Versions make a difference, production makes a difference. My friend Marty Winsch manages Corey Smith, who wrote a great song about drugs. No, let me change that, he wrote an INCREDIBLE song about drugs. Hearing it live I was enraptured and converted. I told Marty they should switch singles, that this was the track. They […]

Ideas are important, but the key is execution. Read the Steve Jobs book. Sure, he got the idea for the Graphical User Interface from Xerox, but the Mac triumphed over the Star because of execution. The Mac was cheaper, with a more intuitive interface and a one button mouse. Apple won. Xerox was forgotten. Anybody […]

Our favorites are rarely the hits. I’ve burned out on country. Because it’s so formulaic. It’s like everybody in Nashville has to wear a cowboy hat and sing about God and family. You’d think everybody’s in church, never swears and has no pain that is not shared in a prayer circle. Once upon a time […]

I went to lunch with Jeff Gold. Starting out at Rhino Records, Jeff graduated to assisting Gil Friesen at A&M to replacing Jeff Ayeroff as head of creative services to ultimately replacing Jeff again at Warner Brothers. He had a Moon Man in his office, and an inkjet printer long before they became the standard, […]