Photo: Christopher Ryan | We know you’re just dying to know the outcome of COMBO’s 8th Annual Songwriting Contest. Our judges all agreed on the top two – who were separated by only 10th’s of a point! The top scoring song was “Who Took the Donuts Away” by Paul Iwancio and Greg Trafidlo. Yeah, we know. You’re thinking, “WT…H…”? But believe us, this song is GREAT! At first we thought, “Who in the world would buy this song?” But then ideas just started pouring through the judges’ heads by the bunches!
In second place was “A Little Bigger” by Christopher Ryan. Like “Who Took the Donuts Away,” “A Little Bigger” is extremely creative, hand-clapping, foot stomping, and just generally a very positive, upbeat song. Christopher’s production had him doing spoken word, singing, and rapping – one of the judges thought is was a little behind times but we can tell you that Nelly appeared that very evening on one of the night-time talk shows with a similar format!
Runners-up were (in no particular order) Karen Current / Slopeside – “Keep This Thing Alive”; Steve Son – “I Walk in Shadows”; Mike Abbass – “To Stone” and “The Star of Telluride” (2 songs of Mike’s scored high); Arjay Sharp – “Delusions”; and Michelle Roderick – “This Lonely Day”.
Remember: The judges were not given names of songwriters, performers, or the names of the songs. Judging was done only on the lyrics and the melody. While no judging was done on the “production”, i.e. full orchestra or just singer/guitarist, it helped to know in what tempo the song was envisioned or genre. While 8 songs seems short (more of an “EP” than a “compilation CD”), a natural break in the judging points occurred so we decided to draw the line there. There were a lot of really good songs entered this year and minor changes might have made them great songs. But the judges all agreed whole-heartedly on “Who Took the Donuts Away” and “A Little Bigger”!
We’ll be looking forward to passing our EP out at the Durango Songwriters Expo and sending them to local radio shows that are open to playing original songs! (After all, ALL songs are technically “original” songs – the only difference is in the production!
We want to thank COMBO Board member and sound engineer Clark Hagan who is mastering the EP for us. CODA, Inc., will be replicating the EP for distribution at the DSE and at our showcase which we hope to make “live action.” More details on that later.
http://www.coloradomusic.org
http://www.durango-songwriters-expo.com
http://www.CODA-inc.com
http://www.pauliwancio.com
Announcing! The Winners of COMBO’s 8th Annual Songwriting Contest!
