CJ Hughes I CJ-Hughes.com I Songwriter Journal

I played in a round with Matt Ramsey and Wendy Jans at the new songwriter venue Hobo Joe's on Thursday. It's down on main, kind of behind the French Quarter, funky little place, I really like the vibe. Lair Morgan hosted and did a great job, he was filling in for Shawn Harnett who will be the regular Thursday night host. I hope the place sticks and they do well, it would be a cool place to hang out.

I got a call from Larry Shell down at Americana publishing, they had a letter of intent deal on my song "Famous to Me." Which basically meant if they got it cut they got the publishing. Anyway Larry called to tell me that they were closing shop and that my song was free and clear, so I am going to start pitching it again. Bobby Braddock, great writer, has heard it and insists that it is the perfect song for Garth Brooks, because his mom was a singer before she had kids. We will see what comes of it. You can listen to "Famous To Me" HERE.

For those of you that have read and liked my online ebook, Dragonfly Summers, you will be happy to know that a small free press paper in Chattanooga, Tennessee will be publishing some of the stories from it. The first one they are using is Barn Sliding, which will be in their February edition. Visit them online at RosebudJournal.com This publication will mark my first published work, songs, stories or otherwise.
Thanks to Lair Morgan for putting me in the round at Hobo's. I had a blast and got to see some of the old gang, just wish I had been in a better mood. Have you ever wanted to see someone really bad, and then not wanted to see them ever again all at the same time? Wherever that place is, that's where I was last night. To quote Matt Ramsey, quoting yours truly, "Ain't Life A Bitch?" Yes, it can be.

More Soon. I Country, CJ Hughes

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1/22/04

I pitched "God must like country boys" and "God Fearin'" to Blake Shelton, his producer passed on both but asked that I keep pitching. Looking forward to getting into the studio over the next few weeks and doing some more demos, I need some stuff to pitch, sooner or later it has to be about trying to get artists to cut your material, which is hard to get done when you have nothing for them to listen to.

I tried to do a demo for a gentleman that found me online, however the song , or the tracks I received rather, were just out of my range, a little to high for me to get a good hold on the song. I gave it a shot though, sent him what we came up with and returned his money, just don't feel good about keeping someone's money for demo work if I don't really nail the song.

Not a lot going on the music side, I did write with Thom Shepherd down on the row last week, which was fun. Looks like I will be helping one of the writer's of the Blake Shelton hit "Austin" with her website, I will post a link when I get it done. May also be doing a site for a promotions/ publisher here in town, another songwriter, Teri Howell, turned me on to that. I will also be doing a demo for Teri and one of her co-writers soon, I think I had mentioned this before but it got pushed back because of re-writes to the song.

Still trying to get the entire site over to the new look, just takes time. Looks like I will be overhauling Joy Lynn White's website, she's gearing up to release a new album and go on tour in the UK so she wants a new look to coincide.

I'm hearing a rumor that Garth Brooks is looking to do another album, just a whisper going around town. I hope its true and I hope he knocks radio on its ass with a country-as-hell disk. I would hate it if he came out with the same crap that has infested country music airwaves of late. I'm all for diversity within the genre and branching out to new realms and all, but damnit I still believe there is a large population of people out there that want to hear good home-spun country music. I would have thought that Nashville would have tried it by now with the success of "Oh Brother" and Joe Nichols. I've said it for years, we need another Randy Travis to come along and put everyone on their ear. Then every label in town would scramble for a traditional male country act and we would have some great country music on the radio again.

Now on to something that has nothing to do with music. From time to time I provide commentary on current events, usually its something that unnerves me to the point that I have to jump up on my soapbox and preach about it. Today's sermon will be the Mars Rover.

For openers we (the US Tax payers/ NASA) have already established that Mars is basically a dead and baron planet bereft of any form of life beyond that of microbes and perhaps single celled organisms. So basically our government has spent over a billion dollars in tax payer money to send two robots the size of small dogs to a giant rock floating in space with the intention of discovering whether or not it used to be habitable by life forms. My big question here is WHY? Who freaking cares and what benefit could it possibly bring? And I am sure there are a lot of Americans wondering the same damn thing since new reports are now saying they have lost contact with the first Rover. Let's break this down in to money terms shall we?

The cost to send these two mechanical dogs to Mars was about 1 billion dollars. To give you an idea of how much 1 billion dollars is, here it is written out numerically: $1,000,000,000.00 The average American male makes 1 million dollars in his life time. Which means it would take the combined lifetime incomes of 1000 average American men to get two dog sized robots to a barren planet, only to lose contact with the first of the two after about 17 days.   Now then we can break this down into another dumbfounding equation this way, if one dog sized Mars rover costs half a billion dollars and only maintained contact with earth for a period of 17 days, how much would that have cost American tax payers per minute. Here's the equation.

