MARC-ALAN BARNETTE- February 2005 letter

Experienced and talented singer, songwriter, teacher - Marc-Alan Barnette is at times a contradiction in terms. To hear his “knock you down at 40 miles” Ray Charles / Otis Redding-influenced voice hitting you like a sledgehammer, then deliver a Country Honky Tonker like “Too Much Blood In My Alcohol Level” or the Mississippi Delta blues style of “Reality Bites”… you would almost think it’s a misplaced stew.

     The songs have elements of humor that would tickle the funny bones of Robin Williams or Jim Carey. Those who attend one of his songwriter’s workshops or performance clinics, know they are in the presence of a true teacher with a deep desire to share what he knows with others, developing and nurturing the craft of songwriters and the art of performance.     He definitely redefines the saying “Those who can do, do. Those that can’t do, teach.” He does both extremely well!  

Q: You seem to have such a talent with songs and performance. Do you consider yourself an artist or a teacher?  

Marc-Alan: Both. If there was a label for over 40 geriatric gigolos, I’d be there full time! But there isn’t today and I’ve found there is a real hunger from people newer to the business to learn from my experiences. When you’ve had a lot of things happen and almost happen as I have, you learn a lot. 

Q: Can you share with us some of your experiences?

Marc-Alan: When I first moved to Nashville on April Fools day in 1988, people got interested quickly. I’ve been fortunate to have experienced some success by having cuts with artists like Shelby Lynne, John Berry and, most recently with “Too Much Blood In My Alcohol Level” featured on David Ball’s new Freewheeler CD. I’ve also opened concerts, performed on a couple of National TV shows, had a song on the Willie Nelson / Kris Kristofferson TV movie “Pair of Aces,” had a 5-year staff deal with Best Built Records and won a big National Battle of the Bands concert with a Rock Band called 24 Karat.  

Q: How did you learn the Nashville music industry?

Marc-Alan: Before moving to Nashville, I had been traveling back and forth about 6 months. Ron Muir, an old Nashville pro who had lived here for years, took me under his wings and taught me to write, produce and develop. He was huge in my development.

     Ron taught me Nashville. We recorded 10 songs and I started playing the Bluebird. So when I officially moved April 1, 1988…I was ready and knew just enough to be stupid! 

Q: So, how did you discover you have a talent for teaching?

Marc-Alan: Over the years, people would come in from out of town – a lot of NSAI people. I did a lot of NSAI events like Tin Pan South and other things.

     Then a couple out of Orange County California, Cliff and Bev Nelson, became great friends and kept asking me to come out to teach. At the same time, Gracie Hollembie And Burt Herbison at NSAI asked me about mentoring their groups. It all kind of came from that. Word of mouth spread and I’ve been teaching all over the country.  

Q: Why do people look to you for guidance?

Q: What is involved with your songwriter tours?

 In addition to teaching them things not to do - like germing, which is a huge problem - I analyze their songs and show them how to improve and even when to give up on some songs. I show finer points of performance to help them get better responses on writer’s and open mic nights. I introduce them to industry people they would not have had a chance to meet otherwise and teach important networking skills. One of the most valuable parts of the tours are the write-ups and co-writing sessions. Many people from out of town have never done this.  

Q: You mentioned “write-ups.” Would you explain what that is?

Marc-Alan: That is an interesting one. Write-ups are a paid, two hour songwriting lesson. While you should never pay anyone to write with you, the thing I do is much more than writing a song. I show, by example, methods of writing and processes I have learned from hit writers over the years.

     I show how to look at a subject several ways. I show character focus, melody building, dynamics, twist on the tale, phrasing, verb tense, even on the pre and post production. It’s just like guitar or piano lessons. This is focused Nashville 101. And it is in the time frame of 2 hours, which forces you to think fast. 

Q: Two hours is not a lot of time. Do you always get a full song?  

Marc-Alan: Most of the time. But even with the unfinished ones, I provide a map to help them finish the song. I give them ideas on scenarios, where to go with the story, etc. More time than not, we finish the song. That’s our goal.  

Q: Can you give us an example of the results of a write-up session?

Marc-Alan: There are many. But in a recent session one of the writers wanted to write a song called “Plan B.” It was about having a love screw up and having to go back to the drawing board. Now since you can’t copyright a title or idea, we could have written just that. But I have a friend, Keith Anderson, who has a deal coming out in the spring. Keith has a song called “Plan B,” which is really cool about the same subject. If we had written ours that way and started pitching it, we would run into “there’s already one out there” and that would be it.

     So, what we came up with is “so much for Plan A,” in which the character gets dumped by a girl when she goes back to her old boyfriend. In the second verse, her boyfriend gets arrested on television. So now the girl has to go back to the drawing board. Same idea…clever twist. 

Q: That is clever. So do the people taking the tour usually come armed with ideas before they arrive?

Marc-Alan: Typically. My job is to show them how to look at it differently and get them away from the average “you broke my heart apart and made me sad and blue” type thing.

     Sometimes it’s subject matter. Sometimes it’s interesting lines. Nashville is about saying the same thing you have heard a million times…only differently.  

