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Honing Your Craft At Songwriting Camps

If you're a songwriter looking to take your skills to the next level and hone your craft collaborating with other like-minded creative people, then attending a songwriting camp might be the perfect thing for you. Camps offer writers the chance to work with hit songwriters, your peers, and renowned industry professionals, and offer mentoring and support to help you deliver your best work. In this session you'll find out about songwriting camps around the world for Americana writers, and how you can take part. 

Panelists:

Moderator: Dan Moore (BASCA)

Dan has over 20 years music industry experience. He began his career as A&R executive for Warner Music in the mid-nineties during the Britpop heyday where he spent his time scouring the country for new talent. He then worked for the American Society of Composer, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Having directly experienced the shift to a new digital business model within the music industry, he set up a marketing consultancy company to offer digital strategy services before setting up his own artist management company.   He has held the position of Head of Marketing and Membership at BASCA for the last 3 and a half years.  BASCA exists to celebrate, support and protect the professional interests of all writers of music. It celebrates excellence through world-class awards ceremonies – The Ivor Novello Awards, the British Composer Awards and the Gold Badge Awards and offers its members an array of benefits to help support their careers as music writers. From professional development seminars, industry training, critiques and masterclasses, joining BASCA provides the opportunity to be connected to the UK’s most talented and hardest working music creators.

Graham Weber (House of Songs TX/Artist)


Born and raised across the midwestern United States, Graham Weber has been a proud resident of Austin, Texas since 2004. He has released five solo studio albums and two live albums, toured the North America and Europe as a headliner, and has supported many of his songwriting heroes including Guy Clark, Slaid Cleaves, Todd Snider, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott,  Alejandro Escovado, and many more. In addition to performing as a solo troubadour, he is a member of critically acclaimed Americana Rock & Roll band, Western Youth. He also fronts his 3 piece jazz combo, crooning torch songs and forgotten selections from the American Songbook.  Weber began working with The House of Songs as a guest co-writer.  He now organises and facilitates THOS’ Songwriter Summit Camps, hosts and produces live events, and brings artists from around the world together to collaborate with regional artists in both Austin and Northwest Arkansas.  Weber considers his work with The House of Songs among the most rewarding achievements of his nearly twenty year career in the music business. 

Amy Speace (Songwriter/Artist)

Amy Speace is a Nashville-based singer and songwriter. She was discovered in 2005 by folk/pop icon Judy Collins and signed to Collins’ imprint, Wildflower Records.  Speace released 2 critically-acclaimed records on Wildflower, toured the world with Collins, who recorded her song “The Weight of the World” which was also named as the #4 Best Folk Song of the Decade by WFUV, New York City’s premiere AAA radio station.  Speace relocated from NYC to Nashville in 2009, signing to Thirty Tigers and releasing “Land Like A Bird” which marked the beginning of her long collaboration with songwriter/producer Neilson Hubbard. Hubbard produced Speace’s following trilogy, “Land Like A Bird” (2011), “How To Sleep In A Stormy Boat” (2013) and “That Kind Of Girl” (2015).  In 2015, Speace teamed up with Amber Rubarth and Emily Barker to record the eponymous “Applewood Road” (Gearbox Records) which received rave reviews in the UK press.  She wrote and recorded her upcoming 2019 release “Me and the Ghost of Charlemagne” around the birth of her son.  Along with her busy touring schedule, Speace teaches performance and songwriting at many US folk festival song schools and has taught Master Classes at The Berklee College of Music in Boston.  She also hosts frequent workshops and retreats for songwriters in Nashville. 

Chris Difford (Songwriter/Artist)


Chris Difford is a Grammy nominated and double Ivor Novello Award winning lyricist who has brought us characters and sketches from everyday life, and has successfully turned the mundane into the beautiful, the urbane into the exquisite, for over 40 years.  With his collaborator, Squeeze co-founder Glenn Tilbrook, Chris has written some of the most enduring and best-loved songs of our time such as 'Up The Junction', 'Cool For Cats' and 'Labelled With Love', ‘Tempted’ and many others. Squeeze returned with new album 'The Knowledge' in October 2017, followed by extensive world-wide touring into 2018.  Chris hosts songwriting retreats and has done so for over 25 years, some in Prisons, some in Rehabs, but mostly in Somerset with the Buddy Holly Foundation. He is one of the country’s most respected songwriters and has co-written with a host of musicians and performers that reads like a veritable who’s who of the industry.


