Mel Bryant & the Mercy Makers are a Nashville-based indie rock band led by bassist and songwriter Mel Bryant. The four musicians moved together from Philly and New York to settle in East Nashville where they run their own recording studio, Electric Church Records, and work as the backing band for various local artists. Mel will travel to Asheville to compete in the NewSong Music Competition with her accompanist, Aaron Hicks, on acoustic guitar.
We asked Mel some questions about her songwriting process and what it means to be a NewSong finalist. To purchase tickets for the Dec. 15 event at Isis Music Hall, visit our ticketing page.
What does it mean to you to be selected as a NewSong finalist, and what do you hope to get out of the experience?
The recognition as a songwriter is so heartwarming and self-affirming in the midst of self doubt and those pesky feelings that we don’t deserve to do this thing we love to do. I’m really excited to connect with like-minded songwriters for future collaborations and play in a really awesome Asheville venue!
What is your songwriting process like? Who inspires you?
My songwriting process is fairly inconsistent, but usually starts with a lyrical idea: something short like a sentence or even a word pairing, and maybe a rhyming scheme along with that, something that I thought of during my daily life, working as a server at a brunch place, or out of things I’ve overheard or read somewhere. I usually flesh it out on a guitar or just with my voice, and then will refine it with another member of my band, or with my entire band, if I think the song would gel with my bandmates.
Some of my biggest inspirations growing up were punk rock bands like Green Day and Fall Out Boy, along with folk songwriters like Laura Marling, Joni Mitchell, etc, but as I got older and delved into other genres, some big influences have been blues artists like B. B. King, classic rock bands like the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, etc. Lately, the low-key, heartfelt indie rock vein has informed a lot of my writing, with artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Pinegrove.
What important news about your music do you have coming up?
We released our debut single In My Head in October and we hope to have a lot more music out later in 2019. We are nearly finished building our home studio, which we plan to use to record and film ourselves for weekly videos and to record other musicians in Nashville.
From the artists bio: Kaiti Jones has been making her home in the Boston folk scene since 2010. A native of Portland, Maine, she spent four years in Nashville, where she formed her sound in the backyard of Bob Dylan’s folk ballads and Flannery O’Connor’s southern gothic storytelling, before returning to her northern roots. Jones has three studio releases: Arise Child EP (2009), Growing Things EP (2013), and VOWS (2017).
Jones’ music is Americana soaked in melancholy, with the occasional foot stomper thrown in for good measure. Her voice is simultaneously earthy and ethereal, carrying the listener a few feet off the ground on a cloud of rich, sophisticated melodies while whispering truth and contemplating the human condition through good old-fashioned storytelling.
We asked Kaiti some questions about her songwriting process and what it means to be a NewSong finalist. To purchase tickets for the Dec. 15 event at Isis Music Hall, visit our ticketing page.
What is your songwriting process like, and where do you find inspiration?
I often feel as if I am at the mercy of my own songwriting process. I’ll be out somewhere — in the car, walking down the street, tackling a project at work — and a song will crash over me like a wave, often already in full form, strong, unmanageable, demanding to be written down. It’s often stories or experiences from years prior in my life that are suddenly resurfacing, now processed and safe to speak out. Other times, a song will come to me in the raw here and now of a still-lived experience. My muses include Flannery O’Connor, Wendell Berry, Madeleine L’Engle and Bob Dylan. All approach storytelling with mastery, gravity, and wonder, and have each unraveled me with the haunting, unmatched quality of their words.
What does it mean to you to be selected as a NewSong finalist, and what do you hope to get out of the experience?
It’s a great honor to be selected as a NewSong finalist and to be recognized alongside high caliber writers and performers. I consider it a privilege to be given any opportunity to share my stories with others, and I look forward to connecting with and becoming part of the NewSong community of artists and industry folks.
What important news about your music do you have coming up?
It is now one year since my album VOWS came out. These days, I’m focusing on continuing to perform as much as possible, as well as writing new material and preparing for a new recording project in the coming year.
(From the artist’s bio): Boston-based singer/songwriter Liz Frame has been performing her own brand of Americana music since her early teens. She is backed live by her band, the Kickers — John Webb on lead guitars, Sean Hennessy on bass and Pete Whitehead on drums — a group of talented friends whose raw sound and sweet harmonies help to deliver her material with distinction. A prodigious writer, Ms. Frame released her first full-length recording, “Sooner,” in 2011 that drew strong praise and consistent airplay, followed by the EP, Justine. She and the band have spent the last five years on the road and are out there again this year, in support of their brand new full-length record, Sparrow in a Shoebox.
