Nigel McRae is well known around Canberra as the owner of Smith's Alternative, a music venue that strongly supports local songwriters and original bands. But he also has been a prolific songwriter. In this episode Nigel tells us how he came to write 100 songs in 10 years and then virtually no songs for the last 10 years! He explains how it took him a long time to get into his songwriting stride but once he did, a lot of songs came quickly. He likes to strum chord progressions over and over, looking for some point of difference from other songs he knows. The words then arrive and more often than not they have a political theme. Nigel plays a fantastic acoustic version of his song "Free Loving Blues" live in the studio and explains how he wrote it. We also talk about the great support Smith's Alternative provides to local songwriters and, in particular, providing a safe space for new songwriters to perform their very first gigs.

For more information on Smiths Alternative:

https://www.smithsalternative.com/