Ray,

Let me see if I can describe it a different way. One of my personal "dogs in the hunt" right now is Frankie Ballard. he is a 25 year old guitar gunslinger out of Kalamazoo Michigan who is signed as a writer to Sony and to Warner Brothers as an artist. he was signed early this year and is now working with Micheal Knox, who produces Jason Aldeen and now Trace Adtkins.

I was out with Frankie on tour over the weekend on his bus to Michigan.Frankie and I are very good friends and he looks at me as an advisor toward the record business in regard to his writing. As time goes on we will probably make more trips to write on the bus while he is out on tour. Same thing with Jeffery Steele and Montgomery Gentry. Part of the social network.

I know for a fact that Frankie has recorded six songs and that there will be 2 more sessions of six songs each, and then out of those songs, 12 will be picked for his CD. I also know that they have about 200 songs they are going through for the last few slots. Frankie has written most of those, 13 with me, several with Steele, Wiseman, Rutherford, you know, the usual suspects. And there are some favorites he has he didn't write, Walt Aldrich, two others of mine, and probably a couple dozen of those. And they still lightly look, if something blew all of them away, it might have a shot.

But for the most part they have everything they are looking for. It is just down to the time to go back in the studio. There are two projects ahead of him and so he has to bide his time. Last week I saw a dozen hit writers out, went to a couple of showcases of new artists, saw a couple of record company people and a LOT of publishers. Everyone is asking me about Frankie because he is a big topic of conversation. The people who have seen him have been blown away, and the people who haven't seen him have heard of him. And most all of him know of my connection because that is the talk of the industry as well. "Barnette finally has a winner" kind of deal. A lot of people have been in my corner for a long time, seen me struggle and hoped things would take off for me.So probably some of them will tell somebody, who will tell somebody and it will probably become part of Music Row scuttlebutt, "they are still looking for twelve songs." And that will probably find it's way to Music Row's Row Fax. I can't wait to see it on some article, "A well placed source to Ballard insists they are still looking for all the material on the CD. They need great songs. Hit songs. The next single."

No they don't. They are recording 18 songs. That is normal for every act. 12 will make it. They have 6. And possibly some of those will be replaced. I've been on both sides of that one. About three will end up on another project and some might turn up on the "bonus three new tracks' on some "greatest hits" record three years down the road.

So he keeps popping up on the pitch lists. It is almost a joke. "Well, I guess I am still on the pitch lists so I guess I still have a deal." And he is on the pitch lists and does have a deal. But that doesn't mean just anyone can pitch songs to him. He can't just go around collecting CD's although people try to gherm him at every opportunity.

That is why there is a pecking order. The artist,the producer, the publishing company who is paying him, the record label who is paying him, the personal friends, the major writers, all these people have first shot.Most other people simply don't.

So the idea is to find your own Frankie. How do you know? Number one is you get to know them. You spend time writing with them and seeing what they do. I also work with dozens of wanna be artists. Their attitudes most often doom them. Flakey kids who think that plugging in Rock Band is going to make them a star. That they can become an American Idol by singing Karaoke on Friday nights. Parents with Taylor Swift Gravy train stars in their eyes for a retirement plan and they push these kids on to every talent show around. Ever hear of Jon Benet Ramsey? That because they look good they are going to ride the gravy train to the top of the heap. All but the most emotionally balanced wash out. They discover the opposite sex, get into other things. They are all 14-20 years old. How balanced were you at that age?

But it trains you as a writer. Ups the level of your odds. When you pull a song out of somebody they could not have gotten without you, dealt with attitudes and gotten a great song out of it despite them, that is your testing ground. That is part of paying dues. Getting them out there, great demos, networking, is all part of paying dues. And everybody is paying the same dues. Everybody is putting in the hours. Everybody is playing by the same rules.

When you hear a writer who had the number one song of the year three years ago, start to complain about how he hasn't had a cut in eleven months and doesn't know if he can pay his mortgage, you start to get a reality check. That actually happened to me three years ago. Then the writer had four top tens in a row. Yeah, we all know the difference between a songwriter and a six week old puppy. Eventually the puppy stops whining.

I have written 1608 songs with about 1300 people in five and a half years. I do it almost every day and will be doing it three hours from now and every day the rest of the week. I have a local guy today, a Canadian writer tomorrow and a Canadian artist on Wed. Thus. and Friday. who I will be helping write her album. That is what I do.

But out of those I have one Franke, One Dirt Drifters, one Steel Magnolia, that I am physically working with. Who knows if any of them will actually pan out. You just don't know. But those people I have mentioned in past posts,didn't know if Rodney Atkins, Keith Urban, Faith Hill,Brad Paisley, and others would work out either. All of those people were turned down over and over.

You write for yourself first and foremost. You try to up the level of your odds, by writing with others, getting critiques and information, participating in other songwriter's journey's, doing demos, social networking, being as aware and flexible as you can. And at the end of the day, you pat yourself on the back for the work you have done, the people who's lives you touch, take your victories big and small, deal with the defeats and move forward all the time. Never put all your eggs in one basket and try to interact with as many people as you can.

That is about all anybody can do.

MAB