The Tin Pan South Songwriter Festival isn’t your typical music festival, instead, it’s a festival that celebrates the writers of the songs we hear on the radio.
“If I didn’t get paid a penny to write songs, I would write songs. I could not, not write songs,” Lance Carpenter, Nashville songwriter, said.
Carpenter is credited with writing numerous songs that have been recorded by Nashville artists, including Kelsea Ballerini’s “Love Me Like You Mean It” which reached #1 on the charts.
“In the middle of just hanging out, this song kind of fell out of us,” Carpenter recalled of the writing session with three other songwriters, including Ballerini.
“It’s actually twice as likely to get struck by lightning and live than to write a number one song,” Carpenter said, adding that he feels extremely fortunate to have a song be so successful.
Tin Pan South is all about highlighting artists like Carpenter and the songs they’ve written.
“Tin Pan is the biggest songwriter festival in the world, and it really shines light on the birth of the song and the story behind the song,” Carpenter explained.
The festival is in it’s 25th year and spans over 5 days at venues all across the Nashville area.
This year’s festival featured 2017 ACM Songwriter of the Year nominees Lori McKenna and Luke Laird, as well as 2016 Songwriter of the Year winner Ross Copperman.
At the songwriter round Copperman played in at The Station Inn on Tuesday nightfeatured a surprise appearance by Keith Urban, who Copperman has written numerous songs for.
While popular artists will pop up from time to time at the rounds, the focus of the festival has always been on the writers of the songs that serve as the soundtrack of our lives.
“Songs make people cry, they make people laugh, they make people dance,” Carpenter explained.
In addition to the rounds that happen every night, NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International) hosts a songwriter “Spring Training” during Tin Pan South, giving songwriters and opportunity to learn from other songwriters, in hopes they can become the next big star, or write the next #1 hit.
Carpenter said he was one of the people sitting in the audience 5 years ago, and now he’s fortunate enough that he can help mentor new songwriters on their way to success.
For more information on Tin Pan South, you can visit their website (tinpansouth.com) or download their mobile app.
The festival is scheduled to end Saturday night.
