Songwriting For Songwriters – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Episode 12 - Jamie O'Neal

Jamie O’Neal is a Platinum-selling country singer and hit songwriter that became a household name in 2001 with her back-to-back # 1 singles, “There Is No Arizona” and “When I Think About Angels.” With multiple hits that followed, including “Shiver,” “Trying To Find Atlantis” and “Somebody’s Hero,” Jamie caught fire. She earned numerous career accolades (including multiple Grammy nominations), she’s an ACM and Billboard Awards winner and has appeared on The Tonight Show, Dave Letterman and numerous other national tv shows.

While she has penned most of her own songs, Jamie has also written hits for such notable artists as Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Leann Rimes, Cece Winans, Idina Menzel and others. Her voice can be heard internationally in major motion pictures including All by Myself for Bridget Jones’s Diary.

She was also picked to perform with Carrie Underwood when she needed the perfect duet partner for CMT’s 100 greatest duets with Does He Love You

Jamie's Website: https://www.jamieoneal.com/

Dom Martin was brought up in the often tough, but community driven streets of Belfast Northern Ireland and has certainly paid his life and musical dues. 

He has made a fairly 'meteoric' rise in terms of today's industry with his jaw dropping, entirely natural sounding and unforced/unschooled skill on acoustic guitar, matched with an authentic 'Belfast Blues' voice, bringing to mind comparisons with many from (Glasgow born) John Martyn to Rory Gallagher, with nods to many in-between, not least perhaps the likes of Van Morrison and Foy Vance.

Dom has won multiple awards for his acoustic work with a 2019 European award, UK awards in 2020/2021/2022 and as a result is now an inductee in the UK Blues Hall of Fame.

In late 2018 Dom was invited by Cerys Matthews to play a live session on the BBC Radio 2 Blues Show and she described his work as “absolutely wonderful stuff”. 

At the end of 2019 Dom released his debut album, “Spain to Italy” which attracted a lot of attention and promised a successful career ahead for the Irishman.

​A second and highly reviewed studio album "A Savage Life" was released in April 2022 which cemented Dom's place in the UK and European Blues/Rock scene.

​In August 2023 Dom and his band gained many new fans whilst aboard Joe Bonamassa's KTBA Mediterranean Cruise III and he was certainly the talk of the ship! 

 In September 2023 he released his latest album "Buried In The Hail" on Forty Below Records scoring many top marks with reviewers and gaining Classic Rock Magazine's "Blues Album of The Month" above many top industry names. 

​At the UK Blues Awards 2024 "Buried In The Hail" was voted by the IBBA DJ's/Presenters as "Blues Album of The Year" ​​

Dom Martin Website: https://www.dommart.in/

Elles Bailey - Episode 3 - Season 2

Elijah speaks to Elles about her upcoming new record, life as a songwriter, her career and journey so far, her influences, her Planet Rock radio show and more.

Elles Bailey is an English blues roots, rock singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has recorded three studio albums including her debut album Wildfire in 2017, Road I Call Home in 2019 and the chart topping Shining In The Half Light in 2022 winning several awards for her work.

Her 2022 studio album Shining in the Half Light produced by Dan Weller reached 42 in the UK Albums Chart, reached number 1 in the Official Jazz and Blues Albums Chart and number 2 in the Official Americana Albums Chart. In January 2023, The Official Charts Company announced that Shining in the Half Light had reached number 39 out of the top 40 best selling albums in the Official Americana Albums Chart in 2022.

On tour, apart from her own headline appearances, Bailey has provided the opening act for Jools Holland, Don McLean, Van Morrison, Eric Gales, Mike Farris, the Kris Barras Band and King King. She is a presenter on Planet Rock Radio.

Clive Stafford Smith OBE - Episode 2 - Season 2

This weeks podcast is in 3 parts with different guests.

1 -Clive Stafford - Smith OBE British attorney who specializes in the

areas of civil rights and working against the death penalty in the

United States of America.

