Songwriters go online to craft the next big hit song remotely
NASHVILLE — During a recent songwriting session, singer-songwriters Sarah Loethen and Christoffer Wadensten pieced together the lyrics and melody of a song they were writing about the global pandemic.
Loethen played the first verse and Wadensten, who performs under the artist name Meadows, came up with a melody for the chorus on his acoustic guitar.
But as Wadensten started to play, he realized that Loethen couldn’t see his fingers playing the chords. His guitar had fallen below the frame of his video screen, so he raised his guitar and tried again. “Yes, that’s tasty!” Loethen responded after playing the melody herself many thousands of miles away.
This songwriting session spans two continents. Loethen lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas, while Wadensten is in Örebro, Sweden. But like many songwriters and artists confined to their homes during the pandemic, they are still collaborating with each other as technology allows.
Remote songwriting during the pandemic gives a creative outlet for many writers and performers who can’t tour or record right now, but still need to exercise their craft. Writers and artists are relying on technology to co-write and record songs remotely while many recording studios were shuttered because of the spread of the new coronavirus around the world. But many say cowriting songs online requires a learning curve that can be technically challenging and also difficult to do long term.
In Nashville, hit songwriters spend hours every day writing with each other, sometimes at a house, or a publisher’s office, or a recording studio. So when state and local officials started issuing stay at home orders, the writers moved online with Zoom or Skype to keep their musical ideas flowing.
“I actually love it, to be honest,” said Ross Copperman, a producer and writer in Nashville who has co-written 17 No. 1 country hits, including his latest “Nobody But You,” performed by Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani.
“I have found that it works really good if somebody has a studio that can make tracks,” said Copperman.
Country star Brad Paisley said he’s been experimenting with online co-writing for a while. He even co-wrote his 2007 song “Online” over Skype. He said he feel more dialed in when he’s online with a co-writer.
“You’re focused,” said Paisley from his home in Franklin, Tennessee, where he recently wrote online with Country Music Hall of Famer “Whisperin’” Bill Anderson. “In writers sessions, there’s so much that happens. There’s like small talk about family. You get distracted by a text.”
Paisley also said that having his own recording studio at home has helped him stay productive at home during the stay at home orders. He re-recorded parts of his latest single, “No I In Beer,” at his home.