One of the questions we often ask in our Artist Interviews is about the songwriting process. It’s a fascinating topic because each answer is different. We hear stories of songs that seem to appear fully completed and others that take years to perfect. We’ve talked to bands that appoint one songwriter and others that build their songs as a collaboration. I recently stumbled on a site, Songwriters on Process, that dives even further into this topic. The site features hundreds of interviews with artists, detailing the songwriting process from beginning to end, the stories behind the songs, and other aspects of the creative process.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Andy Hamm from Local Natives talks about how their album, Gorilla Manor, was written by all five members of the band. Though the lyrics tend to be completed by one person so the message of the song isn’t lost.
Jesse Tabish of Other Lives makes himself sit down at the same time every day to write songs, saying it’s “a muscle that has to be worked.”
Josh Carter of Phantogram takes a tape recorder with him wherever he goes to record ideas and sounds that inspire him, such as driving his car over a bridge.
Grace Potter can be inspired by something as simple as a commercial…an interesting commercial at that.
John Paul White and Joy Williams of The Civil Wars use their love of literature to help them in their songwriting.
This interview isn’t featured on Songwriters on Process, but it’s an interesting interview with Jack White about his debut solo album, Blunderbuss. He says that he would book studio time and hire session musicians without having any material prepared. It forced him to sit down at the piano and write a song that instant. That’s one way to work under pressure!
– Submitted by Jessica Reed, Social Media