Photo: Emily Barnes | Drum Roll Please!! Announcing the winners of our Songwriting Contest! The Top 10 Songs are 1) (I’m Going to Swim) The Muddy River – JD Droddy; 2 – tie) Hard Pass – Jason Abbott, and I Wonder What She Saw in Me – JD Droddy; tied for 3) Chocolate Flies – Toni Negus, Why Old Men Cry – Rabbi Joe Black; 4 way tie for 4th) Long Way Home – Mark Henry Ham and Robert Ham, How It’s Spent – Emily Barnes, What You Water Grows – Karen Current, and Tonight’s Love – Mike Abbass.
These songs, quite by coincidence, represent a wide variety of music genres – EDM, country, instrumental, religious, children’s, jazz, adult contemporary, pop, and rock. Ironic how that came about as there were no “categories,” the judges did not consult each other, and the songs were chosen because the judges felt that, after the songs were fully produced and finalized, would be something that the public would buy!
Honorable Mentions went to Down and I’ll Come Back To You – Rachel Van Slyke, Again – Kevin Krause, Just Love and No Worries – Kevin Ray (2 songs), Sign of the Cross – Kathleen Hancock Todd, Colorado – Scott Clay & Erlend Gunstveit, and Spin Her Around – Steve Weeks. And in alphabetical order as all scored 4.0 points: Dawn Over Denver – Mark Gillick; Strangers On A Train – Joy Iwancio; Dreams We Build – Christopher Ryan (a/ka/ Shadow Animal); The Calling and Unshaken – Miki Saito (2 songs), and Gitchy Gotchy Goomy Day – Kathaleen Hancock Todd.
Please note: Mr. Droddy also got very high scores for three of his other songs,“Kentucky Bluegrass Girl,” “Baby, Don’t Let the Grass Grow (Under Your Feet)” and “Black Rose”. This decision was awkward but we invoked a rule put in place when we were doing compilation CDs – no more than 2 songs for one writer could be on the CD or otherwise it became that writer’s CD! We hated to do this but we wanted to give other writers a chance. However, that being said, all of Mr. Droddy’s songs will be listed in the COMBO Spotify Playlist, a listing that will be given out to the professionals at the Durango Songwriters Expo in October, as well as being sent to local radio stations for their consideration. Mr. Droddy opted for the $100 Gift Certificate to Performance High!
While we don’t judge on the quality or production of the recording, we decided that the vocalist on “Diesel Fuel and Marlboro Reds,” written by Lisa Selle and Dana Jones, had the very best live-recording vocals – on key, good range, super good diction, and brilliant phrasing so we are awarding the Celebrity Sidekick/Local Sounds Online Entry to her and hope that she enters and wins the Celebrity Sidekick contest which is seeking a vocalist for various television and advertising slots!
We want to THANK all who entered! We so enjoyed the songs and many of them would only need a slight tweaking either in lyrics or with the melody to have scored higher.
Photo: Emily Barnes | https://www.emilybarnesmusic.com
