Country Songwriting Methods

Video Transcript

"CODY KIMMEL: Hi. My name is Cody Kimmel. I'm the lead singer of the band Eliot Fitzgerald, and I'm here with Expert Village to teach you how to write a country song. Now, there are different ways to approach songwriting. Within any genre, there is going to be different ways to approach it. Some people like to write the verse--the lyrics first. Some people really like to write the music first. Some people write it as a combination of both. Some people write just by themselves. Well, I can't really write with other people. Some people write with other people very well. There are a number of different ways to approach country--to approach writing music. Now, with country music, the same rules apply. There's really no rules. It's however you feel comfortable approaching it. However, when you approach writing a country song, you do want to remember the main themes that are prevalent throughout country music. For one, country music, for the most part, tells a story. That's a key element to it. Number two, it tries to involve either a part of the American culture or conservative church culture and that is basically involving the South and the southern region and the Southern Church culture. So, you want to start to develop those ideas before doing anything. And so, whether you're writing your lyrics first, whether you're writing the music first, anything like that, you do want to keep in mind your themes regardless of what way you approach writing a song."