500,000,000.00 / 24,480 (number of minutes in 17 full days) = $20,424.83 per minute.

Wow, 20 g's a minute, that's the worst calling plan I've ever heard of. Just to add a touch of irony to this writing, I swear to all that's holy the 10-10-811 people called my house as I was writing this. No $#!*

Now then to make this a little more human let's figure out exactly how many hungry Americans, yes there is starvation, hunger and homelessness in the good ole' US of A, 17 days worth of transmissions from Mars to Earth by a dog sized Mars rover would feed. Let's assume that one meal in a soup kitchen costs the kitchen $3.00 Now let's divide our overall number of 1/2 a billion by $3.00

500,000,000.00 / $3.00= 166,666,666 meals     That's almost 200 million meals.

So let's say there are 10,000 starving, homeless or just hungry people in America that can't afford to buy their own food. Exactly how many days could each of them eat three full meals on for the price of one dog sized Mars rover that operated roughly 17 full days?

First we divide our 166,666,666 meals by three, this gives us the number of daily meal sets we have to work with.    166,666,666 / 3= 55,555,555 or roughly about 56 million meal sets. Then if we divide that by our 10,000 starving Americans, it will tell us how many days they could eat for the price of 1, count them 1, dog sized Mars rover which was operational for 17 days.

55,555,555 / 10,000 = 5555.55 Ok that's about fifteen years. So basically the price we the American public paid to send one dog sized Mars rover to a barren planet to find out IF it might have once been able to sustain life is equal to the amount it would cost to feed 10,000 starving people three square meals a day for fifteen years.

Draw your own conclusions. At first I thought, just shut down NASA, we can�t keep up with our own planet why do we insist on trying to get to others. Then I figured, screw it, if they weren�t using our money to shoot billion dollar rockets into the air they�d be giving it out as grants to see why cows fart, or spending it on 50" plasma TVs for their offices or buying their "secretaries" Benz�s.

I love living in the US of A, I don�t care for many of the people that run it though.

More soon, I Country (Music.) CJ Hughes

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01/03/04

So I did 3 nights straight on lower Broadway, one of very few tears I've ever been on in my life. Thanks to Buddy I met two of the sweetest ladies from Missouri early in the week, and spent the rest of the week following them around like a puppy on leash, which was fine by me. The crescendo would have to have been sitting on a bar stool down at Legend's Corner watching Buddy play, as Daryl Singletary walks through the door. Actually he took one step through the door and then the second step he was on stage, because Buddy was asking him if he wanted to sing before he even knew where he was. He did five or six covers, none of his own stuff, just good old country music. Then Buddy's drummer Mark did one and then Buddy threw me on stage. It was a good crowd and it was the best response I've gotten in all my times of singing on lower Broadway.

Capped off the night with a visit to the Hermitage Cafe, gravy and biscuits, mmmmm.

Thanks to Buddy for getting me up to sing, oh and for telling Trisha that I said her pants were ugly to get her to talk to me. (He actually referred to that as a "Hook Up.")

Headed in to the studio on Tuesday and Wednesday to finish up two songs that I plan on pitching to Blake Shelton. Get ready for his next album, its going to be a killer. Keep your fingers crossed that they like one of my songs. Already had one on hold by his producer Bobby Braddock, but Blake didn't think it suited him. Soooo, close.

More soon, I Country, CJ.

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12/24/03

I've had a decently productive past few weeks considering this town almost shuts down during the holidays. A few things have happened which I thought were cool. I had my first writer's appointment that was actually on Music Row on Monday. My friend Thom Shepherd was recently signed to Mosiac Music Publishing as a staff writer, got his own office and everything. Anyway we started on a song on Monday in his new digs. I also got to go with him over to the XM satellite radio broadcasting station which is in the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum as he did a few songs on the air.

I got a call from my friend Matt Ramsey last week, who is friends with Phil Vasser and his family, congrats to Phil and his wife by the way who recently had a baby. Anyway, Matt put me in touch with Phil's sister, who was looking for a real country vocalist to do a demo. So it looks like I will be doing some work for her after the holiday season. Her co-writer is signed with EMI, so it could lead to some additional demo work, which I would love, any time I do that it gets my voice and name out there.

Did a round with Lair Morgan at the French Quarter, they were nice enough to cut us down to two songs a piece, we usually get three. Then the band that was coming on after us, who we got bumped for, decided to set up while we were playing, that was nice of them and the host. Then the host got my name wrong even though I've done a dozen or so of his rounds. This is why I rarely do rounds anymore. At least the company was good, as well as the two songs from Lair and Jason. Good to see most of the gang as well. And the Matt Ramsey Band put on one hell of a show.

