That song that you’ve been playing on repeat; someone experienced the magic of crafting the words and designing the melody. Songwriting is a craft, and many spend their lives working towards the mirage of mastery.
The Western Carolina Writers are a writers-in-the-round show that feature regional singer-songwriters. On Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, Elevated Mountain Distilling in Maggie Valley NC hosted songwriters Nick Mac, Jackson Grimm, and JP Jangles.
“It was kind of a spontaneous idea, ” said Mac in reference to starting Western Carolina Writers. A songwriter from Clyde, North Carolina, he co-founded the group with his songwriting peer, Jesse Frizzell.
The group has been a staple in Western North Carolina’s music scene for two years. It remains the only routine collaboration of songwriters like it in the region, and each event is unique, as the three featured performers rotate from show-to-show.
Modeled after the writers-in-the-round sessions that take place at iconic Nasheville, Tennessee, venues such as The Bluebird Cafe, the performers take turns playing their original music and discussing their craft and inspirations.
The audience on Nov. 14 peaked at a mere 10, but the performers always had someone listening. Fans of the show are not there for flashy showmanship, but rather, for the sake of the raw song.
I spent some time talking with them after the show about the process of songwriting. See the multimedia bellow.
“The first song I wrote was called ‘Jay’. It was about my grandpa,” said Mac. “I know this sounds kind of cheesy,” chuckled Asheville songwriter Jackson Grimm, “but the first song I ever wrote was about this girl I was really into. That was like seven or eight years ago and we’re still together.”
Many songwriters write about their own lives, but many more filter elements from the world around them and turn them into tunes.
“I work on the road,” said JP Jangles, a songwriter from Zirconia, North Carolina. “I could be walking in a gas station in the middle of nowhere and hear some old dude who’s been living there his whole life and he’ll say this phrase that sticks, and later you’ll go home and you just can’t get it out of your head. So you sit on the couch and you figure it out.”
Some songwriters’ songs come to them in poetic muses that they weave into their melodies. “I always write the lyrics first,” said Mac.
However, others are initially called by the melody. “Maybe 85% of the time I have a riff or I have the chords,” said Grimm. “And then I can write all the songs. I usually write the lyrics later.”
As a writer’s method has little relevance, neither does the time or the place where the writing takes place.
“There’s no wrong way to write one,” said Jangles. “I wrote one in my car. This guy was holding up traffic. I saw his face and it triggered a melody.” He recalled immediately pulling over to scribble the lyrics.
Along with an openness to inspiration, musical proficiency can also take a songwriter deeper into their work. “You can never be good enough at your instrument,” replied Grimm when asked what he’d say to a hopeful songwriter. “The better you are, the more you can do.”
However, unlike other occupations, songwriting has no precise steps, other than the act of simply doing it. “Write the song,” said Mac.
“No matter what other people think of it, if you like it, so be it.” See the video.
