HeyJaredSongTown on Songwriting | Mastering the Art of Great Songs
Clay Mills & Marty Dodson present SongTown on Songwriting — a celebration of great songs, real songwriters, and the craft that ties it all together.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 10
- Latest publication
- Sep 21, 2026
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- Jul 6, 2026
Latest episodes
How To Know When Your Song Is Finished? (Pro Songwriting Tips) (opens the original)
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Marty and Clay take on the question they get asked constantly: how do you know when a song is actually finished? They walk through five signals — The through line: you never have to do everything perfect, you just have to do enough things right. Write on.
Success, Failure and the Drive to Keep Writing Songs (opens the original)
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Marty and Clay walk through six things every songwriter hits on the way up — starting with the one nobody warns you about: a first taste of success can knock you sideways just as hard as a failure can. Along the way there's the guaranteed Carrie Underwood single that never came out, the week Marty spent looking up night law schools in Nashville, and Brett James quitting songwriting for med school right before 35 cuts landed in a single year. The through line is simple: go back home to why you st
Your Songwriting Could Be Growing 10x (5 Toxic Amateur Mistakes) (opens the original)
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Marty and Clay count down five toxic habits that quietly stall a songwriter's growth — including a couple they were guilty of themselves early on. There's a Nile Rodgers story in here that changed how he heard music for good, and a song that sat 15 years before it got cut. Write on.
What Most Songwriters Get Wrong About Writing Every Day (opens the original)
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A comment on the "10,000 songs" episode claimed nobody songwriting at that volume could possibly write anything good — so Marty and Clay take it head on. They make the case for volume as a songwriting craft habit: it forces you past your three obvious ideas, it keeps your skills and creative flow sharp, and it gives you more shots when a real song pitch opportunity shows up. Then they give the counterweight, from Leonard Cohen's 80-plus verses to seasons where stepping away is the right call. Th
Are You A Good Songwriter? (opens the original)
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Marty and Clay take on the question they get asked more than any other in SongTown: "Am I a good songwriter?" They walk through the Dunning-Kruger arc every writer goes through — the early overconfidence, the crash, and the long climb — then lay out five real ways to gauge where your craft actually is, from listening widely to reading a live room to finding a mentor. The punchline: "good enough" is the wrong question. "Am I willing to work hard enough to get good?" is the right one. Write on.
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