Songwriters’ News – Volume VI, Issue 5
Meeting Dates
By Mike Rudquist
Note: Please Note: Going forward, all online Zoom events will use the same Zoom link. Here is a member-only link to our "Member Event Access" page which has the Zoom link:
https://mnsongwriters.org/activities/member-event-access/
Also Note: All monthly MAS online meetings will be held within the same time frame of 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. (This does not include the Minnesota Homebrew Radio Show. See the event listing below for times.)
Monthly Mixer with Doug Millaway
Wednesday, May 6, 6:30 – 8:30
This meeting allows for all types of topics to be explored and discussed as it relates to songwriting – the writing process, production, inspiration, the music business – all topics related to the craft, production and business of songwriting. This is a moderated open discussion, and participants are encouraged to share their personal experiences and expertise.
Online Round Robin Song Share with Paul Nye
Wednesday, May 13 6:30 – 8:30 pm
This is a laid-back, come as you are type get together with fellow songwriters to share your songs in a take turns fashion either performing live via zoom or with a recorded version of your songs. Just for fun and just to get together and play. Even if you want to just join in to listen, this is the place for you!
Minnesota Homebrew Radio Show with Carl Unbehaun
Thursdays all month – May 7, 14, 21, 28
Every Thursday evening from 6 to 7 pm, fellow MAS member and radio DJ Carl Unbehaun offers music written and/or performed by Minnesota musicians on his Minnesota Homebrew Radio Show. Radio station KSRQ in Thief River Falls (90.1 FM) streams Carl’s show via the Internet. On the FIRST Thursday of the month, Carl dedicates his entire show to music written by members of the Minnesota Association of Songwriters!
To submit your songs to Carl’s MAS-dedicated show or to have it played on any Thursday night, contact Carl at minnesotahomebrew@gmail.com.
To listen to Minnesota Homebrew on your devices, click here: https://mnsongwriters.org/activities/radio-airplay/.
Monthly Online Song Review Session Hosted by Doug Millaway
Wednesday, May 20 – 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
This is our general information and song review meeting. You are welcome to play an original song in any phase of its development or completion for purposes of potentially improving it based on feedback received.
Please refrain from submitting songs you do not intend to change from feedback given. You’re welcome to share those in our Round Robin Song session above. Our review sessions are one of the best opportunities to help you learn and improve your craft. Giving feedback on other writers’ songs, and listening to others doing the same, is a great teaching tool.
You may submit your song’s audio and-or lyrics only for review up to the time of the review session. Please note, we are limited in the songs we can fit in, so you’ll want to watch for the email announcement to submit them and get it in early. Please do not submit songs prior to the announcement to avoid missing out.
We will play an MP3 of your song directly in the room. While MP3s played digitally in the room are generally easier for people to hear, they are not required for feedback. We’ll also accept lyrics only.
Find more detail, go to our Song Review Meeting page on our website: https://mnsongwriters.org/activities/meetings.
You can check out all MAS events on our website calendar.
Live Events
In Person Workshop with Rachel Dunlap
Rachel Dunlap’s next live workshop will be on Saturday, July 25.
President's Message
Your Voice Is Older Than You Think
By Paul Nye, MAS President
In a culture that often celebrates youth, speed, and whatever is trending this week, it’s easy for older songwriters to wonder if their best writing years are behind them. I’d argue the opposite. Your voice may be older than you think—and that can be one of your greatest strengths.
Younger writers often bring energy, urgency, experimentation, and a fresh lens on the world. Those are gifts. But time brings gifts too: depth, resilience, humor, heartbreak, gratitude, regret, perspective, and hard-earned truth. Life experience has a way of sanding off the unnecessary and revealing what matters most. That kind of wisdom can’t be rushed, downloaded, or faked.
When I look back at songs I wrote in my 20s, they were very different from what I write today. I suspect any songwriter who has stayed with this craft for decades would say the same. Our writing evolves because we evolve.
We gain not only skill, but perspective. We begin to understand not just how life feels in the moment, but what it means over time. That doesn’t make one season of writing better than another—it simply reflects growth.
I remember teaching a music class of high school students and giving them lyrics to three original songs to review. Two were what I would call accessible songs—clear in meaning and easy to interpret. The third I wrote deliberately vague, filled with phrases that sounded interesting and“smart,” but didn’t really say much of anything.
The class overwhelmingly chose the vague song as their favorite. I asked them why and what they connected with. I had given them only the lyrics, not the music, so they weren’t influenced by style, performance, or production. Their answers were thoughtful but unclear—more impressions than explanations. That experience stayed with me.
Perhaps it reflects a stage many songwriters pass through. Early on, mystery can feel deeper than meaning. Cleverness can feel profound. Suggestion can feel stronger than substance. Later, many writers begin to appreciate that clarity, emotional honesty, and lived truth often land with greater power.
Older writers also tend to care less about impressing people and more about saying something real. That can be a valuable shift. Authenticity
often connects more deeply than trendiness ever will.
So if you’ve wondered whether your best songs are behind you, think again. Maybe your most meaningful songs are still ahead. Your voice has been shaped by years, sharpened by experience, softened by grace, and strengthened by survival.
