Redneck Island: Martha’s Vineyard Songwriting Festival
Source: ne-countrymusic.com
What do you get when a couple dozen musically-inclined, self-proclaimed rednecks take over one of America’s most prestigious destinations? That would be the Martha’s Vineyard Songwriting Festival. And for the fourth year, that is exactly what happened when a bunch of singers and songwriters from around the country took over the island city (and Boston) from September 16th-20th, 2015.
Country fans were able to get a real taste of Nashville on Wednesday, September 16th at Loretta’s Last Call. Behind The Curtain with The Nashville Hit Makers was the kickoff event to The Martha’s Vineyard Songwriting Festival, a weekend long event that recognizes the artists who help produce some of our favorite songs we hear on country radio. Wednesday night’s show featured songwriters Clay Mills, Jim McCormick, Danny Myrick, and Marty Dodson who shared the stories behind the songs they had a part in writing. The quartet offered more than story telling that night, they provided the bar with sing-a-longs and laughs, all from an insider’s point of view.
It was evident from the beginning of the set list that their southern upbringing was a big factor when it came to finding inspiration for the songs they helped create. The first song of the night, performed primarily by Danny Myrick, ‘I Love This Life’, was centered around a small town, country girls, Jesus and Friday night football. Myrick had some assistance in writing this song with country newcomer Chris Janson. The song is currently receiving country airplay now and reached No. 1 on Sirius XM’s The Highway this summer.
The songwriters not only had strong relationships with each other, but they also have strong relationships with the country artists they work with. The group asked the audience to join in in a big “Boston loves Darius Rucker” cheer that they recorded and sent to him via text message. After the video was recorded, the writers informed us that Darius is actually a Dolphins fan, and double checked with the crowd that we did want to send the clip. An impromptu version of ‘Hold My Hand’ was performed, followed by Rucker’s ‘History in the Making.’ It was Clay Mills who helped penned the song for Rucker and who performed it to the crowd.
The name dropping continued with the story and performance of Tim McGraw’s ‘Truck Yeah.’ Chris Janson and Danny Myrick were hunting one day, talking about their country roots and how proud people are of being from below the Mason-Dixon line. Janson went on to say jokingly, “screw you, I’m country,” followed by an expletive that rhymes with truck. The two knew country radio wouldn’t play the uncensored version, so they renamed the track ‘Truck Yeah’ and laughed about it thinking no one would cut it. Much to their surprise, it was McGraw who wanted to record the single.
Read more at ne-countrymusic.com