I've recently received several "invitations" to go to songwriter seminars. Basically these people charge per head to be in the company of accomplished songwriters, to have your songs "evaluated." And to become a better songwriter. If your curious of my stance on these "seminars" you can read the form letter below that I send to all of these organizations in response to their invitation.

To whom it may concern,
I'm curious how many songwriter seminars Hank Williams went to, or Tom T. Hall for that matter. Or how the heck Jim Croce ever managed to get his self-penned, self-lived songs on the air without paying an inflated amount of money to "learn" songwriting at a seminar. Not everyone who wants to be a songwriter, should be encouraged to do so. Some of the best material I've ever heard are from people that came to this city from some small backwoods town with absolutely no training in the craft. Some of the worst material I've ever heard in this town fell from the lips of people who lived for songwriter seminars and believed that they were helping them to improve as a songwriter, when they had no business being a songwriter in the first place.

I am for the most part against "song writer seminars" you don't learn how to write good country music, or any genre of music for that matter from a seminar. Proof positive of this fact is that Songwriter Seminars are a relatively new fad to hit Nashville. They have only come along since the market has shrunk and its become harder to get a cut, therefore easier to convince someone that they need to do anything and everything they can to get their material heard, including paying money that most of them are putting on their credit cards to have someone tell them how to write. Fledging songwriters for the most part are broke, and to take advantage of their hunger for success is immoral in my book.

Talented songwriters were churning out hits before "seminars" and will continue to do so when they are dead and gone, when people realize that songwriting is a talent as much as it is a craft and that to some extremity, it can't be taught. You can teach someone who isn't artistically inclined that yellow and blue make green, you can show them how to hold a brush, that doesn't mean they are going to paint the Mona Lisa.

People who want to become songwriters should do it the way its been done by successful songwriters in this town for over 50 years. Immerse themselves in the songwriting community and surround themselves by a group of friends that are after the same goals. Then learn from one another, guess what, that doesn't cost anything.

So in answer to your invitation to join your seminar, I will be unable to attend.

Best Regards,

CJ Hughes

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And A late note of Merry Christmas. I am sitting here alone on Christmas Eve, my phone rang once today. It was State Farm wanting a car payment. It's good to know that they don't let their bullish collection standards slip, even on Christmas Eve. Headed down to Mississippi tomorrow to see some family, should be fun.

Looking forward to getting back in the studio at the first of the year and wrap up two songs I've been trying to get finished for over a month, as well as start on some new ones.

Thanks to Lair for inviting me to be in his round, even if we did get treated like crap. And thanks to everyone who sent me a Christmas card, this was the first year I received more than a handful.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

More soon, I Country, CJ.

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12/09/03

News on the street, I've always liked that saying, is that the Hall of Shame Lounge, formally in the Best Western next to BMI is no more. WOO HOO! On one hand I hate to see yet another songwriter venue go down the tubes, this one right on the heels of the Broken Spoke closing of a few months ago, but the Hall of Shame really was the dive of dives. I've heard the hosts have moved on to other venues. If anybody cares the singer/ songwriter venue market is wide open in Nashville. Somebody needs to pick up the slack and make that money off those poor songwriters drinking beer while waiting to play a round that was double booked just so they would.

Wayland Patton called to tell me a great story yesterday. Seems he gave his brother-in-law a copy of his new CD Mother of All Heartaches over the Thanksgiving holiday. You may remember that Mother contains a song that Wayland and I co-wrote called "Best Thing Could've Happened." A song about a very bad auto accident I was in in 2001, the result of which was close to 15 broken bones. Well Wayland's brother-in-law is an Orthopedic surgeon at a major hospital, and from what Wayland says, our little song is now the theme music in the OR. That's right, our song about getting banged up, recouping and moving on to bigger and better things is being piped in while doctors commence laying into someone with sharp and shiny objects. Personally I think that's great. Maybe Wayland and I could do a tour of hospitals all across the US and play for recuperating orthopedic surgery patients. We'll call it the "Mother of All Bonebreaks" tour.

All kidding aside I think that's damn cool. Any time someone appreciates something I have created and wants to share it with others, it makes me feel special.

And on another note, one that should have been put in here over a month ago. Wanted to give a shout out to Larry the Cable Guy. I wound up at his table late one blurry Friday night a few weeks ago at the Hermitage Cafe down on first street. Gravy and biscuits....mmmm. Great hanging with you Larry.

More soon, I Country. CJ

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11/22/03

Having trouble getting in the studio and finishing up two songs that I am working on, God Must Like Country Boys, and God Fearin', Family Lovin', Hard Workin' Man. I was really hoping to get these done before Thanksgiving but a lot of my players have been sick, so that won't happen, hopefully we can wrap them up the first week of December. These will go on an album of mine sooner or later, and will also be used to pitch to other artists for possible recording.

