Date:  14 May, 2013
Location: The Well (Pineville, NC)
Time: 7-10 pm
Coordinators:  Fiona McAllister,  Bobby Davis

Attendance:  13 members and 2 non-members.

Minutes:  Another great meeting in the books!  We started a few minutes later than normal as many of our members got caught in construction traffic on I-485.  Becky started us out with announcements: She thanked Susan for again volunteering her time and efforts.  Then she covered a couple of key dates forthcoming…NSAI Advanced Song Camp (June 21-23).  Registration is by acceptance.  You register on-line at the NSAI Nashville, TN website and send in several songs for them to review.  Seating is very limited…so NSAI reserves the right of selection.  Her and Fiona attended several years back and it was well worth it.  Also…Song Camp is July 25/26 and open to anyone.  Becky provided brief bio information about some of the NSAI participating instructors in this years Song Camp. Check out the NSAI website for all the details.   She reminded everyone about Byron Hill at the Muse on Aug. 22nd.  Byron has graciously provided an opportunity for one or several Charlotte NSAI Chapter members to perform on stage with him and Will Nance.   We had several folks volunteer.  More as we get closer.  Becky covered our CD project and reiterated the 1 Sept. submission date with an Nov. completion date.   You can submit up to three songs, but only one will be chosen for the CD.  We want to maximize our local talent as much as possible…12 songs-12 different artist.  More on the selection process as we figure it out.  I explained that this is not an NSAI sponsor event, and Fiona added that we will give them a shout out in some form.  Submissions come to me via email (BDAEX@AOL.COM) and must be CD ready.  Karen asked if they needed to be full production demo’s.  Answer: No.  There are several studio’s locally that are available locally to help out if so desired.  We will strategically place full production songs with those that are not… to maximize the artist and the songs.  Steve and Mark reminded us this weekend on Sunday, May19th is the “Lilly Festival” in Rock Hill, SC. Several of our members will be performing. It’s a great event…so get out and check it out.  Steve updated us on his new CD.  The music parts are all done and he is just waiting on the art work to finish.  He briefly covered the whole process done in Nashville and it sounded really exciting.  He brought the CD with him (minus the artwork) and promised to play us a song from it later in the night.  Karen made mention of my recent mention as “One to Watch” on the NSAI Nashville website.  Fiona advised that her and Jason (her husband) will be doing their Annual Pig roast at their home on Lake Norman in early June.  They exact dates were undecided as of just yet, but she would let us know.  All we have to do is bring ourselves and a side dish.  Should be a great time! So..let’s all go the Fiona’s and Pig out!!!  Additionally, she announced that Doak Walker had helped her get bracelet tickets and she and her daughter will be attending the CMT’s this year (June 5/6).  How cool is that!  She also extended an offer to anyone that would like to attend.  Now that’s a coordinator!!!  Thanks Fiona…your a great mom and friend.  Whew…not sure how I remembered all that.

Meeting Lesson:  Fiona covered this months lesson on “Hooks”.  We had some great discussion and examples.  Fiona even made us come up with a hook off the top of our heads and sing a melody with it.  It was fun!

Song Critiques:  We had seven folks play songs for the night.  Some great work out their…a shout out to Seth and Teal who attended our meeting for the first time and performed.  Finally, Steve played track #9 from his new CD.  Don’t want to give anything away!  All I can say is wow…put me down for one.  Great Job!!!

Closing Comments:  We ran a little long tonight and had some great feedback.  I would like to add comments on the critique session.  In the future…we will ask what your expectations are for the song…i.e. commercial, personal, etc.  This way we can tailor our comments toward your specific goal and it will speed up the process.  Well that’s it…hopefully I didn’t forget anything. See ya next month.  Bobby, Becky, and Fiona.

Bobby

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Video produced by Becky Armstrong Helms

Time: 7-9:30 pm

Date: 9 April 2013

Skype session with Jason Wyatt, lead singer for the Lost Trailers. Everyone was all ears!

