Bristol - Barbara Cloyd - Songwriter, Host of Bluebird Open Mic Writers Night

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BRISTOL, TN SONGWRITERS WORKSHOP FEEDBACK

I just wanted to drop you a line and say I hope things are going well and thanks for everything in Bristol. I was so grateful for the opportunity to play for all of you. Please keep me posted on all of the events you have coming up.
Seth Boulton, 10/8/03

Just wanted to say thanks so much for a great workshop. Double thanks for driving me out there. You did such an awesome job putting the whole thing together!
Elizabeth Jordan, 9/29/03

I just wanted to say thanks from Barry and myself. We deeply appreciate the opportunity to be involved with the group.

Please extend our thanks to Chris, Scott and Dan. Obviously, we hope to see all of them again. We left the conference believing that we had the right gun but needed to work on the ammo if we were going to hit the target. Songs seem to come as much from the unconscious as the conscious, so I am sure we will continue to do some of what we have been doing. But we are going to make a studied effort to write for a country market.

I deeply respect you and the group you brought together for your efforts and the time that you spent on behalf of all of us. It was a great weekend in a beautiful town! We will keep in touch, and hope someday soon to get addresses/e-mails from you for Chris, Scott and Dan. Tell Dan we have a Killer song.

Fred Brown, 9/22/03

I'm getting ready for bed tonight absolutely exhausted from all the fun I had this weekend and I'm so excited about all the people I've met, all that I have learned and tje ideas swimming around in my head, that I don't know if the sleep will come easy. You did an excellent job. My husband, Rick, was so impressed with you. He was bragging about you all the way home. I told him how good you were and now he has seen for himself. Thanks from the bottom of our hearts. What we learned this weekend was incredible. I feel like I've made more great friends. This business is addicting!
Kim Lyons, 9/21/03

Thank you so much for the fabulous weekend; that was the best songwriting workshop I've ever done. I love your songs...I will see you around Nashville sometime soon!
Amy Silver, 9/25/03

Just wanted to tell you that I had a wonderful time at the Songwriters Workshop in Bristol. It was really a pleasure to meet you and I'm looking forward to seeing you when I get to Nashville. ...I believe you handled it and the whole weekend very professionally. Thanks again.
Barry Bowersock, 9/23/03

I am still just blown away by all you did for us this past weekend! Thank you so much for doing such an incredible job. I wish I could express better how good it was. I feel as if my approach to songwriting, especially lyrics, has taken a leap forward. I spent a lot of time on the way home listening to Nancy Griffith, Patty Griffin, Buddy and Julie Miller and James Taylor (I had their CD's), seeing why their songs work. The information from the critiques made me hear in a whole new way. Now I can't wait to try to apply it.

I could go on and on, but know that your hard work has touched my life. The other writers were also part of what made it so great. I just wanted you to know how many "lightbulb moments" there were for me. I wanted to write thank you notes to Chris, Scott and Dan as well. I want them to know too how much I appreciated their presence. Thank you again, Barbara. I hope I'll be sending you some new songs for critique soon--
Charlotte Ryerson, 9/23/03

Thanks a billion for a really great weekend! Sorry to have missed Sunday lunch with all of you..You
are the best -- my only regret is that I can't figure a way to take your weekly workshops from here!
Susan Jolly, 9/23/03

Thanks so much for inviting me to your Songwriter Search Workshop. I had a blast...and I learned enough to keep me busy for months! I'm an avid (i.e. "obsessive") reader of songwriting books and websites...and, believe me, you and your panel provided me with information that isn't available anywhere.
Here's what I learned:
In addition to the craft tips I picked up, I refined my idea of how the music business works...i.e. that there's a certain "box" of sellable music that publishers are looking for. To make a living being a Nashville songwriter, aspiring writers must find where their music intersects with that "box" and write unique, well-crafted, emotional songs in that vein. If you don't want to follow that path, but still want to make a living as a songwriter, you need to find your own market outside of the Nashville publishing scene. Does that sound about right?

Meeting everyone was probably the coolest part about the whole weekend. I was really impressed with how thoughtful and talented everyone was. Even though I'm a bit shy, I found it easy to meet people, and I felt a real sense of comradery with the other songwriters. I traded CDs with several of the writers I met, found a radio show willing to play my new CD, and I even started two new co-written songs. (I've never co-written before.)

I know my music is a bit "outside of the box" right now, so I really appreciated the opportunity to see how publishers react to it. It's not an opportunity I would have been able to make happen on my own. I'm looking forward to my next batch of songs...Thank you so much for all that you do for songwriters.
Brian Hartzog 9/23/03

Thank you so much for the workshop. It's the first one I had ever been to. It's a pitching and feedback session that just doesn't pop up here. EVER. HAHA. You can bet I will apply what I've learned. Take care and I hope our paths cross gain in the future.
Jeff Taylor, 9/21/03



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