Interesting.

Too clinical for my taste, but there's some truth in there. Some of what is discussed are things that I always did organically, without being told to or showed how to....I just tried to write songs that were structured the same way as records I listened to or ones I heard on the radio.

I've only read one book on songwriting in my life, and I didn't read it until 13 years after I had already been writing for a living. I only picked it up because of it's author (Jimmy Webb). Granted my sample size is limited for most part to the Nashville market, but I've never known any writers who attributed their success to any book or workshop - more just taking what talent they were born with and working hard every day at getting better at it.

My songwriting "mentor" was a guy named Frank Dycus....wrote a bunch of country hits. He had dropped out of school after 6th grade, grew up in a little place called Hard Money, KY - a real hillbilly (his description of himself, not mine). I remember him being asked once about the craft of writing, and his answer always sort of stuck with me. He said "I ain't got no craft, I'm gifted" (told you he was a hillbilly). It made me think back to when I was a kid in the 70s. More than anything else, I wanted to be a baseball player, specifically a pitcher. I was a fan of a young Nolan Ryan, and I wanted to throw a fastball 100mph like he did. I worked at it constantly....had a pitching mound set up in our back yard, read books on pitching mechanics, lifted weights, went to instructional camps, etc. I felt like I was really getting there. Then I got a chance to throw with a radar gun, and threw what I thought was one of the best pitches I'd ever thrown....fastball, right on the outside corner. The gun had the speed of the pitch at 74.

That was when I realized that throwing a 100mph fastball wasn't a "learned" skill, it was a God-given talent. All the work, study, & effort I put it just made me an ok baseball player. I sort of have the same opinion about songwriting/singing/performing. It's a talent, certainly one that can be developed, but I don't believe it can be taught successfully to someone who didn't have the ability to start with.

Long-winded response, basically saying that I don't put much stock into "how to" books, blogs, or articles as they pertain to songwriting, primarily because many read them and think if they use the given templates, they can write great songs. Well, if your songwriting chops/talent have 100mph potential, they probably can....otherwise, 74mph in the backyard is likely the ceiling.

http://www.rogerbrownsongs.com
http://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/roger-brown