Howdy from Nashville!

This has been an amazing past few days... We are not even half-way through our trip, and I have already met some of the most extraordinary professionals I have ever seen in my entire life. Many of the names are probably ones you've never heard before, but they are the ones behind the scenes that make the entire industry tick. Record label heads, songwriters, renound studio musicians, managers, and producers..... they are all offering some of the best advice I could have ever hoped for. Beth Nielsen Chapman is a songwriter who has written some of Faith Hill's number one hits such as, "This Kiss" and "Free." She gave a clinic yesterday on the process of songwriting. I've never heard it worded quite the way that she explained it. She described it to us by means of metaphors. For instance, the part of you that should be "driving the car" is what she calls the "creative spirit." The "brain" needs to have a strip of duct tape slapped across its mouth, and the "critic" should be locked in the trunk until your creative spirit has done its job. The "whiner" sits in the back seat, complaining that it's too tired to keep writing, and all it needs is a lollipop stuck in its mouth until the work is done.

Today, I had the chance to chat with a woman named, Gillian Welch - a new idol of mine. She is perhaps one of the most talented songwriters I have ever heard of. Pam Tillis..... David Rawlings.... There are so many names I could mention, but I won't do that for now. Last night, we got to go through the backstage of the Grand 'Ole Opry. Wow.

I'm realizing something as I'm going through all of these clinics: I WILL be able to balance my creative side with my business side. I asked the president of Sony Nashville, yesterday, whether he thought it was possible for someone with a passion in more than one area to pursue all of those interests. It was a relief for me when he said, "Absolutely." Both he and the head of Universal Music explained basically the same thing to me. I figure that I might as well find a way to incorporate my academic and intellectual yearnings with the desires of the dreaming artist inside of me. I know that I will strive to make a difference in the world. I know that I will be an activist for those whose voices are not as amplified as my own. I know that whatever I do, there will be an unmistakable passion that reigns over it - and that, I 've known for years.

More to come soon...

Musically,
~Brie~