That doesn’t make it old.
That makes it rich.
— Paul
Editor’s Notes
By Mary Kealy-Falk
Happy May Everyone! We made it through another Minnesota winter and the shovels and snow blowers are back in the garage. But now comes the season of rakes and stakes to get those lawns spiffed up and looking lush and green and summer garden gear to get those annuals planted for the upcoming warmer days.
We have members contributing to “Putting it Out There” and “Kudos and Congrats” and “Have a Listen” to let us know what they’re doing with their songwriting passions. President Paul Nye muses about how our songwriting changes in many ways as we get older. Doug Millaway also has another great article on applying ethics to songwriting.
So enjoy the season, the nice weather and be sure to enjoy taking a look at the May MAS Newsletter!
Putting it Out There
Events and Happenings you are participating in or something you have accomplished and want everyone to know about.
Greg Connor
Are you looking for inspiration, maybe a song idea, or a reason to help someone less fortunate than you? Check out Sing Me A Story, Stories and Songs for Kids in Need. https://www.singmeastory.org/
Chucks Madhav
Where a story meets a song.
Dear Friends,
Longtime Sun contributor Doug Crandell was recently awarded a 2026 South Arts Fellowship to complete a collaborative book titled Palomino Coal: Story Songs.
The idea is simple: Doug is looking for songwriters who would like to exchange a song for a story. “I write a short story about one of your songs that has inspired and moved me,” he says, “and I send along a different story that, if you like, can be used to write a song. Kind of like a swap meet but with words, images, and lyricism.”
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Music Health Alliance and MusiCares, two charities that help pay health care costs for professional musicians. Doug also plans to hold promotional events with Musicians on Call, which brings music to the bedsides of patients, families, and caregivers.
For more information on this project, go to Palomino Coal: Story Songs or palominocoal.net
Have a Listen
MAS members who have a song they are proud of and want to share with others
Troy Bennet
I recently got this song professionally done and I am very proud of it
Don Strong Music
🎶 **CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS**
*VOICES OF CHANGE**
*A Minnesota Protest Song Compilation*
Are you a Minnesota songwriter with something to say?
We’re seeking **original protest songs** for a new compilation album featuring local voices.
✊ Themes include:
• Social justice
• Community & unity
• Inspired by the spirit of the 1960s
🎧 **Submission Requirements:**
• Professionally recorded original song (3–6 minutes)
• MP3 format
• Include artist name + contact info + lyric sheet
📅 **Deadline:** June 1st, 2026
📩 **Submit to:** songwritersctc@gmail.com
🎤 Selected artists will be featured on a
**professionally produced compilation release**
* live showcase event
“Music has always been a force for change. Add your voice.”
curated by Don Strong, producer
www.TheSongwritersCircle.org
www.MyDeliciousMedia.com
Kudos and Congrats
Laura Honken <lhonken25@gmail.com>
A song I co-wrote finished in the top 5 of the country category in the Great American Song Contest.
Doug Millaway
Applying Ethics To Songwriting
Most of the time, a song doesn’t start with some big, original idea. It starts with something you’ve played a hundred times. You sit down, your hands fall into a shape they already know, and there it is—same chords, same movement, something that feels familiar before you’ve even decided what to do with it. And there’s usually a moment where you think, “Well… this has been done.”
But that’s kind of the point.
Those familiar chords aren’t getting in your way—they’re giving you somewhere to stand. They let the listener settle in before you ask them to feel anything new. You’re not trying to reinvent the foundation. You’re deciding what to build on top of it. Take something like G–D–Em–C. You don’t really have to think about it—it just shows up. And because it’s so easy, it’s also easy to dismiss. It can feel like you’re not doing anything that hasn’t already been done a thousand times. But if you stay with it for a minute instead of moving on, something starts to shift. You play it once the way it usually goes, then again with just a little more space, or a slightly different entry point, and suddenly it feels less like a pattern and more like a moment. The chords didn’t change—but the way they landed did.
Then there’s the progression that starts on the minor chord—Em–C–G–D. That one always feels a little more personal right out of the gate. Like you’re stepping into the middle of a thought instead of introducing one. I’ve found that this kind of progression doesn’t need much from you. In fact, it usually works better when you don’t try to dress it up too much. A small shift—letting something pass instead of landing square on it or holding back just a beat longer—can change the entire feel. It’s subtle, but it’s the kind of subtlety people feel even if they can’t explain it.
And then you’ve got G–C–D. About as straightforward as it gets, and somehow still doing exactly what it’s supposed to do after all these years. That one has nowhere to hide. If it feels flat, it’s not because the chords are lacking—it’s because of how they’re being played. This is where everything else steps forward: the groove, the phrasing, the way you hit the strings, the space you leave between things. Two people can play those same three chords and end up in completely different places, and it has nothing to do with the progression itself.
At some point, you start to realize that everybody’s working with the same basic materials. Same chords. Same progressions. Same starting points. So, the difference isn’t in what you choose—it’s in how you handle it. Where you begin. What you repeat. What you let breathe. What you don’t touch at all.
The chords might be familiar. But that doesn’t mean the song has to be.
Doug Millaway
Mill Away Publishing
Blind Owl Studio
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