In this episode I have the great pleasure of chatting with Canberra duo, The Cashews. Pete Lyon and Alison Procter write songs about people and places that are close to them and often "pop up" in the places that they have written about to perform those songs. In the interview we learn about how they both started writing songs individually as kids and how, many years later, they combined their songwriting skills to form The Cashews. They tell great stories about how they work together to write songs. Back in the day Alison would record ideas on a dictaphone and Pete would burn them onto CDs. One time Pete left some of his musical ideas on a CD hidden in a tree at a train station for Alison to find!

They also play an old song (Sullivan's Creek) and a new song (A Simple Song) live in the studio and we discuss how both of these songs were written.

This conversation provides great insights into how two talented songwriters have learnt from each other and collaborated to create a fantastic body of work that resonates with their many appreciators. You don't want to miss this one!

Check out The Cashews music here:

⁠https://thecashews.bandcamp.com/⁠

⁠The CashewsFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com › ... › The Cashews⁠

⁠The Cashews - Tuggeranong Parkway (The Slimer Sessions)YouTube · localnlivecanberra5 minutes, 42 seconds30 Sept 2012⁠

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/

Meredith has her own music podcast and a band. She considers herself an occasional songwriter and has written two songs. In this episode Meredith explains how she was scared of writing songs for many years until one day she needed to write an original theme tune for her podcast and... bingo! We also discuss her other song "One Heart is enough" which she wrote about something she feels very strongly about. Meredith gives us great insights into the things that help her songwriting process (including escaping to the country and trialling new lyrics in the shower!).

Details of Meredith's podcast and some of her music below:

Ukulele is the New Black podcast and band:

https://ukuleleisthenewblack.libsyn.com/

https://thenewblackmusic.com/

https://youtube.com/@thenewblack235?si=xj8ONPYc-4wEf1ZT

Ryland Newstead has been writing songs for most of his life. Inspired initially by his musical heroes The Beatles and Oasis, Ryland tried to play their songs but wasn't happy with the result. So he decided he needed to write his own songs in his own style whilst applying what he'd learned from the greats. In this episode Ryland takes us through his songwriting journey which includes a lot of jamming, singing random words and recognising those moments when something musically clicks with an idea or story in his head. He suggests once you've got an idea, don't lose the moment and keep pushing through.

In this episode, singer, songwriter and ukulele player Joanne Craigie tells us about how she didn't write songs for a big part of her life until one day..... she started and hasn't looked back.

She tells us how she keeps a collection of song ideas that randomly emerge and how she once wrote a song on the train to Sydney, but left it on the seat (aargh)! We focus on the first song she wrote and how it enabled her to tell the story of an emotional family event in a way that wouldn't have been possible by talking about it!

To hear more of Joanne's music:

Coolibah Coolective's album, "Teacup in a Storm"

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5toYLRielo8QuKtPIVaLjR

Coolibah Coolective YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCezYU93wSGc3cG0nwWjX57Q

Craigie Marsh YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK_4zdJQXYRJ9yTi7tc63Hg

Did you know there is a box of cards to help you write songs and that you can get different emotional vibes just playing the white keys on a piano without needing to understand music theory?

In this first episode of "How did you write that song?" Jasmine Fellows explains how these things and the experiences in her life have helped her to write songs. She has music training and likes to follows the rules!

We play a recording of her song "In the Dark of Mind" and explore how writing the song enabled Jasmine to deal with some pretty tricky life issues.

Here are some links to some of the things we discussed.

Follow Jasmine’s music on Instagram https://instagram.com/jasmine.fellows.music 

Bec Taylor School of Music 

https://www.bectaylormusic.com

AMEB’s Ask Andrew: Introduction to Melody Writing

https://youtu.be/dHSsD2GqDQM 

Songwriting deck

https://www.holistic-songwriting.com/the-songwriting-decks