Part 1 – Nashville Bound In 1993, when we first began writing songs together, Jamey and I developed a routine. I had a regular day-shift job as a maintenance electrician that provided me with some time between breakdowns to write lyric ideas. Jamey was performing at local clubs in the evenings, so he had time during the day to work on creating melodies to match them. We'd get together on our off days and weekends to collaborate and evaluate what we'd come up with. When we had

Continuing from our last post, an initial spark of inspiration has led to words being put on paper, a story beginning to emerge, and another set of song lyrics coming to life. There is no guarantee that every spark will lead to a completed song. The time it takes to develop a first draft of lyrics can range from one day to thirty years—at least that has been our experience. Typically, though, if we haven't produced a rough draft within a couple of weeks, we feel we may be fo