You Sing I Write Adventures: Why I Love Taylor Swift, June Recap

Photo Credit: Wendy Hu

Last month, I posted my first "Day In the Life." A first person article about my music adventures, I received an overwhelming positive response and my poll of the week informed me that you, the readers, would like to read similar posts on a weekly basis. I'll try my very best to keep up-to-date!

June has been a whirlwind of CD release parties and concerts. Last week alone, I attended five shows in a row. An exciting first for me, I was introduced to quite a few new bands and genres of music.

Tuesday night I made it to the Studio at Webster Hall just in time to catch New York favorites, Lights Resolve. They debuted a few new tracks from their upcoming release to a packed crowd. Definitely a more aggressive feel than their previous material, between their gritty guitar riffs and unwavering energy, it is sure to be a success. You can download their latest EP for free here.

Wednesday night I covered Dion Roy's EP Release Party at the Living Room. Earlier that day he debuted at No. 16 on the singer-songwriter iTunes charts and throughout the week he charted to No. 8. Pretty impressive!

Being a Jersey girl, I've heard of the infamous Stone Pony in Asbury Park, but surprisingly never made it to a show there. This all changed when I saw Tor Miller Band open for Quincy Mumford Thursday. You may remember Tor Miller Band from my TWLOHA benefit concert back in December. I'm in disbelief that they're only in high school. Their song, "I'm Alright" is still stuck in my head. (Video below)



Friday and Saturday I covered shows for Hoboken Patch. Good Old War, Yukon Blonde and Audra Mae quickly became new favorites of mine. While waiting for Good Old War to take the stage at their sold-out show at Maxwell's Friday night, I learned that I was standing beside Circa Survive frontman Anthony Green. Pretty cool, no? You can read my full recap of the show here. Saturday night I witnessed my first heavy rock show when covering Chambers' record release. I've never seen fans jump on vocalists and guitarists before at a concert and it was an experience I will never forget. Read all about it here.

Earlier this month, after writing an article for Lemondrop, I learned it was featured on AOL's homepage. I received an overwhelming response (nearly 300 comments) and learned that my piece struck a chord with many readers. That's the main reason I decided to pursue journalism — to make an impact. Unfortunately, my family was less than pleased as they feel I portrayed them in a bad light. Read the article here and let me know what you think. If I at least made a few people smile and realize they're not alone, then I'm satisfied.

A journalist's job is not always an easy one, but at least I can live with knowing I was 100% "honest and unmerciful" (cue one of my favorite "Almost Famous" lines). This whole experience really made me curious as to how songwriters do it. Artists like Taylor Swift display their inner most thoughts and feelings for everyone to hear. Not to mention, name their ex-boyfriends! Don't they ever face resistance and shy away from it? I've always loved Taylor, but this month really put things into perspective.

Perhaps, subconsciously this is why one of my favorite questions to ask artists is if they're ever afraid to reveal too much in their songs. I asked Taylor Swift this very question last year at the CMA Music Festival and this is what she said:

"For me, writing a song, I sit down and the process doesn’t really involve me thinking about the demographic of people I’m trying to hit or who I want to be able to relate to the song or what genre of music it falls under. When I sit down and write a song the only person that I’m thinking about in that room is the person that I’m writing the song about and what I want them to know and what I wish I could tell them to their face, but I’m going to say it in a song instead. So, for me, music is really more about a diary and a confession. I love it. I love getting to say things to people that I wouldn’t say to them if I was standing face to face with them. Music is a way of verbalizing those things that I feel that I can’t say."

For Taylor's complete press room conference interview from the 2009 CMA Fest, click here.

Insightful answer, no? In fact, every time I've ever asked a singer-songwriter this question, they've pretty much said the same thing, adding that when they have held back in songwriting, they've regretted it. While I definitely still have a lot to learn, I think I'm on the right track.

 Updates from last month's post:

I FINALLY got to chat with Benny from Gaslight Anthem (photo above) and am working on setting up an interview with the band. You can read my review of their sold-out New York record release show on Venus Zine.

My Hanson interview was posted a few weeks ago on Lemondrop. Check it out here. I'd love to know your thoughts!