He worked to overturn death sentences for convicts, and helped found the not-for-profit Louisiana Capital Assistance Center in New Orleans. By 2002 this was the largest capital defence organisation in the South. He was a founding board member of the Gulf Region Advocacy Center, based in Houston, Texas. In addition, he has represented more than 80 of the detainees held as enemy combatants since 2002 at the US Guantanamo Bay detention camp. As of February 2021, a total of 40 men are still held there.

After returning to Britain, Stafford Smith worked as the founder of Reprieve, a British non-profit NGO that is opposed to the death penalty.

During his career in the US, by 2002 Stafford Smith had lost appeals in six death penalty cases, but had won nearly 300, earning reprieves from execution for those convicts and exonerating a number of them.

Clive has gathered over 180 cases of people that were executed on Death Row and Elijah and Clive have decided to work together on a project called 'Last Words' asking songwriters to respond to a case and the last words of a Death Row prisoner.

Interested songwriters can get involved by emailing songwritingforsongwriters@gmail.com to be sent a case and the last words of a prisoner.

2 - Chiman 101 is a hip-hop artist currently based in the south-west. Elijah and Chiman 101 have collaborated on a track called 'The Kingdom Come' responding to the case and last words of Death Row prisoner Jerome Bowden.

Chiman 101 discusses his writing, his influences and how he found his way into writing 'The Kingdom Come' with Elijah.

3- Alexis and Felicity. Alexis and Felicity are work experience students that happened to be on work experience as Clive and Elijah began the project and were asked by Clive to write a song based on the case of Jerome Bowden with Elijah. Alexis sang and wrote the melody and the words were written by Alexis, Coco and Felicity.

David Joseph (Held By Trees) - Episode 1 - Season 2

Held By Trees is the collaborative vehicle for David Joseph, a recording artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist.

Held By Trees arrived with debut album Solace in spring 2022 to global critical acclaim and a unique story. Not many artists can claim direct DNA from their chief influences, but on Solace, project leader David Joseph managed to bring together a total of eight alumni of the fabled Talk Talk/Mark Hollis albums that inspired his instrumental, progressive post-rock. The album also featured contributions from veterans of Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Blur and blues/roots hero, Eric Bibb. Solace has gone on to delight listeners and critics around the world, selling thousands of CD and vinyl copies and entering the indie and physical sales official charts in the UK.

Hot on the heels of Solace, Held By Trees is excited to be released two new EPs on Sound Canyon Records. Recorded at Peter Gabriel’s famous Real World Studios, the first EP is comprised of live versions of five tracks from Solace. The six piece live iteration of Held By Trees brings together three of the Talk Talk/Mark Hollis alumni that contributed to Solace including renowned guitarist Robbie McIntosh. The band recorded playing all together in the ‘Big Room’ at Real World in November 2022, a week after their debut live performances.

The second EP is an entirely new suite of pieces themed on the transition from daylight to darkness. Entitled ‘Eventide’, it was tracked live at Real World Studios and then additional layers were added by musicians in America and Canada, by old friends of project leader David Joseph. The new music is also influenced by the likes of Van Morrison, Paul Simon and John Martyn.

Listen here:

Held By Trees Website - https://heldbytrees.bandcamp.com/

A new season of Songwriting For Songwriters is nearly upon us and we have some amazing guests and conversations lined up for you celebrating the art of songwriting.

These new episodes will be dropping every fortnight so make sure you follow and subscribe and please share and get in touch.

Mark Tucker is a producer, composer and recording engineer.

With over 20 years in the music industry working with artists such as Portishead, PJ Harvey, Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention, Frank Turner, Ian Gillan and many many more.

Mark is also Creative Director & in house producer at ARC Studios. Having built a number of successful professional recording facilities, (including; Presshouse Studio in Devon for Martin Barre of Jethro Tull and Woodworm Studios, Oxfordshire, for Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention). Studio design is integral to Mark's knowledge and understanding of sound and how a studio functions both as an engineer and a musician.

The Songwriters Handbook by Elijah Wolfe, host of the podcast 'Songwriting For Songwriters' is out now on Amazon.

