I met Kathleen Hudson earlier this year at Giddy-Ups, a wonderful south Austin roadhouse (waaay south!) that still feels like Austin in its heyday. I didn't really know who she was; I was simply impressed with her knowledge of Texas music and of course, her good looks.
Turns out that Dr. Kathleen Hudson is an English professor at Schreiner University in Kerrville, where she also founded the Texas Heritage Music Foundation. She has written two books on Texas music-makers, and I recently read the first one, Telling Stories, Writing Songs: An Album of Texas Songwriters.
The book is a collection of interviews with some of my songwriting heroes, including Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, and Robert Earl Keen. Reading their thoughts on the how and why of songwriting makes me examine my own need to write songs.
When I came across the following quote from Guy Clark, one of my favorite Texas songwriters, I immediately shared it with my favorite Texas songwriter and sometime songwriting partner, David Harbaugh. He agreed with it, and suggested I start adding a few thoughts on songwriting in my own humble little blog. Clark said:
"In the process of writing, I'll have it turn around on me and have the whole meaning of the song change. But that's just because it wasn't finished. That's just part of the process. I don't know how they work until I've played them onstage ten or fifteen times for an audience. To me, that's finishing the song. The performance [is] just as much a part of the writing process as the rest of it."
That's exactly how I feel about some of my songs. It's why I kinda regret rushing "Don't Dallas My Austin" and "That Kind of Song" into the studio. I play both songs a little differently (and better) now than the way I recorded them on the CD. I glad I was able to record them, but I also wish I'd waited for the song to mature a little.
Turns out that Dr. Kathleen Hudson is an English professor at Schreiner University in Kerrville, where she also founded the Texas Heritage Music Foundation. She has written two books on Texas music-makers, and I recently read the first one, Telling Stories, Writing Songs: An Album of Texas Songwriters.
The book is a collection of interviews with some of my songwriting heroes, including Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, and Robert Earl Keen. Reading their thoughts on the how and why of songwriting makes me examine my own need to write songs.
When I came across the following quote from Guy Clark, one of my favorite Texas songwriters, I immediately shared it with my favorite Texas songwriter and sometime songwriting partner, David Harbaugh. He agreed with it, and suggested I start adding a few thoughts on songwriting in my own humble little blog. Clark said:
"In the process of writing, I'll have it turn around on me and have the whole meaning of the song change. But that's just because it wasn't finished. That's just part of the process. I don't know how they work until I've played them onstage ten or fifteen times for an audience. To me, that's finishing the song. The performance [is] just as much a part of the writing process as the rest of it."
That's exactly how I feel about some of my songs. It's why I kinda regret rushing "Don't Dallas My Austin" and "That Kind of Song" into the studio. I play both songs a little differently (and better) now than the way I recorded them on the CD. I glad I was able to record them, but I also wish I'd waited for the song to mature a little.
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