Her voice bears likeness to Patsy Cline and Linda Ronstadt, and her writing is influenced by veterans like Dolly Parton and Lucinda Williams, among others.
We asked Liz some questions about her songwriting process and what it means to be a NewSong finalist. To purchase tickets for the Dec. 15 event at Isis Music Hall, visit our ticketing page.
What does it mean to you to be selected as a NewSong finalist, and what do you hope to get out of the experience?
Being chosen as a finalist is such an honor! It means I get to meet other like-minded artists who take the craft of songwriting as seriously as I do. And it validates my own efforts, which is always nice. So many of us practice our craft in complete anonymity, so to be recognized like this is very special and much appreciated!
What is your songwriting process like?
I make time to write whenever I can, and go into my living room to do so. I sit with my guitar, and I just start strumming. Sometimes I work with a preexisting idea, sometimes not. Oftentimes I’ll have a word or two to work with, usually the title of the song, that gets me going. That was the case with “Sparrow in a Shoebox.” I started with the word “shoebox” and went from there! Songwriting is such a mysterious and satisfying process. I love it!
What important news about your music do you have coming up?
We are busy promoting our new album, Sparrow in a Shoebox, and that it’s getting airplay around the country!
We love to keep up with our past NewSong Music Contest finalists and winners, and, over the years, we have amassed a busy and hardworking group of musicians we admire.
NewSong songwriters live and perform across the continent and beyond, their work spans multiple genres, and these artists are always putting out new material. To keep track of all their news and upcoming shows, we will be highlighting NewSong artists in our weekly roundup.
We’ve put together a list of five shows, publications and recordings we think you should be paying attention to this week.
We are very excited to announce the NewSong Music Songwriting & Performance Competition will be held at Isis Music Hall in Asheville, NC on Dec. 15. Finalists have been announced, and the full list can be found on our blog. Purchase tickets here.
1. Meet our 2018 NEwSong competition Finalists (and judges!) on the blog
Keep an eye out this week as we introduce our 2018 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition finalists and judges. We’re sharing videos, artist links and interviews with the artists who will compete at Isis Music Hall on Dec. 15! So far, we have introduced Nashville-based songwriter Suzie Brown and Asheville, NC-based artist Carly Taich.
Brown speaks to the challenges of balancing her songwriting career with the demands of motherhood and her career as a physician. Taich discusses her songwriting process: “When I’m writing, I often feel like two parts of my brain are fighting. One part wants to solve the song like a puzzle, while the other part wants to be totally abstract. I’m just standing in the middle trying to get them to compromise.”
2. Rachael Kilgour’s “holy We are” featured in Rolling Stone’s “10 best country and Americana songs of the week”
Congratulations to Rachael Kilgour, whose new single, “Holy Are We,” from her forthcoming NewSong Recordings release, Game Changer, (avail Feb 1) is one of this week’s Top 10 Country and Americana Songs in Rolling Stone.
From Rolling Stone: “‘If my greatest sin is to love her well, you can send me to hell,’ Rachel Kilgour sings, turning this acoustic ballad into a stunning defense of same-sex love. A light string arrangement swoons lovingly in the background, but Kilgour’s unapologetic lyrics are the real treat here, taking an unapologetically personal look at the ways in which ignorant outsiders can mistake something sacred for blasphemy.”
3. ListeN: 2018 NewSong Music Competition Finalists Playlist
We’ve created Spotify and YouTube playlists featuring this year’s lineup of NewSong finalists, and these artists are well worth a listen. Follow the playlist on Spotify here, and watch our YouTube playlist here.
4. 2018 NewSong Competition Finalist Suzie Brown featured in Harvard Magazine
2018 NewSong finalist Suzie Brown was recently featured in Harvard Magazine in an article titled, “Vocals, Guitar, and Stethoscope: Suzie Brown, M.D., writes prescriptions—and love songs.” The article explores Brown’s journey to balance her two careers as a cardiologist and a musician.
From Harvard Magazine: “For more than a decade she committed herself to becoming a top research cardiologist. Then, in 2009, just as she was about to complete a grant proposal that would have funded her work into her forties, she decided she couldn’t ignore her musical desires any longer. She abandoned the grant for a part-time clinical job, treating patients with heart failure, and devoted the rest of her time to making and promoting her music. She says the decision felt reckless at first: “I think I was afraid to admit to myself that I didn’t want a high-powered academic career…even if I could have had it.”