The book is an interactive book packed with 52 themes and subjects for you songwriters and creative writers to muse over and find a seed or a spark of an idea for a new song, lyric or piece of creative writing.

It's engaging and easy read and is guaranteed to be a valuable friend in your creative toolbox.

Order your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CGTMDNQY

Jinder is is best known for his extensive catalogue of dark folk- and country-influenced solo work, including his 2019 Top 40 single, 'Keep Me in Your Heart', which features in the 2019 film Fisherman's Friends and has been successfully covered by many other artists. He is also known for his brief tenure as the frontman of the Mercurymen.

In this episode Elijah and Jinder discuss his career to date, his time signed to major labels, his decision to go stride forward independently, how his song 'Keep Me In Your Heart' came into existence and how it ended up on a major Movie Picture and much more.

Jinder's website: https://www.jinder.co.uk/biography

With emotive soul, woozy synths, warm harmonies, lo-fi electronics, and softly strummed guitars, British multi-hyphenate artist James Alexander Bright dreams of open spaces, warm surroundings, and a place to find comfort and peace both inside and out. Based in the Hampshire countryside and an illustrator by day, James’ creative duality lends a visual aspect to his music. He often approaches the creation of a new song from a strong image, much like soundtracking a movie inside his head.

His debut album ‘Headroom’ was released in April 2020 by !K7. During a busy 2020, James also featured on three tracks, as well as designing the artwork, on Groove Armada’s recent album ‘Edge Of The Horizon’, contributed exclusive track ‘Under The Sun’ to the Too Slow To Disco: The Sunset Manifesto compilation (alongside Kraak & Smaak, Yuksek, Poolside) and released collaborative single ‘It’s Alright’ with Dutch producer/drummer Feiertag. A new side project, with Groove Armada’s Tom Findlay as Bright & Findlay, saw the ‘Slow Dance’ EP released on Athens of the North in September ’21, which included support by Gilles Peterson who included it in his tracks of the year. His second album for !K7, the joyous ‘Float’, was released in July 2022 with singles ‘Drink This Water’, ‘Wheels Keep Turning’ and ‘Sundown’ feat Fink paving the way.

On radio his tracks have been played across BBC 6 Music (where he’s recorded guest mixes for Tom Ravenscroft and Huey Morgan), Amazing Radio, Bandcamp Weekly, Worldwide FM, Soho Radio, KCRW, Triple J and BBC Solent (who chose his track ‘Tigers Roar’ to soundtrack Portsmouth FC’s2019 journey to Wembley – awkwardly James is a Saints fan).

Released in April 2023, cosmic Americana-disco DJ/producer duo Flying Mojito Bros handpicked tracks from James’ !K7 catalog for an album of collaborations and reworks. A full length Bright & Findlay album is due for release this summer on Athens Of The North.

Collected press:

“Blissful choruses, sweetly nagging refrains and a lo-fi sensibility.

Hard not to love” MOJO

“Intoxicating, highly evocative, sun-dappled soul” Uncut

“Pastoral 21st century electronic psychedelia that knows all the best

clubs in town” Electronic Sound

“Brilliantly laidback…an ever evolving journey that feels at once fun

and adventurous but also familiar and comfortable” Future Music

“It’s a lush, rich slice of soul that will permeate every pore. It’s the

sound of the summer” Louder Than War

“Bringing influence and experience together in a wild, kaleidoscopic

world of precarious elevations and cathedral emotions” BPM

“Vivid intermingling of buoyant breakbeat drum loops, sunkissed

psychedelic folk song, retrofuturist synthesisers and hot buttered

British soul” Test Pressing

“All the musical styles I love. I’m a big fan” Tom Findlay, Groove

Armada

“One exceptional album” Bill Brewster

“A timeless record” The Bees’ Aaron Fletcher

“Moves stylishly through psychedelic patterns and multicoloured

textures” Jack Wyllie from Portico Quartet

Website: https://jamesalexanderbright.com/about/