Reflections on Beyonce's "Cowboy Carter," organizing your music files and the need for reliable news sources. This week's song: "Tell Me What is Real."

Does it feel like life is speeding by? Sometimes it's a good idea to take a breath and slow down.

Reflections - and a song - about my oldest son learning how to drive. Does anyone else have an invisible brake in their car?

I know you all remember experiencing the pandemic, but do you remember those first few days when there was a sense of solidarity in collective humanity? I remember feeling a sense of “We’re all in this together” as humans on this planet and we are going to get through this. It was short-lived, for a number of reasons - or perhaps it was even imaginary. This week’s song was written at the very beginning of the pandemic, in collaboration with Arizona songwriter Lisa Hart.

Although the “We’re All in This Together” spirit is no longer dominating our culture and everyday seems to bring more bad news of despair and hatred, the underlying message of this song is still true - we’re neighbors on this planet and we all live here and need to take care of it and each other. For the next few minutes, let’s remember the possibility that even though times are difficult, we can still have hope that things will get better and we can each take action, kindly, to do what we can to help others and help improve our world.

As always, the lyrics are on the podcast Substack page, and this week's there's a lyric video, too!

In this episode: A house concert, performance anxiety, a heavenly birthday wish, a mom's legacy and how do you spend your time?

This week's episode talks about a new songwriting show on YouTube that offers a close-up look at the songwriting process by pro-songwriters as they create a song in one day and the 20th anniversary re-release of an album by my favorite rock star. This week's song shares both the voice memo and the finished production, in honor of this re-release, which also includes the demos.

Although you may not have years of experience in music or production, don’t let that stop you from sharing your creations, even if you don’t have “the credentials.” There may be someone out there who needs to hear what you’re creating!

Inspiration can come from many places - stories on the news, interactions between people, things you observe as you’re out and about. I once wrote a whole song based on a box of single-serving cake mix I saw in a supermarket aisle.

This week's episode of A Songwriting Journey covers inspiration, a Marshall Crenshaw performance, the Grammys and a time traveler. What inspires you to write a song?

Happy Valentine’s Day week! Do you have a valentine? If not, maybe you can write a song about that!

This week, in honor of Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d go back into the archive and share one of my songs from my dating days. I guess it kind of makes this an Anti-Valentine’s Day episode since it’s not really a love song, but perhaps you can relate. 

Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone to share your songs, but don't let that stop you. And don't depend on your future self to take care of it for you.

This episode is for all those dreamers out there...

Reflections from the 27th Annual Arizona Songwriters Gathering hosted by the Arizona Songwriters Association at the Glendale Public Library, including some wisdom shared during presentations by Shelly Peiken, Pat Pattison and Robin Frederick.

Topics covered: Tips to communicate what you're feeling in a song, acoustic songs in TV and film, prosody and the joy of a songwriting community.