Polly,

You are not listening. The truth is that almost every other song in this town is precisely this same song. They say almost the same thing with almost the same lines. This is exactly the purpose of my "tours" that I do with people. To show them how hard it is to find unique ideas.

Writers and artists write from a postition of pain or suffering. They deal with rejection their entire lives from the earliest school days throughout their professional careers all they hear is the word "No." They are turned down by the opposite sex, they are turned down in jobs, they are turned down by banks, they are turned down by the industry. So you will get a non ending glut of songs that say the same thing.

Why did "Redneck Woman" work? Because there weren't a bunch of other songs just like that one. Gretchen captured the entire woman empowerment thing without putting anyone down. It was the 2000's equivalent of "I am Woman Hear me Roar."
Why did "Next Time He Cheats" work? Because it is a juxtaposition song that uses the groove and humor to let women put themselves in the revenge mode. But had Carrie Underwood not recorded "Jesus Take the Wheel" and been on "American Idol" first she would have not gotten that same reaction.
But again, in every one of these and other cases, there were a thousand things behind the scenes when it got to these songs. A lot of money, political will. And in the case of Gretchen, her connection to Big and Rich who were making a fortune being paired up with NASCAR. And all of them were VERY different songs.


I took two writers to a writers show two weeks ago. There were three women on stage doing three songs each. Every single one of them did almost to a line the exact song. That is what you are not seeing. This song means a lot to you. Fine. It means a lot to a lot of women. I am not denying that.

Women tend to write these songs continuously because they live them. They all go through the same things, the same emotions. Heather Cowles, who is the singer here probably has 15 of them because she has gone through it. And she came to me for help because she kept running into the same walls. We wrote about six songs together and I told her the exact same thing I am telling you here. And I will tell you, there is probably very few women that look, sing and are as physically and mentally as developed as Heather. She had a record deal at one point. But the reason it didn't work out is because of the glut of material in this format.

I know it is hard to understand until you are around songs 24 hours a day and hear hundreds of songs. And that is what the public goes through. Between the 'regular industry" My Space, Face Book, You Tube, etc. you will hear the same subjects over and over again.

And while I never say you have to live in Nashville to write anything, you don't, you need to be exposed to the totallity of the music industry. In the most recent JPF contest, there were 51,000 full CD's. That is about a half million songs. I went through at least 450 before I just could not do it any more. With almost every female artist that popped up, You could scan the titles, listen to the first few lines and it was the same thing.

So I am NOT saying Glynda didn't dig deep, didn't do a good job.She did fine. She constructed a song that said what she wanted to say, what she was feeling, the emotions she wanted to convey about the situation she was in. You were touched by the song enough to want to do it. That is all that needs to be said.

But imagine if you were to go somewhere where there are a lot of very attractive blondes all named Polly, all doing versions of the same song. Then it gets harder to get and keep people's attention.

If you want to do the true test, go to anywhere that songwriters post songs. Take thirty minutes and listen to as many verses and choruses as you can. Listen to the message, the overall theme, the attitude of the singer.

Then do the same with the top country songs on the Billboard charts.Listen to the theme, the subject matter the tone of the singer. See what you find out.

There were twenty six number one songs last year. 24 of them were positive, up tempo. Two did not.

People ask me what they should do with their music, where they should take it, who is going to help them get it somewhere else. They go to places like Taxi, song pluggers, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on everything you can imagine. Then they end up with the same results. Nothing. Outside of something they personally like or build with a few fans and private relations.

I am not knocking this or any other song. I am telling you that if it hits that spot with you, that is the most sincere part of the job of the song and songwriter. Touching lives. Glynda has done it here for you. If you believe in it, you by all means should take it, record it and make it part of your repetoire. And you can always prove me wrong. Has happened plenty of times. I am NO EXPERT. Just a guy who hears a lot of stuff all the time.

At the end of the day this is my opinion. That is all.

MAB