My business has been slamming me lately, so the music has kind of fallen to the side, I am still writing often though. Got to see Bobby Braddock the other night at his daughter's show at Bongo Java, great show, Don Henry opened for her. Don is one of my favorite writers, got to talk to him after the show which was awesome, he asked me to send him some of my stuff, which I did.

Check out this pic of my friend's Matt & Lair. This was their Halloween costume, they actually got on stage in that thing and did a songwriter round, hilarious.

Got to see Rhonda Vincent play an impromptu short set at the Gibson Bluegrass showcase out at Opry Mills last week thanks to a new friend I met online that knows her and told me they would be there, that was fun. Man Rhonda has an awesome voice.

Congrats to John Pennell for getting his song played on the CMA's. Allison Krauss played his "Every Time You Say Goodbye."

I'm a little peeved that several of my friends went to the Florabama Songwriter's Festival this weekend and no one bothered to invite me. I went down there with Thom Shepherd last year, I guess he went with his new publisher's group this year. Shawn went, and then called me from Florida, thanks for the invite Shawny, I appreciate it.

My friend Matt Ramsey did his first gig with a full band, they are called the Matt Ramsey band no less, at the Sutler last Friday. Matt put on a great show as did the band. He is awesome live, if he would just open his eyes more it would be perfect. He really gets into his material, see him play if you are in town and have the chance.

Almost forgot, Bobby Braddock dropped the hold he put on "Famous to Me" for Blake Shelton. Blake heard it and really liked it, but it wasn�t what he was looking for for the new album, oh well. At least I can say that the Bobby Braddock put one of my songs on hold, that rocks! Thanks Bobby!

More Soon, I Country. CJ BACK TO THE TOP

11/03/03

Ok, it's been a month since I've written here, what can I say? Business has been good. I've also been songwriting a lot, about 2-3 co-writing sessions a week. I started vocal lessons week before last, missed last week's lesson because I was so busy I couldn't make it. Already learned a lot about breathing and stance though.

The bigger news. Bobby Braddock put one of my songs on hold for Blake Shelton. It's my first big hold,
I had a small one for David Ball last year that didn't turn in to anything. Anyway a hold just means that the producer, in this case Bobby Braddock, wants the artist to listen to the song because he thinks it has album potential. To me the thrill of the whole thing is that Bobby is my songwriting hero, and he thinks something I've written is good enough to be on a Blake Shelton album. He's holding "Famous To Me", see the music page for a download. They have had it 2-3 weeks, we will see what happens.

In other news. Ok there is no other news. As I reported last year a strange phenomenon strikes Nashville about mid November, basically the town freakin' shuts down as far as the music biz is concerned.
So things will get slow.

I heard from a reliable source that some the folks booking the rounds at the Hall of Shame Lounge are double and even triple booking their rounds just to fill up the room and milk beer money from broke songwriters. Basically the folks that book get a percentage of the bar, so the more songwriters sitting around and drinking beer waiting to go on stage, the better for the host. I won't ever play for anyone that does this again, it's immoral. They are taking advantage of people's desire to get out there and get their music heard. There is no sense in telling 8 people to show up for the 7pm round, then putting four of them up and making the other four wait, that's what is going on up there. If you are playing the Hall, that's probably why your round is ALWAYS an hour late. I've heard Tony Wade is no longer the owner, but his name is still on the sign and I've heard all those pictures of him are still on the walls. Sounds like he's laying low since he filed for Chapter 11 so that if his creditors show up and try to take it out of his ass, he's "unavailable."

Visit songwriter Wynn Varble's new site, see those purty graphics, I done those. www.WynnVarble.com

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09/12/03

I hate getting good news and bad news on the same day, its like the bad cancels out the good. Well, first the bad news, Johnny Cash is dead. Damn. He was on my list of people I really wanted to see in concert and I never got to. Cash was one of my Dad's favorite singers. Out of the 200 or so of his record albums that my mom still has I bet 25 of them are Cash, from "Live from Folsom Prison" to the gospel one with the 3D picture on the front. Johnny Cash always makes me think of my Dad, every time I hear him I see my old man hunkered over the console record player in our old house in Monticello, Arkansas, gingerly setting down the record needle. Man he loved to listen to those records.
You can't go down to the Broadway bar strip without hearing a Cash song, usually "Folsom Prison" they love that line "I shot a man in reno, just to watch him die." I remember hearing in an interview one time where he came up with that line. He said he just tried to think of the worst reason for shooting someone, and that's what he came up with. One of my favorite lines in country music to this day.

