Wendell, North Carolina
54 Years Old
Singer-Songwriter, Vocalist, Lyricist

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"Yes, there's tomorrow, but I can't see that far from here"

BIOGRAPHY

Originally from Wilmington, NC, I've been writing songs and performing for over 30 years. After a busy 2-year run in the early '80s with the Stillwater Country Trio, and passing on a one song deal in Nashville in 1983 to raise a family, I took a telecom job in Raleigh, NC. Ever since, I have taught guitar, continued writing songs and played locally in the Raleigh and southeastern NC areas. Now, with the family grown and the support of my wife Lynn, I am starting to play more live shows, write more songs and am again pursuing that elusive publishing deal in Nashville. In the summer of 2007, I released "Carolina Backroads", a CD of 13 original songs on my own independent label "Shaky Legz Music". My song "Carolina Backroads" was recently re-released on the Quickstar Productions "Chill Out - East Coast Edition" compilation CD. I'm an active member of the Nashville Songwriter Association (NSAI) and am affiliated with BMI.

LEVEL

semi-pro

GENRES

Country, Singer/Songwriter, Traditional Country

PUBLISHING COMPANY

Shaky Legz Music, Inc., I own my own publishing

Contact

Management: Shaky Legz Productions
Publishing: Shaky Legz Music, Inc.
Label: Shaky Legz Records
Music Supervisor: Russ James - ncsongman@bellsouth.net
Booking: Lynn James - 919-274-0952 - shaky.legz@gmail.com
Administrative: Lynn James - 919-365-5414 - shakylegzmusic@bellsouth.net

P.R.O.

BMI

INSTRUMENTS

acoustic guitar / electric guitar / mandolin / percussion / tambourine / vocals

INFLUENCES

James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Jim Croce, Merle Haggard, John Prine, Hal Ketchum, The Eagles, Alabama, George Strait, Gene Watson, New Grass Revival, Lyle Lovett, John Anderson, John Denver, Hank Williams, Jr., Eddy Arnold, Nanci Griffith, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Alan Jackson

DAY JOB

Telecom Analyst

I AM INTERESTED IN

in co writing online
in co writing in person
in networking with songwriters
in pitching songs to artist
in pitching songs to tv
in getting a publishing deal

I WRITE:

It's my second job

I Also Write:
by myself
with others
for myself
for others

I Prefer To Write:
lyrics
melody
music

experience >

SONG CUTS

Russ James, Emily Snyder

SONG PLACEMENTS

None

OTHER SONG OR ALBUM CREDITS

Catalog of songs with BMI and many other songs not yet registered. My "Carolina Backroads" song was selected by QuickStar Productions (Baltimore) to be on their "Chill Out" - East Coast Edition CD - Vol. 22 (released Jan. '09)

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Legends: Bobby Braddock

In Nashville, most successful songwriters have a fairly short run. On hit, one year, two years, five years. Occasionally, we get one whose career approaches the length of a real career or, more often, one who has a few years success, then slips into oblivion, only to emerge again for another brief era of hit-making.

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Legends: Rickie Lee Jones

She speaks softly, not unlike the way she sings --soft, soulful passages, almost like secrets to the closest of friends --punctuated by bursts of exaltation. It's much like the span of emotion in her work, and in her new record, Balm in Gilead, which veers from the pure, naked heartbreak of "Bonfires" to the elation of "Old Enough," to the beautiful "Wild Girl," which celebrates the 21st birthday of her daughter, while simultaneously reflecting on the unchained fervor of her own wild days.

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Legends: Robert Earl Keen

As singer/songwriters go, Robert Earl Keen doesn't seem like the kind of artist who could honestly be accused of sloth. But despite a catalog choked with characters and conversations pulled from a colorful life, he makes that very claim on "Something That I Do," a track where he brags of his ability to not let work get in the way of an otherwise pleasant afternoon.

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Townes Van Zandt: Facets, Faults & Fractures

It's 10 o'clock at night on an abandoned Music Row. The year is 1985. In a third-floor office in an old house that serves as the offices for the Oak Ridge Boys' Silverline/Goldline Music Publishing, Steve Earle brings the chair he's leaning back in down hard, flipping his hair out of his eyes for emphasis.