I have played in a bunch of bands with many musicians along the way, plus all the bands around us at the time.....

I can count on ONE HAND the musicians, who, during that time, were songwriters of one sort or the other.

Face it, if you had to be a songwriter who wrote songs good enough to attract fans and crowds to the bars, hardly any bands would exist. Coffee houses where a solo guitarist could whip out the original songs were few and far between. Clubs during that time wanted cover bands. We played in a number of places where the venue owner had a few rules..... in addition to his other rules....NO ORIGINAL MUSIC and NO LONG SOLOS. Of course, we would sneak a few into the shows since the folks who knew us, new our songs and danced to them all.

The folks dancing wanted to dance to something they knew. The club owner knew that bands playing originals tended to attract a more "cerebral" crowd who didn't really dance and didn't drink like a dance crowd would.

Besides, back in the day, and even now..... many of the big recording artists were not songwriters.... Linda Ronstadt and just about every country artist back in the day were not writers. MOst of the crooners, and quite a few rockers too didn't write.

Standing on the viewpoint that cover band musicians are somehow "lesser musicians" because they don't write their own tunes is just flat out wrong. Not everyone can write music and do it well.... it's an acquired skill that many have not bothered to develop or chose to develop, choosing instead to work on instrumental skills.

Nope... I don't hold it against anyone for being a cover band if that's what they enjoy.... because, yes, while I write and totally enjoy it, and mostly play only original songs these days, I still totally enjoy playing some old Eagles, or BTO, or Merle Haggard, Beatles or...well you get the picture.... to me, it's ALL GOOD.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.