RIP Man in Black.

And now the good news. I got a phone call from the fabo Ms. Em yesterday, wife of singer/ songwriter Wayland Patton. She called to tell me that we are actually getting airplay in Texas on a song that Wayland and I wrote that is on his new CD, how cool is that! My first single release! I don't have the details yet, her message was short, will probably know more later. You can pick up Wayland's new CD at www.WaylandPatton.com The song is called "Just My Luck."

I was surprised to see the lineup that Debi Champion is getting over at the Hall of Fame Lounge since she moved back over there with her songwriter rounds. No one seems to care that Tony Wade, owner of the Hall of Fame Lounge, does not pay his BMI, ASCAP dues, meaning he doesn't support the songwriters that are filling up his bar every single night. And we aren't talking a bunch of no names like me, we are talking Anthony Smith, Tony Lane and several signed writers who get their paychecks from the row. As I have said before, if you're playing the Hall of Fame Lounge your supporting an establishment that does not support songwriters in return. Not to mention its just not that great of a place, its not called the Hall of "Shame" Lounge for nothing. I would suggest playing Jack Scott's rounds at the Boardwalk Cafe or the French Quarter Cafe. There are several other places to play in town. Playing the Hall of Fame isn't exactly life or death here people, play the places that support you as a songwriter, not the places that use you to sell beer.

More Soon, I Country. CJ

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09-04-03

For some reason or another the Broken Spoke out on Trinity Lane has closed. The Spoke wass the biggest singer/ songwriter hang and venue behind the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. It was actually a better place to hang out and meet people because unlike the Bluebird, your actually allowed to talk while people are playing. Apparently the hotel that the Spoke wass in has been purchased and the new owner isn't sure what he wants to do with the Spoke so we will have to wait and see what happens.
     In the mean time, Debi and Lee, who run the songwriter rounds, have moved over to the Hall of Fame Lounge. If you've read back through my journal you know my friend Shawn used to be the host of a writer's night at the Hall of Fame Lounge. He left however when he found out that the owner, Tony Wade, was not paying his membership dues to BMI and ASCAP. Basically, Tony was failing to support the two largest entities that make sure songwriters get paid when their songs are played. Any establishment that has live music where there is a possibility a published song may get played is supposed to pay those dues. As far as I know he is still delinquent on them. Tony doesn't exactly have the best reputation in town either, as far as being a businessman goes. And personally I can't stand to walk into the place, its just sleazy.
     So I get a last minute call from a friend who needs me to play in a round which was supposed to be at the Spoke this past Wednesday. When I found out it had been moved over to the Hall I emailed her and withdrew from the round. I will be doing the same thing with my two other rounds for this month that I had booked with my friend Lair. I do not believe in supporting an establishment that does not support songwriters in return. That and I don't care to sit in a room filled with pictures of Tony Wade, who for some reason is under that misconception that he is famous. Famous and infamous are two different things. The Hall of Fame Lounge is infamous for being a seedy place, hence it's nick name on music row, the Hall of "Shame" lounge.
     I don't care to point a moral finger at all of the writers that didn't give a second thought to moving it on over to the Hall, most of them probably don't know the situation, but I can't believe that most of them don't know the reputation of the "establishment" or its owner in this town. Not to mention the nasty smelling mics, the terrible sound system, blinding stage lights, lack of decent food, and if the same sound guy's there, the rudest sound guy on the face of the earth. I have actually seen him treat people so badly during sound check that they got up and walked off stage. It happened the last night I was in that place.
     I don't hold anything against Debi or Lee either who run the rounds, its how they make their living, but I would hope that they are least looking for an alternative venue. Personally I won't be playing in any of their rounds until they do so, or the Spoke opens back up.
    Its important to note here that the Hall of Fame Lounge and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum are totally separate entities and are not related to one another. The only reason it is called the Hall of Fame Lounge is because the old Country Music Hall of Fame used to be right around the corner.

     In other news: I'm back in the studio working on some new material, should be really good I'm having lots of fun with it. If you need a great place to record and want a fun and laid back atmosphere I suggest Big World Studios, give Dani a call at 615-300-3264 to book some time.

More soon, I Country. CJ

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08-27-03

I rarely venture beyond music and my everyday life in my songwriter journal, but I've been miffed about this "ten commandment monument ordeal" for sometime. Some of you may know that I gave up television after 9/11, so I get all my news off of the internet, where it is not force fed to me, but I can instead pick and choose what I want to read about at my leisure. It's what keeps me sane.
Yahoo, where I get most of my news, has been all over this case down in Montgomery, Alabama. A federal court has ruled that a monument of the ten commandments which sits in the rotunda of the Montgomery Judicial building violates the constitution's ban on separation of church and state.
Here are my thoughts on this.

