway, long overdue

No telling where we’ll end up today

Up ahead, reaching for the horizon

Clouds race on creating...

A sky worth remembering

No looking back, hey, take a photograph of

A sky worth remembering

On with the drive, happy to be alive

Under a sky worth remembering

We took a turn down a lonely road

And you never even questioned why

It’s hard to find someone like that

So I’ll love you ‘til the day I die

Up ahead, reaching for the horizon

Clouds race on creating...

A sky worth remembering

No looking back, hey, take a photograph of

A sky worth remembering

On with the drive, happy to be alive

Under sky worth remembering

You gotta take time every once in a while

Quit trying to do so much

Get outta Dodge, take in the sights

‘cause you only get to be young once...

So chase that sky worth remembering

No looking back, hey, take a photograph of

A sky worth remembering

On with the drive, happy to be alive

Under a sky worth remembering

No looking back, hey, take a photograph of

A sky worth remembering

On with the drive, happy to be alive

Under a sky worth remembering

Click here to listen 

Do you have any guilty pleasures in music?

I love so many styles of music, everything from symphonies to big band to most of the pop music 50s/60s/70s/80s/90s. I’m less taken with 21st century pop, and in the last 15 years my wife has opened my ears to today’s Country music, so yeah, as long as there isn’t any rap, I can pretty much listen to anything!

What inspired you to want to write songs?

It started out as a way to deal with my teenage heartbreak, and then I didn’t really write, for a long while...probably 12 years, too busy working... I wrote songs for girlfriends, but they never really went anywhere. I fell into the habit of writing instrumentals for many years because I just didn’t think I had anything to say. I wrote one song for my (now) wife that was a love song and my marriage proposal. I don’t play it often enough, mainly because it’s SO personal.

What does your songwriting habit look like?

I write throughout the day, usually on my phone into a songwriting app, but if I’m driving or can’t stop to write, I open my Voice Memos app and talk/sing to myself. I have a Spire recording device and the companion app which are quite handy and portable, but more to the point, they make excellent DAW-ready recordings! The app is free, the device is around $300 USD. Obviously, you can do bigger/better things with the device but the app is excellent as well.

I would love to write every day and have thousands of songs to my credit, but as a sometimes singer/songwriter/performer, I can’t have too many songs on the go or I tend to forget the lyrics or how to play the song. Plus, “...there never seems to be enough time to do the things you wanna do, once you find them…”

How has developing a songwriting practice affected your life?

Invaded might be a better word... There isn’t a moment of the day that I’m not thinking about music or songwriting. I fall asleep with words bouncing around in my brain and wake with half-baked songs playing in my head. Titles and lyrics are everywhere, we just have to be open to receiving them... Antennas up!

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?

I am inspired very much when I’m out in nature and solitude...finding a quiet place usually requires some work, but the payoff is that I usually end up with a melody or chords that I like and it helps me concentrate on whatever lyrics I might be working on.

I got involved with a songwriting camp here in Saskatchewan called “Songs For Nature”. They were running a teen songwriting camp and my daughter was interested in writing songs so I asked them if there was room for a volunteer adult chaperone. Turned it into a father/daughter thing. She’s very athletic (and I couldn’t care less about most sports) so it was nice to try something together that we were both interested in! I’ve been to 4 successive adult camps and it’s been the biggest push for my songwriting (until I found 100 Days!)

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?

Believing that someone will be receptive to my work. Creativity was not exactly encouraged when I was younger. Work, on the other hand, was, so I know how to do that, but I’d rather work on creative things than building maintenance.

And, before I forget, a huge debt of gratitude is owed to Rigel & Shane for all of the good work they do, as well as all of you fine folks that show up and encourage each other to do better and to never stop writing! Also, to John Nicholson for his mastering prowess that will eventually grace my EP when I get it done. It would not have been possible without your generous offer, so thank you from the bottom of my heart!

100 Days is, far and away, the best online songwriting community there is... Tell all of your friends! 🙂

Check out Dave’s music page here:

http://www.reverbnation.com/open_graph/artist/6194648

Mandy J is from the sunny southeast of Ireland.

What do you do during the day?
During the day I am super mum, full time mother to three wonderful children. I am also studying to be a mindfulness life coach. I continue to write and practice already written songs for my up and coming album. Busy schedule, just the way I like it.

What Day of 100 is your piece from?
This RAW piece is from day 89 of 100 days of songwriting and this is the first take. I do want to work more on this song to wrap it up.

CATCHING FEELINGS

We've been doing this for some time, baby
And tonight your love lights mine,
Oh when your calling out my name
I know I hear yeah ,
I know I feel yeah,
I know I want you yeah

Chorus
Tonight Im catching feelings
Got me calling, your name
Baby I don't need yeah
But I want you, all the same
You know I see yea
You know I feel yeah
You know you keep coming back for more
You know I'm catching
Catching feelings
For yeah.

Click here to listen.

Do you have any guilty pleasures in music?
What is it that makes a guilty pleasure? It is hard to say because one mans pleasure is another mans pain, right. To tell the truth I have a lots of guilty pleasures in music, when they pop up on the radio like, Cyndi Laupers hit song Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Journey's Don't Stop Believin, Cringe I know but I love it. The classic from dirty dancing by Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes I've Had (The time of my life). The gambler by Kenny Rodgers, Dirty Old town by our Irish Legends the dubliners sang by the amazing Luke Kelly & Whitney Houstons how will I know just to name a few.

