VOICE

Rene Grant-Williams - 615- 259-4900 - one of the coaches the labels send their artists to. I have studied with her and can vouch for the fact that she is amazing. She is very expensive and in demand, but also has other teachers trained in her method who are less expensive and easier to get appointments with. 

Kim Wood Sandusky - 615-327-2523 - used often by the major labels to coach their artists.

Jamie Wigginton  615-329-1504 - a professor of commercial voice at Belmont University, Jamie  is particularly helpful to young artists pursuing a professional career. He is not cheap but he does not charge extra to guide you through the process of creating and shopping your artist package.

Phoebe Binkley - 615-832-4199 -she's been teaching for many years and could charge a lot more, but cares too much to price herself out of the range of aspiring singers. She understands the music business and can give career advice along with the vocal lessons. I studied with her personally and grew a lot under her gentle guidance.

Susan Anders - 615-353-7869 - a masters degreed teacher, she arrived in 2002 from California and is already getting work from the labels.

Kathy Chiavola   - 383-1460 -  KCSING1@aol.com - a Bluegrass diva, a session singer and a teacher with an impressive resume.

GUITAR

Denny Sarokin   - The people I know who have taken from him love his gentle, supportive instruction. If you can't take from him personally you can learn a lot from his "Licktionary" DVD.

Ellen Britton - email ellen@ellenbritton.com - She has backed major artists on the road and is a great performer in her own right. She has a

Gary Talley  - A former member of The Boxtops, Gary has developed special methods for working with songwriters and has a DVD and workbook you can purchase. He is also available for lessons online.

SONGWRITING

Barbara Cloyd -  My top recommendation, for obvious reasons.

NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International) - A years membership includes 12 critiques from the song evaluation service. (That's worth the $150 right there.) They also offer in-person and on-line mentoring, and their workshops are first rate.

SongU.com  - It's and online school run by pro writers with a variety of excellent teachers and mentors. Once you sign up you can take as many classes as you want for no extra charge. They also create opportunities for songwriters to network with each other online.

Jason Blume - Jason no longer does song critiques personally but has an excellent staff trained to give honest, insightful feedback.

Rick Beresford - You can spend time one-on-one with this faculty member of Belmont University and NSAI Song Camps.

Kim Copeland - She can help you polish your songs and her Songwriters Connection newsletter is fun and informative. Once you songs are ready she can produce the demo if you want. I've heard a bunch of them and the quality is excellent.