Everette,

Look at it like this. Imagine you are an artist. You have just gone through a break up of the love of your life. You sit with a more experienced songwriter who helps you put all your emotions EXACTLY into the words that you want to say. You were so close to it, you couldn't really do it yourself and the experienced writer has had several top songs recorded.

Now who's songs do you record? The ones that talk about a break up but you have NO connection to, or one that was written EXACTLY for YOU about YOU and encapuslated YOU? There is no choice.

It is not that solo writers can't write good songs. Some times they can. But in my experience, with around 11,000 songwriters over an 11 year career teaching and around 15 before that, the solo writers almost never match up to people who work with professional writers. And the "other side of the desk" there are almost NO solo writers in Nashville. Even the ones who write solo sometimes most of the time write with other writers for the social aspect. It is much more productive, and to be honest, the songs come out better.

Solo writers have no sense of urgency. They have no sense of discipline. They tend to let things simmer, sometimes for years. The biggest complaint I hear from them is "I have hundreds of pieces of songs but never get them finished." That is because life always gets in the way. If there is no sense of need to get things finished, to be honest, they don't get finished.

I am not making a statement on every writer. I don't know every writer. I know trends. And I study history. The majority of writers, even the Bob Dylan's of the world, learned their craft being around and being influenced by many other writers. We don't learn this in a vacum.

Again, it is to each his own. But if you write a song by yourself, you look in the bathroom mirror and see who you have to help promote and get that song out there.

What is the biggest subject on these are pretty much any other songwriter related forum? "How to get songs out there? Have you ever heard of.....pitching service?" All these pages have are those kinds of question, pretty much always coming to the same conclusion. They are all basically ineffective, costing money and run into the "inside cut" which is the artist I outlined above.

It is more just the realities of life doing this business. There are no "lone wolf careers". None. They all have to have people to help them get out there. From my point of view in the world I live in , it is the only way.

MAB