1. The pledge of allegiance to the United States of America which every school child must learn and recite, and which every person who wishes to become a United States citizen must learn and recite, contains the line "One nation, under God."

2. Every form of United States currency currently in print has the motto "In God We Trust." on it. The motto was put on all paper currency by an Act of Congress in 1955 In the late 90's a group filed a law suit to have this phrase removed on the grounds that it violated separation of church and state, the courts ruling? "The Foundation lawsuit was dismissed by a 10th-circuit federal judge on the grounds that "In God We Trust" is not a religious phrase." What was that guy smoking?

3. When you swear to tell "the whole truth" in a court of the United States Judicial system on any level from city to federal you must state that you will do so "so help me God" with your right hand placed on the BIBLE.

4. To the best of my knowledge all federal and state judges, congressmen, senators, all cabinet members, U.S. supreme court judges the vice-president and the president of the United States of America are all sworn in to office with their right hand on the BIBLE.

I don't have a big point to put on the end of all of this, except that I believe, based on this information, that the United States Government is about the most hypocritical entity in the world. Not that I don't love my country, so hold off on the patriotic emails. I know your grandfather's fought in the war(s), so did mine. I'm just saying that if they are going to enforce separation of Church and State it should be a total separation. Otherwise admit and ratify that the United States, it's laws, virtues, rights and rituals were based upon the Ten Commandments, the Bible and a firm belief in the good Lord above.

"But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Josh. 24:2, 15)

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08-12-03

I'm getting complaints because I haven't written in my journal in a while. The truth is there isn't anything going on to talk about. I'm still writing songs every day, singing in rounds two or three times a month, and writing with some great co-writers. Larry Shell is still pitching one of my songs, I think he is interested in another but wants me to demo it up, which I don't currently have the money for. I will be working up some new demos of my songs soon though, this month or next, and if Shell doesn't want them I will start pitching them myself.

Wayland Patton's new album came out last Thursday and it includes my first cut, woo hoo! Which also resulted in my first request for a mechanical license of one of my songs, which means I made money off of one of my songs for the very first time. I haven't heard the whole album yet, but I do know that at least one song is really, really good. You can buy it at www.WaylandPatton.com

My friend Buddy Owens is working with a manager now and meeting with some important industry folks downtown, hopefully it will stir up an interest in him as an artist. He and I and some other friends went down to the Trap (Nashville Bar) on Friday and saw Gene Watson perform, he has a great voice, sounds the same in person as he does on his record and never misses a note, clear as a bell, we had a good time. Got to talk with Billy Yates at the concert, he wrote "Choices" and "I Don�t Need Your Rockin� Chair" for George Jones, It looks like Buddy might get the chance to write with him, as well as open some of his shows.

I submitted a story for "Chicken Soup for the Music Lover�s Soul" last week based on the song "Famous to Me" and the story around it, we will see if anything comes of that. You can submit your own story by following the guidelines at www.musicloverssoul.com

Well, I know this was dull and boring but I only wrote it because I had 4 people, including my mother, emailed and ask me when I was going to update my journal. Having nothing to talk about here is a sure sign that I am being lazy as far as my music is concerned. August is my busiest month with my business however, so I'm making the money while I can.

More Soon, I Country. CJ BACK TO TOP

07-09-03

Well I tried to take the month of July off from doing any songwriter rounds. However, Jerry Lee Combs asked me to do one last week, which I did, vocal chords a bit rusty and all. Then yesterday my friend Augusta Purvis asked me to sing in a round this Thursday, someone bailed on her at the last moment, and I agreed because I like Augusta's music and wanted to help her out. So I'll be playing at the Broken Spoke on Thursday the 10th at 7PM.

My mom came in for a visit on Monday. When I found out she was coming I decided that I would take her to the Tuesday night edition of the Grand Ole Opry. She's never been, only seen it on TV, and she loves country music so much that I knew she would get a kick out of it. I mentioned that I was going to take her to a friend of mine that works for a major artist management company here in town, waxing over the possibility of getting my mom back stage. My friend looked at me and said, "Well I can get you guys back stage through the company." And I'll be damned if she didn't come through.

On Monday, the night my mom came in, I took here down to lower Broadway in downtown Nashville, to Jim and Layla's Bluegrass Inn. My friend Shannon Lillie has been doing a show down there with a full band on Monday nights for several months now. She calls almost every Monday and asks me to come down and sing a few songs, which I love to do. Anyway I took my mom down there, Shannon got me up to do a couple and then got my mom up to sing. My mom has a gorgeous voice, she didn't do as well as she wanted because she wasn't used to not being able to hear herself, no monitors, which is the case downtown, at most places anyway. But I thought she did very, very well.