5. NewSong Music Finals to take place in asheville, NC, dec. 15
Thank you to all who submitted their songs to this year’s NewSong Music Performance and Songwriting Competition this year. The exciting process of selecting eight finalists is underway. Stay tuned for the results, coming soon! This year, the finals competition will be held December 15 in beautiful Asheville, NC at Isis Music Hall. Purchase tickets here.
(From the artist’s bio): North Carolina-based musician, Carly Taich, is tough to pin down. Just when you think you’ve got her figured out, she takes off in a new direction with her hand out-stretched, waving for you to follow. She may be quick but she’d never leave you behind. This patient yet resolute nature has been revealed, like most innovative things, to be a strength for the seraphic songwriter. She holds a magnifying glass to her own soul before turning it on others. She has an unexpected, laissez-faire way of tackling the human experience, then holding it with humor and grace as if to always be secretly saying to her audience, “You are not alone.”
Inspired by alternative-pop egos from the Andrew Sisters to Andrew Bird, Taich has coined her music “fearless folk-pop” to no one’s opposition. Since planting herself in Asheville three short years ago, she has won multiple songwriting awards and in 2018 performed in some of the area’s favorite music festivals and one of the nation’s biggest and best, Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Her recent album, Reverie, was regarded by Blurt Magazine as “a start-to-finish, no-filler/all-killer gem—a veritable calling card to greatness if enough ears find it.”
We asked Carly some questions about her songwriting process and what it means to be a NewSong finalist. To purchase tickets for the Dec. 15 event at Isis Music Hall, visit our ticketing page.
What is your songwriting process like?
My process is always changing and is hard to nail down. When I’m writing, I often feel like two parts of my brain are fighting. One part wants to solve the song like a puzzle, while the other part wants to be totally abstract. I’m just standing in the middle trying to get them to compromise. Lately I’ve been inspired by some good advice to keep working that muscle and write every single day. My number one priority is to always have fun doing it.
What does it mean to you to be selected as a NewSong finalist, and what do you hope to get out of the experience?
It’s an honor. I hope to be inspired by all the talent and make some lasting connections with the other songwriters.
What important news about your music do you have coming up?
I have two new singles I am very excited to release. Release date TBA!
NewSong finalist Suzie Brown is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter, who is also an Advanced Heart Failure/Heart Transplant cardiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. After years of working hard for success in the medical field, Brown discovered a relentless pull towards music that has now yielded five albums, a succession of songwriting awards, featured placement of her music at retailers like Starbucks and the Gap, and invitations to TEDMED and other conferences around the country to speak about finding a vulnerability through music that makes her a better doctor.
Her latest album, Sometimes Your Dreams Find You, was born in that space of uncertain transition followed by confident calm–she no longer feels the need to choose one part of herself over another. “For the first time in my life, I don’t feel like I’m working towards something else,” she says. “When someone asks me what I want to do in five years, I kind of just want to keep doing this.”
We asked Suzie some questions about her songwriting process and what it means to be a NewSong finalist. To purchase tickets for the Dec. 15 event at Isis Music Hall, visit our ticketing page.
What does it mean to you to be selected as a NewSong finalist, and what do you hope to gain from the experience?
I took a pretty big step back from performing and music in general when my daughters were born a few years ago. I don’t regret that for a minute — they’re only young and snuggly for a short time and I didn’t want to miss it. I wanted to be around as much as possible when they needed me most. And I’ve been so damn tired. Over the last year or so, I’ve felt myself slowly emerging from the sleep-deprived fog. I’ve been writing more (actually writing a ton). Playing more. I went back in the studio for three glorious days and recorded my sixth studio album.
It was some of the songs from this album that I submitted to the NewSong contest. I had to dig deeper than ever to write these songs; they are some of the most meaningful I’ve ever written, so it means so much that they resonated with the judges. I am looking forward to making new connections with new artists, planning new collaborations and having FUN.
What is your songwriting process like?
Song ideas are everywhere! The best ones for me pop up in every day life — while driving to work, running, putting my kids to bed — and I tend to jot them down in my phone. When I have a moment with my guitar, I start strumming and put the idea to music, and let the rest of the song evolve. I’ve been doing a lot more co-writing since moving to Nashville as well. It used to terrify me, but I’ve come to love it. Songwriting muses include Ron Sexsmith, Patty Griffin, Kacey Musgraves, Sarah Siskind, and Jason Isbell.