Q: Do you have an example you can share?

Marc-Alan: Again, there are many. But one recent example comes to mind where a woman I wrote with had a song about a bar. The language was very average with “All the drunks come to have some fun”. We worked through it and came up with “If there’s a way that psychosis is spread by osmosis, then this bar is where it all begins.” You have different language which makes people get a little chuckle all through the song. 

Q: Do you provide the music as well as the lyrics?

Marc-Alan: Yes. Part of the fun is showing how to put different grooves, tempos, and feels on the song. For example, I’ll demonstrate one song in different ways – slow powerful ballad, mid-tempo, contemporary country or fast blues rocker – to name a few. It’s about options and aspects of phrasing and delivery which they hadn’t thought of before. The coolest thing is when they take the same principles into other songs they write. I love to watch people grow in their writing. 

Q: What happens to the songs after they are written?

Marc-Alan: I always try to do a guitar vocal demo so they leave with a CD of their work. Then I encourage them to gauge that song up against the other songs they write. If they want to go forward after that, I will put a session together in Nashville and do a full blown demo. 

Q. What happens if one of these songs becomes a hit?

Q: And they get to keep the publishing rights?

Marc-Alan: In the reality of today’s music business, most of the time the publishing is going to go to someone else. Say you want a Kenny Chesney cut? Well, Kenny has a publishing company…or a record company. Publishing percentages is what you use for negotiation until you earn some clout. My song plugger pitches the songs she feels have the best chance. If one of those songs that we write in the write up sessions fit the bill, she plugs it. She should get part of their publishing if it gets cut. It’s not required, just suggested. 

Q: At the end of the day, how many of the songs are really good?

Marc-Alan: All of them, of course! No really. When we complete a song, the comments are typically something like “That’s exactly what I was trying to say.” We all have feelings, hopes and dreams. It is my responsibility to help the writers get that out. And when you work with a writer trying to give a message to his or her dead father, a wife trying to deal with the loss of her husband, or a man dealing with a terminal illness, it’s a real job. Something I don’t take lightly.   

Q: Where do the songwriters come from?

Marc-Alan: From all over. Most are NSAI members or people who attend my workshops or do my tours. They come from all walks of life…a 7^th grade teacher from Green Bay Wisconsin, a former guitar player with Frank Zappa, a professional tennis teacher who hadn’t written in years.  A great variety of people who draw from their personal experiences. 

Q: What is the response from the music community?

Marc-Alan: Excellent! First of all, most of the songs are really good. We play them for publishers, group critics, etc. and almost always get great feedback. We always shoot for results. To date, we have 4 holds in Nashville, some independent cuts and one producer in LA using one in a play he is producing. There is a lot of activity.      An added benefit is it helps  the community’s tourism, recording studios, restaurants, bars, hotels, etc.  

Jay Verne at Jay’s Studio during a demo session on one of the tours in Nashville, Tennessee

Q: That all sounds very powerful and expensive. How does that work?

Marc-Alan: I’m very lucky. I get paid to do what I love and get to help a lot of people. When I moved to Nashville, I would have paid somebody $200 just to drive me around these crazy roads! But with me it is very much the teaching I enjoy most. I never want someone to say “I paid him money and I didn’t get anything out of it.” The pricing of the tours depends on the time and scope of what the songwriter wants. It’s customized and affordable. 

Q: Who pays for demos?

Marc-Alan: I wrote 133 songs last year, most of them through this process. We demoed about 55 of those at $500 a song. I can’t be financially liable for those songs, so that is an extra cost for the people who want to demo their songs. It’s a great thing to do when a song is ready. 

Q: How valuable is it for someone to do a demo?

Marc-Alan: I run almost all the songs by my song plugger and play many of them when I’m out performing. In fact, my new CD features 14 songs that I have written with NSAI members. These are all just ways to help get them out there.    We also include track mixes with no vocals, so if a karaoke singer is trying to make a run at Nashville, New York or LA, they have a song already recorded to sing to. It’s all just one form of pitch. Everything is a pitch.  So they get a cool song, professional feedback, possibility of pitching it, keep they’re publishing and have something to show themselves off with.   

Q: How valuable are writer’s nights?

Q: What advice do you give to writers and artists?  

Marc-Alan: Elevate people and make it better than before you were here. Get outside of yourself and help somebody else. Be a believer. A sense of community is everything. Once I started working to help others instead of poor, poor pitiful me, the more things came back to me. The better the songs got, the bigger NSAI groups got, the better our abilities to help writers worked. A rising tide lifts all boats. 

Q: Any other thoughts you’d like to share?

Marc-Alan: Yes. Since so much about cuts, publishers, pluggers, etc. are  out of your hands, all you can do is write the best song you can and try to be as clear as you can while doing it. Write a lot with a lot of people. Say what you want to say with clarity.

     And, if I could get more people to NSAI or other writer’s groups we could have a more effective political voice in Washington.

     If we put a face to songwriting, maybe there wouldn’t be as much downloading. If we could keep one more club from shutting down songwriter’s nights and going karaoke, we would be doing some good.

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