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Your advice to aspiring songwriters

Author profile picture Christopher Crompton
i
Recipient profile picture Dolly Parton
i
2 August
Dear Dolly Parton,
I love your music and you are one of the most prolific, successful and influential country songwriters of all time. As an aspiring songwriter, I would very much like to ask your advice on getting started. I know the industry has changed immeasurably since you made your break over five decades ago, and the path to becoming a successful songwriter is certainly different for a newcomer today, but you have witnessed those changes as well as anyone and have also succeeded in keeping yourself relevant and acclaimed in spite of them, so I wonder if there is some insight you might be willing to share. I have several professionally produced studio demos of my country songs, but gone are the days when a songwriter can just send in a demo tape to a label or publisher and hope for the best: the great majority now refuse even to accept unsolicited demos. Attempts to knock on those doors have been met mostly with silence, although I received a reply from one publisher who said that now is the most difficult time ever to become established as a songwriter, with a tight group of established names dominating the industry. I believe in the power of persistence, but the journey so far has not exactly been heartening. It was not too surprising to be told that there is very little room for new blood in modern country music songwriting. Listening to the country charts over the past few years, the sound, style and production has seemed virtually ubiquitous, with few exceptions. Does America really want all its music to sound the same? Do people only want to dance to this over-polished disco of worn-out tropes? The thing that is so compelling in your music, the simple emotional honesty of the lyrics, sung with real feeling, now seems almost entirely lost. I’d love to see it return and to play my small part in that. I would greatly appreciate any advice you have on songwriting and on finding a way in as a songwriter in today’s tricky industry. Many thanks and best wishes,

Christopher Crompton

Author profile picture Christopher Crompton

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