Robert Vincent (Songwriter/Artist)


Robert Vincent is an award-winning singer/songwriter from Liverpool - having received the inaugural Emerging Artist Award from “Whispering” Bob Harris in 2016 and UK Americana Music Association’s UK Album of The Year in 2018. Vincent credits his story-telling style of songwriting to his upbringing – where his formative years were spent listening to his father’s record collection including Emmylou Harris, Charlie Rich and Waylon Jennings, plus his older brother’s introduction to Pink Floyd.  In 2013, he released his debut album, Life In Easy Steps - with the title track receiving national airplay from Janice Long and Radcliffe & Maconie – and he’s subsequently toured the UK supporting Paul Carrack, James Blunt, Squeeze and The Pretenders at Royal Albert Hall. Recorded in his hometown and mixed in Nashville by Grammy Award-winning producer Ray Kennedy, his second full-length release I’ll Make The Most of My Sins sees him sited by The Guardian as one the UK’s top Americana artists. Robert hit the road in Spring for Hearts of Glass Tour supporting Grammy nominated singer/songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman and closed the show in style with his performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test: For One Night Only on BBC4 – which resulted in his album soaring to #1 in iTunes Country chart toppling Chris Stapleton off the top spot. For his follow-up album (due Spring 2019) he’ll be working with legendary Brit Award-winning producer Ethan Johns

Roseanne Reid (Songwriter/Artist)

Roseanne is a 25 year old singer-songwriter from Edinburgh, Scotland, and has performed at various venues, sometimes acting as support for established artists - Tommy Reilly, Lucy Spraggan, Teddy Thompson, Otis Gibbs, Ricky Ross and Karima Francis to name a few. She was named as one of the four nominees for the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, and one of her songs was subsequently played on the Mark Radcliffe show. This also led to a live performance on Radio 2 on the Simon Mayo show.  In the summer of 2015, Roseanne was selected by Steve Earle for a Scholarship at his song writing camp in New York. He selected her for a Scholarship again in 2016 and 2017.  In late 2017, Roseanne announced the recording of a debut album. Funded through a Kickstarter campaign, recorded in Brooklyn, and with Teddy Thompson producing, the album is due for release early next year. The record will also feature a duet with Steve Earle himself. In April 2018, Roseanne was announced as the winner of the ‘Lyrics Only’ category in the prestigious International Songwriting Competition for her song ‘Amy’. Judges include the likes of Lorde and Tom Waits.  With a loyal following that continues to grow, 2019 looks to be an exciting year for Roseanne.  “An outstanding songwriter” – Steve Earle

Beth Nielsen Chapman (Songwriter/Artist)

If you are going to a Beth Nielsen Chapman concert get ready to laugh and cry and, well, just fasten your seat belt. One thing you can count on is one great song after another and some fascinating stories woven between them.  Twice Grammy-nominated Nashville based, Beth Nielsen Chapman has released thirteen solo albums and written seven #1 hits and songs recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Bette Midler, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Michael McDonald, Keb Mo’, Roberta Flack, Waylon Jennings, Indigo Girls, & Faith Hill’s Mega-hit This Kiss, ASCAP'S 1999 Song Of The Year. Her songs have been featured in film and TV and as an artist Beth’s work has been diverse, from singing in nine different languages on Prism (2007) to The Mighty Sky (2012) Grammy-nominated astronomy CD for kids of all ages in addition to her deeply moving body of work as a singer-songwriter throughout her other releases. 2014’s UnCovered in which she reclaims her hits, features legendary guests from Vince Gill to Duane Eddy. Sand & Water (1997), written in the wake of her husband’s death, was performed by Elton John to honour the memory of Princess Diana. In the fall of 2016, Beth, along with Olivia Newton-John & Amy Sky created and toured behind an inspiring project called Liv On - A New Album to Aid & Comfort Those Experiencing Grief & Loss While Using the Power of Music To Heal.   Recently inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, Beth is also a breast cancer survivor and environmentalist and considers herself a creativity midwife, passionate about inspiring others to fully blossom into their creative life.  Throughout her career, Beth has been in demand as a keynote speaker and teacher of workshops on creativity, songwriting, grief, and healing through art, using a unique inspiring approach to tapping into the creative process. She has also taught at Universities internationally including the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama, The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, and the Berklee School of Music among others.  Hearts Of Glass, Beth’s newest album, riveting and sparse, is a powerful collection of songs that reach into the place within us where vulnerability meets strength which is often where Beth’s songs will take you, right into the centre of the full beautiful dance of contradictions that inhabit love and life. 


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