What inspired you to want to write songs?
That is a really good question. I come from a musical family and I have been playing music and writing songs and poems since my teenage years. What inspired me was when other people, friends and family and acquaintances have heard one of my original songs and ask me to play them at a functions. It was very early days then, and in 2014 I decided I was tired of singing covers and wanted to do a song writing course to gain a professional approach. This is what I achieved and since then I have been writing and in pre production for my up coming album.

What does your songwriting habit look like?
My Song writing habit is to free write every day for ten minutes to keep to flow going. When I write a song hook pick a title or have an idea I tell myself I am going to write this song now and I will do it. I will do a re-write the next day. Then, I will take a break after a lot of habitual work and do nothing, leaving time to reflect and practice. Then the creative process start all over again. It comes in bursts for me.

How has developing a songwriting practice effected your life?
It did for a while until I found a balance. Even then my most creative time is early hours of the morning while all the world sleeps and the kids are in bed. I quietly practice already written songs, or come up with a new song to write when I feel the urge. That effects me then as I'm tired the next day. These are the joys of a creative I guess.

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?
Artists I grew up listening to as a teenager, friends and their stories, my own life stories all inspire me to write my songs. However my children are my main inspiration for my creativity. When you hear your teenage daughter singing one of your original songs, at the top of her lungs in the shower, thats inspiration at its best. Or when my three year old carries my guitar over to me asking me to sing. It fills up my creative love cup driving me to create more songs.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?
I don't feel I have any challenges with songwriting, thankfully. It has taken a lot of writing and practice to be in this space.

Check out Mandy J’s music page here:
https://www.facebook.com/mandy.j.music

A word from our founder, Rigel: "It has been an absolute joy getting to know Dave over the last year or so. I have learned a lot from this guy, from the heartfelt way he approaches lyrics, to his thoughtful song arrangements. Dave doesn't simply have a good songwriting habit, he cranks out completed songs at an incredible rate. I am inspired."

Meet Dave

Dave is from Lichfield, Staffordshire, UK.

What do you do during the day (job, student, etc.)?

Day job is an unrelated admin job within an office supplies company.

Do you have any guilty pleasures in music?

Not a fan of anything ‘Spice Girls’, but I think the Bryan Adams/Mel C hit, ‘When You’re Gone’, is one of the best pop records ever and will always have me singing along. Barbara Streisand, ‘Stoney End’ album is another regular in the player. Other than that, I am a fan of most sorts of music, so guilt is not something that comes into it. There is a small list of acts that I actively dislike, but that’s maybe for another time.

What does your songwriting habit look like?

My songwriting habit is generally to be ‘writing’ every day. Writing can take the form of ‘thought’, playing an instrument, sitting down at a desk to physically write or construct, but as long as I have my voice notes/recorder or pen and paper to hand, I can write in some form.

Who are your influences? How have they shaped you?

Family is the obvious starting point, but also ... as the previous answer .... other than possibly McCartney, they all have a definite style, but they give the impression that they could actually do/write anything. Completing an online Pat Pattison course was a game changer for me in terms of songwriting, and I often refer back to the notes from that course. He is a great teacher and inspiration.

How has developing a songwriting practice affected your life?

Yes, in that it can be all consuming at times which means family/house/garden have periods of neglect. I am lucky in having a supportive wife.

What challenge are you facing with songwriting?

I guess my challenge is completing an end product. Many songs written and either part recorded, or still on the page, sometimes still in my head. I have hundreds of songs that I can’t display, should it be required. I need to discipline myself to produce ‘basic‘ demo’s. 
Work I have either completed, or posted for public view can be seen/heard on my Bandcamp page or on my YouTube channel. In the coming months I will also be launching music under the name ‘Summertown’.

What Day of 100 is your piece from?:

All my specific 100 Days posts are on the ‘old’ site, so the piece chosen was recent, and after the last session closed.

Click here to listen

Bacon & Beans

Tonight Matthew, I’m going to be ........ A cowboy

I’ve been riding this trail

For most of my life

I’ve camped under the moonlight

On every cattle drive

Still I count my blessings

Every day that I survive

I need a break from this old routine

I hear coyote roaming through my dreams

These leathered hands have long since been clean

And I’m tired of bacon and beans

I’ve ridden with the best

But still a lonely man am I

My heart took a beating

When I watched my brother die

Like so many men before him

When the river rose too high

I’m getting tired of this old routine

I hear coyote roaming through my dreams

These leathered hands have long since been clean

And I’m tired of bacon and beans

I’m getting restless in the saddle

I’ve found love for when I’m home

And though my heart is on the trail

I’m getting tired of sleeping alone

I’ll hang up my bandana (soon) and

Breathe some dust free air

Marry my sweetheart

If she’ll take the wear and tear

Buy some land in Montana

Build a farm and settle there

I’ll say goodbye to this old routine

To the coyote roaming through my dreams

My hands may soften and be clean

There’ll be no more bacon and beans

Check out Dave's music page here:

 https://davidsutherland.bandcamp.com/