Brief notes on the great songcraft panel. Panelists included Pat DiNizio (The Smithereens), Amy Rigby, Caitlin Cary and Mike Daly (Whiskeytown), and one other guy I recognized but I didn’t jot down the name. I’ll look that up later. I took a heck of a lot of pictures but I forgot to bring the cord I need to download them off the camera. :/

Tips on overcoming writer’s block:

Daly: co-write. Find someone better than you.

DiNizio: hates co-writing. Pretend to write a song for another artist; what song would you write for _____? Perform instead of write for awhile. Best approach: “ass in chair.” Turn off TV, unplug phone, confront the problem.

Rigby: Find someone better than you and work with them.

Each panelist performed one song:

Rigby: “Summer of My Wasted Youth”
DiNizio: a nice song about his daughter, didn’t catch the title.
Cary: “Fireworks” a song about having deep religious/philosophical differences with someone you love. A real heartbreaker of a song.

Cary: “Put [your words] to a few chords and you’ll get to say the best stuff over and over again.”

Previously: Day Two: Notes from the Hilary Rosen Interview

Next: More SXSW Goodness, Day Two