So then Tuesday I didn't tell her where we were going, we just got in the car and went. Because of the way we entered she really had no clue where we were headed until we basically walked onto the backstage of the Opry. I've never been backstage myself so I was just as in awe as she was as we walked to within twenty five feet of center stage to John Conlee belting out Rose Colored Glasses no less, one of my top five favorite male singers, not to mention top five favorite song of all freaking time! We stood there star struck for an hour and a half as one Opry star after the next walked within a few feet of us as they made there way to the stage. Holly Dunn, Riders In The Sky, Bill Anderson, Hal Ketchum, and then to top it off, the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry Trace Atkins gets on stage and sings several of his hits. Now that, folks is one big, big man, got to be close to seven feet tall, I'm six foot and he looked like a giant to me. Great show and a great night, which we ended by going to the Longhorn Saloon and gorging ourselves on some tasty cow.

All in all a good night, and another first for yours truly.

Thanks to my friend that helped us get back stage, I will keep her name out of here so everyone in the free world doesn�t try to press on her to get them back stage. Thanks also to Jerry Lee Combs and Augusta Purvis for asking me to be in rounds. And congratulations to my friend Shawn Harnett who has been training as a fill in guest for the Monday night songwriter rounds at the Blue Bird Cafe under Barbara Cloyd, last night was his first official fill in night as host, I'm sure he did well.

More Soon. I Country, CJ.

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06-30-03

Haven't heard anything from Larry Shell down at Americana over the ten new songs I dropped off for him to listen to last week, should hear some feedback this week though. Laid low this week, struggling with some vocal problems which I am assuming is just the residue of a bad, bad cold I caught a few weeks ago. I made the mistake of continuing to go out and do rounds and studio sessions when I should have laid low and gotten well, I'm paying for it now.

I got a call from my friend Emilie Patton, or Miss Em as she likes to be called, on Saturday. She asked me to come down to the studio where her husband, my friend and co-writer Wayland, was working on his new CD project. They needed backup singers to create the ambience that is a country bar for the chorus of one of the songs he's putting on the album. It's called "The dog ate my last Prozac (And the liquor store is closed) he and Miss Em wrote it. So with a few other friends we spent an hour laying down the background vocals. I also got my first listen to a song that Wayland and I wrote that is going on the album as well. I've mentioned it before it's called "Just My Luck" AKA "Best Thing Could'a Happened." A little true story song about a wreck, the wreck, I was in in 2001. Anyway the song is just great, Eric Heatherly did a bang up job on the guitar parts and Wayland's vocal performance is energizing. I can't wait to hear the final mix on it.

I gave my friend Buddy Owens a call after I got back from the session to see if he was playing downtown that night. Come to find out he was headed out of town and had left his band to their own devices for the gig they had for that night at the Tidewater Saloon on Broadway. He said I should go down and sing some if they needed the help. He had let someone else sit in with them and take over leads, at least he was supposed to for the first few hours. I got down there to give him a listen and honestly I wasn't very impressed. He can't have done to much live work. He forgot lyrics to country music standards, sang in the wrong key on a few songs, called the wrong key to the band on a few, and in my opinion was a mediocre singer. I could just see the guys in the band kinda cringe when he would miss a note or look to Steve the bass player for the next line to a song as well known as "Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo."

After a while, a short while, the band got him to take a break and began getting friends up to sing. Almost everyone in Buddy's band sings anyway, so they could have covered the four hour stretch, Mark the drummer could have covered it on his own, he's a great singer. But there were several good singers/ friends in the crowd so they got a few up. After a while the "lead singer" got back up and the band huddled in the center of the stage. He was calling out song titles, obscure ones at that, and the band just kept shaking their heads no. So after a few stagnant moments, it doesn't take but a few for a drunken crowd to get impatient and seek entertainment elsewhere, Mark looked down from the stage and asked me to get up and sing.

Most people that know me know that I am not much of a drinker. However last week was a rough one for me work wise, the last week of the month always is, 12-14 hours in front of this damn computer is the norm every day during that time. So I had decided to have a few, and was a little tipsy. However, I had taken the time to write down a list of ten or so songs with their corresponding key on a scrap of paper, since Buddy had said they might need the help, and I handed this to Steve the bass player as I got on stage. Instead of me rattling them off, he just went down the list calling them out. As I have said I had been drinking but I think I did ok. I remember doing 4-5 songs and I know I did one request. I will also say that my hips tend to get a little loose when I've had a few and am on stage in front of a good crowd, I was having a blast.