It was another great NSAI meeting at the “Well”. Becky opened up the meeting with current announcements. She thanked Susan McSwiney for her continued support and for keeping the coffee flowing. Also, thanked Scott Gregory for his continued efforts in keeping our NSAI Facebook page up to speed. Thank you both…words could never express our appreciation! Becky reminded everyone about Byron Hill’s open invitation for the muse in August, Song Camp in July, and this weekends Bluegrass Festival in Oakborro, NC (April 11, 12, 13). Then Steve Simpson gave us an update on his new CD. It’s gonna have 15 new songs and is currently being mixed in Nashville. Even the backup singer portions are being done in Nashville. Steve, I’m sure I speak for everyone…we are equally excited waiting for it! Myself and Fiona then gave a re-cap of our experience’s at Tin Pan South, coordinator training and Spring training. I think the bottom line for both of us….it’s was an incredible experience that everyone needs to do!!! So start saving your pennies for next year. Our special surprise of the night was a Skype session with Jason Wyatt, the lead singer for the Lost Trailers. Jason provided insights as to what he see’s currently going on in Nashville in respects to songwriting. Additionally, he fielded quite a few questions from our members. I think the biggest tip he offered was “Vanilla”. He said if your writing vanilla songs…your not going to get cuts. Producers are looking for something different! We thanked Jason for taking time away from his family to come chat with us. Jason’s web sight is: JasonWyattmusic.com. We closed out the night with eight new songs demo’s from our members. Some really good songs and critiques! We ran about 10 minutes past 9:30…but when your with friends…what’s 10 . Thanks again everyone…see ya in May. Bobby

PJ and Bobby

Susan McSwiney

Karen and Fiona

Bobby, Bruce and Fiona

Ken and Stan

Bobby

March  Wrap-Up

Hello NSAIrians and thanks for another great meeting.  Here’s a quick recap!

Opening….Becky covered all the upcoming events and what’s new on our web page (go check it out) and covered our new meeting timelines.  Basically, Well doors open at 6:30 pm and we will do our meet and greet from 6:45 til 7.  So come early if you can. Announcements from 7-7:15.  Monthly lesson til 8 and after a short break…song critiques til we end a 9:30.  Becky also gave a shout-out to Scott Gregory for setting up our Facebook page and Susan for her efforts month after month.  And lets not forget …Becky does a great job keeping our web page up to date.  Thank you!

Up-Coming NSAI Events:  Tin Pan South (April 2-6)  and Spring Training ( April 5/6)

The BIG announcement was the CD we are going to do as a project for this year.  You can submit up to three songs.  Everyone will compete for 12 slots!  We haven’t got the selection criteria all ironed out…but were working on them.  Each artist can only occupy one slot…so don’t expect to get more than one song on the CD.  We want to showcase as much and as many of our talented Charlotte membership as possible.  And wow do we really have some talented folks!!!  Entries must be MP3 format and are due to me by 1 Sept. You can email them to me at  BDAEX@AOL.COM.  I’ll hold them until we determine the selection process. We hope to have everything done by Nov….so you can give them out as Christmas time.

Monthly Lesson:  Song Rules  (Fiona let me have the helm for practice….I kind of stumbled and bumbled my way through it…but I’m hoping I get better. I’ll never be as eloquent as Fiona but hopefully everyone takes mercy on me for a little while.  Thanks everyone for your support and thanks to Fiona for giving me the opportunity!  Fiona…I promise I won’t quit my day job! LOL

P.S.  Please let Fiona know how Great of a job she did carrying the whole load.  There is a lot more work behind the scene’s that many of you are not aware of.  She is the Captain of our ship and steer’s us through the trouble waters.  Even Captains need some shore leave from time to time.  Thanks again Fiona.

SONG CRITIQUES:  We had 9 folks preview their current projects.  WOW! WOW! WOW!
Do we ever have some talent! (Ken could you sing that Chorus one more time!!) Great feedback from and foreveryone.

Next Meeting: April 9th..

Thanks,

Bobby Davis