Jericho, a song about PTSD affecting a modern veteran soldier, was written by Evan Murphy the lead singer and guitarist of Boston-based quintet Mile Twelve, with assistance from the mandolin player in the band David Benedict. Musical arrangement was by
The prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest, held each year as part of MerleFest in North Wilkesboro, NC, has announced the finalists for the 2019 competition. Run as an open event, songwriters compete in two separate rounds. An initial round of judges chooses
The good folks at Common Ground on the Hill in Maryland have announced a new competition that should be of interest to our readers. Submissions for their initial Acoustic Roots Songwriting Contest will be accepted through May 15, with an online
Back on February 15, the DC Bluegrass Union announced the winners of their 2019 Hazel Dickens Song Contest, celebrating the life's work of the noted Capitol area writer. The many submissions received were judged by Becky Buller, Evan Murphy, and Chris Teskey, with prizes
Members of the IBMA Songwriters Committee will conduct a workshop next weekend during the 34th annual Joe Val Bluegrass Festival in Framingham, MA. Three members of the committee, Rick Lang, David Morris, and Dawn Kenney, will lead the workshop, which will will
Famed Nashville Country music song-writer Sanger D. ‘Whitey’ Shafer passed away this past Saturday, January 12, 2019, following a long illness. He was aged 84 and had struggled with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for a few years. Born in Whitney, Texas, on
Longtime bluegrass and country music songwriter Tom T Hall has been announced as a 2019 inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Tom T, or simply "T" as he is known to his friends in the business, enjoyed a long and
Bluegrass songwriter Rick Lang has announced that the recipient of the 1st annual Rick Lang Music Scholarship is Alexis Hamilton-Mele. As a writer, Rick has had his songs recorded by dozens of bluegrass acts, from Junior Sisk to IIIrd Tyme Out,
Paula Breedlove is a rarity in the song-writing fraternity in that she doesn’t play a musical instrument. So, she worked hard at perfecting her lyrics. She studied the works of Nashville’s country music song-writers, and began studying the Country music
Bob Amos is best known for fronting the Colorado-based band Front Range that played together during the period from 1988 through to 2004, during which period they released seven albums. Amos wrote roughly 75% of the songs recorded by Front Range,