So much so that I failed to notice the "lead singer" walk off the stage. He had been standing in the background. After I got off stage and they got a few other friends up to sing he disappeared from the club entirely. I felt kind of bad for him, but, you have to know what your doing down there to keep that crowd going, and drinking. My biggest gripe with him is that he took no control over the situation. As the headman of the band he was responsible for making sure the tip jar got passed, and that the crowd stayed involved with the action. I know for a fact there was a good hour and a half that went by where he didn't pass that jug once. Normally once an hour is the norm, twice an hour when you've got a big crowd, which they did. I had to say something to one of the guys to get the thing passed before the crowd thinned out. He also didn't have much of a report with the crowd, which is something you really need to play down town, they want to feel like they are at a big party, and your the guy that's supposed to keep the party going, at least for the three and a half to four hours your on stage. The band took over for the last forty five minutes, with the guitarist running the gambit from Stevie Ray to Ricky Skaggs no less. They more than covered the time slot, they did a damn fine job. And if that tip jug had gotten passed when it should have they would have made a decent wage that night. As it wound up they only made about forty five bucks a man, which is measly for a Saturday night on lower Broadway.

Any who, I had a good time for the 20 minutes I was on stage, got me to thinking about starting my own band, which may happen soon, I'm getting restless.

Thanks go out this week to Juan over at the Songwriter Forums, www.SongwriterForums.com for letting me sing on one of his demos, Dani at Big World for his always great studio production, Miss Em for asking me to sing on Wayland's album and Mark Delk, Buddy's drummer, for getting me up to sing on Saturday night. Never a dull moment in this town, Never.

More soon. I Country, CJ.

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06-21-03

Well what's been going on with me? Not a whole lot, just work and a little singing out. I recorded a demo for a friend using tracks that he sent to me. I went into Big World Studios and Dani and I worked it up, it came out well. A clip of it has been added to the demos page. It�s Called "Uh-Huh."

Nothing to rant or rave about, things are going good. I dropped off 10 new songs to Larry Shell at Americana Publishing this week, we will see if he likes any of the new material. Been writing a lot lately so that's a good thing.

A little boring this month, blaa, maybe something exciting will happen next month. Wayland Patton called today to tell me that he finished recording the tracks for a song he and I wrote called, "Best Thing Could'a Happened" and on an up note the great Eric Heatherly provided the guitar. Some of you may remember Eric's remake of the Statler Brother's classic "Counting Flowers On The Wall" that was out a few years ago, I faintly remember the floating deck of cards in the video. Anyway he is one awesome picker. The song is going on Wayland's new CD entitled "The Mother Of All Heartaches." I am designing the CD artwork for it, the cover can be seen at www.KudzuBlossom.com Like what you see? I can design your CD package as well, I also do pencil portraiture which would be a great way to make your cover stand out, drop me an email or give me a ring 615-834-5125.

Oh another positive note, folk singer, professional drifter and damn good singer/ songwriter Jamie Kindleyside, www.Kindleyside.com, emailed me recently and asked for the lyrics to "Famous to Me", see the music page, he is going to start performing it out live as he makes his way up and down the east coast while recoding an album up north, how cool is that? I�m very honored to say the least. Catch one of Jamie�s shows when he plays here in Nashville, he�s a regular at the Bluebird Cafe.

More Soon, I Country. CJ

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02/09/04

Buddy took me to see George Strait in Nashville on Saturday, great show. Dierks Bentley opened, I was very impressed with him, enough so that I want to get his CD. He had a four man band and they sounded fantastic. George was something, I've never seen him in concert before. Buddy has seem him a couple of times and says he was the most animated he had ever seen him, he did seem to be having a good time. The only drawback of seeing someone like George Strait live, 50 #1s and 60 million albums sold, is that you don't always get to hear your favorites. He probably did 15 or so songs and five of those were just Texas swing favorites of his and not actual hits for him. I will say that he did one hell of a job on "There Stands The Glass." I think he should cut and release that. My favorite song of the night would have to be his new single "Desperately." What's great about that song to me is that I've been listening to Bruce Robison's version of it for like six months, he wrote it, so its cool to hear the songwriter do it first. If you like good songwriting and alt country pick up Bruce's "Wrapped" CD, several appearances by his wife Kelly Willis are and added bonus.

Got to do another round at Hobo Joe's last Thursday. If you are a singer songwriter looking for a cool place to play Hobo Joe's is it. Stop by on Thursday nights from 7-10 and see Shawn Harnett, bring him a CD, work tape, etc... something so he can hear you, and he might just put you in a round. Very cool atmosphere. For more info and directions visit: www.hobojoes.net

My friend's Roxie Randall and Sheldon Lee Sweeney play the French Quarter Cafe tomorrow night at 8:15PM Roxie will be singing and Sheldon will be playing guitar. I will be there so you be there.

Tinkerbell.

More soon, I Country. CJ

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