NEWSONG MUSIC TO BRING ITS 17TH ANNUAL, INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE & SONGWRITING COMPETITION FINALS TO ASHEVILLE THIS DECEMBER
EIGHT EMERGING ARTISTS FROM ACROSS NORTH AMERICA TO SHOWCASE & COMPETE
GRAND PRIZE WINNER RECEIVES AN EP RECORDING PROJECT AT ECHO MOUNTAIN RECORDING STUDIOS, RELEASED ON THE NEWSONG RECORDINGS LABEL
COMPETITION HELD AT ISIS MUSIC HALL IN ASHEVILLE, NC, SATURDAY, DEC. 15
November 16, 2018 (Asheville, NC) – For the first time in its seventeen year history, the live performance finals of the NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition will be held this December in Asheville, where NewSong Music has been headquartered since 2012. The move marks a new direction for the program, relocating from its longstanding host venue, New York City’s venerable Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
“We’re delighted to bring the competition finals to Asheville for the first time this year,” says NewSong co-founder and director Gar Ragland, a North Carolina native (Winston-Salem) who relocated the organization to Asheville from New York City just over six years ago. “The NewSong Competition attracts and features exceptionally talented emerging artists from across the continent, and bringing the program here to Asheville where we’re based is long overdue.”
Eight finalists – selected from advance online submissions from across North America and beyond – will come to Asheville to perform, compete and network with one another in the live showcase and competition finals at Isis Music Hall in Asheville on December 15. “Isis Music Hall is the perfect venue for this event,” states Ragland. It’s one of the best sounding listening rooms in the southeast, and the intimacy of the space is very well suited to the music we’ll be presenting.”
A panel of national music industry judges will select the overall winner of the competition. This year’s grand prize winner will receive a fully funded six-song EP, recorded and mixed at Asheville own Echo Mountain Recording Studios and released on the NewSong Recordings label. The grand prize winner will also receive a performance showcase at the esteemed 2019 ASCAP Music Café at the Sundance Film Festival (January 24 – February 3, 2019) in Park City, Utah and a featured performance in the 2019 Arts Brookfield ‘Summer Plaza’ series in New York City. All finalists will receive a Shure MOTIV microphone, and will be strongly considered for future ‘NewSong Presents’ paid performances across the United States.
NewSong Music is an independent music organization that aims to build a supportive community of performers and songwriters across various genres of music and skill levels, while identifying truly exceptional artists and introducing their music to a broader international audience.
WHAT: NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition Finals
WHERE: Isis Music Hall // 743 Haywood Road, Asheville, NC
NewSong Music is an independent artist development company headquartered in Asheville, NC. NewSong’s mission is to build and support a community of performers and songwriters across all genres and levels of skill, and to identify the truly exceptional artists to introduce their music to a broader, international audience. Its programs include a boutique record label (NewSong Recordings), artist management services, concert production and the annual, international NewSong performance and songwriting competition. Its presenting partners include Arts Brookfield and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, the ASCAP Music Café at the Sundance Film Festival.
For more information about NewSong Recordings and the NewSong Music Competition, visit newsong-music.com/
We love to keep up with our past NewSong Music Contest finalists and winners, and, over the years, we have amassed a busy and hardworking group of musicians we admire.
NewSong songwriters live and perform across the continent and beyond, their work spans multiple genres, and these artists are always putting out new material. To keep track of all their news and upcoming shows, we will be highlighting NewSong artists in our weekly roundup.
We’ve put together a list of five shows, publications and recordings we think you should be paying attention to this week.
1. Ordinary Elephant – new album announced, kickstarter in progress
If they aren’t already, Ordinary Elephant should be in your music rotation. After being awarded the Folk Alliance International Artist of the Year award, the 2016 LEAF Contest finalists recently announced that they’re heading in to the studio with producer Neilson Hubbard to record their next album.
Hubbard has produced albums by Mary Gauthier, Sam Baker, Glen Phillips, and Amy Speace. “After meeting with him,” says the band, “we’re confident that our visions are aligning, and that he’s going to help us serve these songs, giving them only what they are asking for. This means that overall this record will be fairly stripped down, highlighting the emotional intensity of our live performances.”
Pre-order your copy of the band’s new album and support the project via Kickstarter.
Listen to Ordinary Elephant’s latest on Spotify. Learn more about the duo on the band’s website.
