Janis Ian: Breaking Silence
The sign that hung on the studio door simply read, "You have nothing left to lose." For Janis Ian, who was behind those doors recording her first album in twelve years, that was no catch phrase. It was a clear and concise statement of her life. Breaking Silence, her new album released on the Morgan Creek label, is dark and moody, filled with the kind of vivid images that pull the listener in close, and then hit them hard. A skill which Janis has whittled into a fine art. Born a second-generation American, Janis considers herself a true American success...
Shawn Colvin: Born to be Telling her Story
Shawn Colvin's right hand hits the strings on her Martin D-28 with a precise aim and rhythmic force that seems to cause every sinewy muscle in her forearm to vibrate in sympathy. With her head thrown back, eyes closed, and right foot tirelessly tapping out perfect time, the rhythm and mood of the moment seem to have taken over. Then she leans forward, leaves the melody behind, and carries the listener away with her on a vocal journey of unexpected highs and lows. Always personal and never predictable, Shawn has just welcomed you inside her world. Growing up in Carbondale,...
Hit Songwriter Steve Seskin Shares the Secrets of his Success
TAXI CEO and seminar moderator, Michael Laskow, introduces Steve Seskin at TAXI's convention, the Road Rally 2002: Steve Seskin is one of the most successful writers in Nashville today. The ironic part is that he doesn't live in Nashville. He's an A-list songwriter with a boat-load of songs recorded by people like Tim McGraw, Neil McCoy, John Michael Montgomery, Kenny Chesney, Colin Raye, Peter Frampton, Waylon Jennings, Alabama, Mark Wills, Peter Paul & Mary, and on, and on, and on. Some of Steve's other hits include "I Think About You," "Life's A Dance," "No Doubt About It," "You Got Love,"...
Sarah McLachlan’s Walden Pond
Thoreau once said that every writer's duty was to give "first and last, a simple and sincere account of their own life." More than his sage words reached 26-year old singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan. In preparing the songs for her latest release, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (Arista), the Canadian songstress, perhaps inspired by Thoreau's Walden experience, retreated to an isolated cabin in the mountains for nearly seven months of meditation and soul-searching. "It was just an amazing time for me," she relates. The results of her temporary sabbatical are intensely personal, emotionally rich, dark, moody, stirring songs like "Good Enough," "Plenty," "Possession,"...