Songspeak - Conversations on the Art and Craft of Songwriting - Jessi Alexander.
Tennessee MTSU Recording Industry professor Hal Newman, and occasional guest hosts, interview ASCAP songwriters.
Topics include the process of writing songs, how one becomes a songwriter, tips for being a successful songwriter in the music industry. Songwriters also perform a few of their songs. The programs are recorded in front of MTSU students enrolled in Recording Industry courses. A question and answer session follows each discussion.
Jessi Alexander was born in Jackson, Tenn. When she was 10, her grandmother took her to the Miss Tennessee pageant, where a contestant sang a Patsy Cline song. She was hooked. By her early teens, she was deep into Hank Williams and Harlan Howard but also the West Coast sounds of Bonnie Raitt, Little Feat and Karla Bonoff. After high school graduation, she enrolled in Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., intending to major in social work. All through college, she sang in bands, often in nearby Nashville. Finally giving up school, she sang backup for a few new artists on the road before landing a gig as staff writer at the Warner-Chappell music publishing company. Then, unbeknownst to her, a friend submitted Alexander's tape to the 2001 NARAS Grammy Showcase. She won, then signed a deal with MCA Nashville, but her only release for the label was a performance of "So Wrong" on the Remembering Patsy Cline tribute album in 2003. After leaving MCA, she signed to Sony Nashville, which released her debut album in early 2005.