2. Andy palmer – new music video For “The Switch”
Andy Palmer announced the release of a new video for his song “The Switch,” created by award winning digital, animation and claymation artist John Grigsby. The striking video has been accepted in film festivals across the country. In addition to the film release, Andy announced his indefinite hiatus from the music industry and invites fans to join him at his last show (for now) at the Walnut Room in Denver, CO on Oct. 20.
Andy Palmer and Brie Capone shared a bill at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in August 2017 as part of NewSong’s ‘Exploration of Song’ series there. Watch a video of Brie and Andy singing Andy’s song “Off” on YouTube.
Brie Capone is keeping busy this fall with a full lineup of shows. This week, you will find her at Isis Music Hall on Oct. 7th, performing songs from Carole King’s “Tapestry” album, with Asheville musician Jesse Barry and others.
Recorded and released in 1971, “Tapestry” is one of the best selling albums of all time. It received four Grammy Awards in 1972. With an all-star lineup of musicians including Peggy Ratusz, Kelly Jones, Aaron Price, Zack Page, Micah Thomas, Dean Mitchell, & Kate Kinney Barber, this is bound to be another night to remember.
Kelly English is a singer-songwriter from Hartford, Connecticut. A finalist in the 2015 NewSong Songwriting Contest, Kelly traveled to Asheville to compete at the LEAF Singer-Songwriter Competition. There, she found a home at Echo Mountain Recording Studios and partnered with Gar Ragland and NewSong Recordings to record and release “City Limits.” The debut album was released a year ago, in October 2017.
Kelly will return to Asheville later this month to record songs for her follow up album, and we can’t wait to hear what’s next from this talented artist.
Purchase “City Limits” on Bandcamp. Listen to Kelly’s music on Spotify.
5. SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN FOR 2018 NEWSONG MUSIC PERFORMANCE & SONGWRITING COMPETITION
Now in its 17th year, the NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition is one of North America’s premier showcases of emerging performers and songwriters across an array of genres. To learn more and submit, click here.
Finalists often tell us that one of the best perks about being a part of the NewSong Songwriting Competition is having the opportunity to meet likeminded songwriters. The spirit of the competition is far from cut-throat and often opens doors for collaborations and networking, which was certainly the case for songwriters and 2017 finalists Crys Matthews and David Robert King. The duo met at Echo Mountain Recording Studios in late July with NewSong founder Gar Ragland to record a new single, “Have Mercy.”
We took some time to talk to the artists about their songwriting processes and experiences with collaboration.
Q&A with Crys Matthews and David Robert King
NewSong:How did this song collaboration come about?
David: I woke up one morning with the first verse running through my head. I had been digesting the 24-hour news cycle for too many days in a row and was crushed. Specifically, by the separation of families along our southern border. This was different than my usual introspective and dark stuff, it had an inherent hope to it. I immediately thought of my immensely talented friend Crys, who I met through the NewSong community. I knew her voice and perspective would take the song where it needed to go.
Crys: David and I met during the NewSong finals back in November. I loved his style and especially his voice (it’s so reminiscent of Tom Waits) and his guitar playing is incredible. We kept in touch after that night at Lincoln Center in the hopes of getting to become better friends and share a show or two. He reached out to me not long after the family separation crisis started and sent a snippet of the song. We went back and forth — adding, subtracting, shaping, reshaping — until it felt like we had it right.
How would you describe the meaning and/or impetus behind “Have Mercy”?
Crys: My mom, who is a preacher, talks to me all the time about how hard she is praying for our country these days with all of the turmoil and despair that seems to be running rampant. The song to me just feels like that prayer, a sincere hope that we will get through this chapter the way we got through the 50s and 60s and 9/11 and countless wars and everything else that America has had to endure and overcome.
David: [The song expresses] my thoughts on what America can be if we turn on all the lights, expose the shadows, and put down our remote controls and iPhones and stand up together against injustice. We need to face our demons, current and past, and make things right. We need mercy
What has it been like to work together on this project?
David: Crys got it right away. We didn’t discuss the song or the message. I just sent her what I had (first verse and chorus) and she went to work. It usually takes me months or years to write a tune. Doing this with Crys, it took days.
Crys: It has been wonderful! It’s only my second co-write, and I’m so grateful to David for this chance to help bring some tenderness and beauty to people.
Stay tuned for “Have Mercy,” the new song from Crys Matthews and David Robery King. For more information on Crys Matthews, visit crysmatthews.com. For more information on David Robert King, visit davidrobertking.com.