For the past several years, I have had the honor of being the Grand Prize Judge of the Dallas Songwriters Association annual songwriting contest.  In my opinion, the DSA is the premier songwriting organization in the country.  Not only do they hold their grandaddy songwriting competition annually, they hold numerous other events monthly that are all focused on perfecting the craft of songwriting. In July alone, there are 7 events on their calendar including open mics, song swaps, a workshop, a showcase, a cultural exchange and they’ve just launched their annual contest. Congrats to Barbe McMillen and the entire group at the Dallas Songwriters Association as the organization is celebrating their 27th anniversary in 2014.

This year will be the 10th year I have been involved (I think it’s 10) in the Dallas Songwriters Association contest and some of the best independent songs I have ever heard came through this competition. As I was creating this blog, I was looking at the reviews from the previous years.  My guess  is that I have written about 100 or so reviews about the top songs. Kudos to the writers as I remember just about every song in the list.  Lots of good memorable stuff.

Below I have posted some of my favorites that I found links to on Broadjam.

Do You Believe by Jay + Tonic, Delete by Noel Cohen, No Hard Feelings by Shane Martin, Hell Freezes Over by Liz Miller & Tom Stipe, The Morning You by Andy Taylor, My Devil Does by Will Hopkins and Dig Into Reading by Randy Sauer.  These are just a few of the winners.

My favorite to date is still Here’s To Love, by the Michael George Band.  It’s a song about peace and done so tastefully with a deep baritone voice.  No matter what mood you’re in when you listen to this song, you will feel at peace by the end of it.  That’s the brilliance of it. This is also in my personal all time favorite playlist.

Here is the winners blog for further reading.

If you would like to read reviews of other songs, please visit Onliner Notes.  Lots of great songs and feedback is featured there.

If you are a songwriter, whether you live in Dallas or not, give the contest a shot. You can enter it here at Broadjam. If you live in Dallas, get involved with the Dallas Songwriters Association and you will become a better songwriter.

Press & educational links – Hangout June 6, 2014, “Blanket” Music Licensing, Industry Projections, Celebrating Sonic Foundry, A Music Platform, Project Famous – Great Photographer, Models of Opportunity: How Entrepreneurs Design Firms