Austin Songwriter Bliss

The City I Live In: view from the park/bridge

Our Garden

(I eat fresh greens from it every single day!)

My Update:

I am on song 28 of my "30 Songs in 30 Days" songwriting extravaganza. It is going well, although I have more cover/medley's and re-worked old songs that I originally anticipated, it is okay. And this is why I allowed myself those things. I have a showcase on January 31st at Flipnotics, and I'm excited to share many of my new songs and see how they go over. It is always interesting seeing which songs draw in the listener, and which seem to repel attention. It is often not what I would have guessed, which is why I am so lucky to get to "practice in public" at coffee shop gigs. :)

I love living in Austin, it's true. The sun is out and it is warm most of the time. There are beautiful parks and a huge trail system throughout the city. I am surrounded by fabulously talented musicians that are actually nice enough to talk to a rookie like me. People go out to listen to live music all the time...which means there are people listening when I play out!

It has been fun holing up and working on songs, geeking out, and meeting others who also geek out about words and encourage me to new levels as a songwriter. I'm not sure if I am getting much better...but I'm enjoying playing with words, songs, and noticing what works and doesn't. Maybe someday I'll write something reallly good. *fingers crossed*

Here are some of the places and people I have been enjoying lately:

Let me introduce Thick Red Wine and Daniel Park, two of my songwriter friends. We are meeting up for regular songwriter "support groups" and I just think they are the greatest. Thick Red Wine played at Whole Foods on Thursday and tore the place up with his humorous and edgy R&B hits. :)

3 Penny Acres was in town and since they were super involved with the songwriter retreat the Crooked Crow Songwriter Group converged for a house show. They cover a Johann Wagner song, so he got up and played it with them. I love these folks- they are the cool older kids I want to be like. Teach me your ways, great ones!

Another cool family of songwriters/musicians: Mandy Rowden, Cass Brostead, and the Whiskey Church Crew (a fun sunday night gathering at Hole In The Wall).

That's all for now, folks!