Award Winning Songwriter Doug Sedgwick

People want to be comfortable. They want to be able to put a label on you. You’re the guy who fingerpicks like James Taylor and sings like Bryan Adams; you’re the girl who can sing like Mahalia Jackson; you’re the banjo player who yodels; you’re the somewhat imperfect representation of something somebody more famous already does (most instances), in other words. That’s what too many listeners want.
I just finished watching No Direction Home. Until recently, I would characterize myself as one of… Continue

Someone in in the MusicThoughts group had posted some rough lyrical ideas for a love song based on the idea of "Washing the Moon" in order to better see his beloved. He had further requested somebody take a crack at the idea... Roughly 12-15 hours of writing / recording later, I eventually settled on the following:

Washing the Moon (Gloria)

Verse1:
Sometimes a love above me
Others a love below
Blessed love besides me
Glory now I know
A lifetime lies inside of me
Wisdom now I must share
When he… Continue

(CDBaby founder and all-around indie music HERO) Derek Sivers sends shotgun-blast emails w/ interesting questions now and then. Here is a recent one:
What do you do for feedback on a new song you’re writing?
Here's my initial response:
Hank Williams would ask everybody - even non-musicians. This worked well for him. And I have been to a couple of song circles where I have gotten some good suggestions. But I see music as time travel. It is a CONSTANT push to move from the moment of execution to t… Continue

From birth we try to understand how we are to relate to this world. Some of us never master the basics of the interactions. In the most extreme cases, the people who fail to integrate completely with what the majority perceive as reality are labeled autistic or possibly schizophrenic. At the same time so very many of us are hungry to get in touch with a spiritual, magical form of reality – a place where religious miracles crop up like flowers and our basic emotions are understood and celebrated… Continue

One thing that unites humanity is the terrifying place inside where our insecurities rule. I have lain awake at night completely consumed with the fear that outside judgment would doom me. I arose the next day and shakily, sleepily faced a workday uncertain of my standing in the world. This event preceded my Bangkok Blues show by roughly a week and actually had more to do with the security of my full-time job situation than with any doubts in my music. But I am certain that because I faced the f… Continue