Nashville is different. I’ve never been in a city like this before. Everything is about music. When you see people having a conversation it’s probably about music in one way or the other. How they can get their career going, which song they are writing on, where they play tonight.

Someone at the hostel recommended me to install the app Meetup. If there are any gatherings in your neighborhood on the subject you’re interested in, you’ll get a notice and you can apply. I responded to one about songwriting, took an Uber from my hostel and the driver dropped me off in the middle of nowhere in front of a house. ‘Shall I wait for you till the door opens?’, she asked. I said yes, because you never know. But a very warm welcome from Jo and Steve showed me that I’d ended up at the right place. They organise these gatherings already for ten years. It’s all about having fun, making music, listening to and learn from each other.

It was so inspiring for me, I learned a lot about writing lyrics and melodies. A song sometimes only needs two chords. So there goes the excuse of me not knowing how to play the guitar. Or how beautiful a song can be without lyrics and that it’s very nice to hear a lighthearted or hilarious song in between the heavy stuff. So more humor wouldn’t kill anybody.

I sang two songs that I’ve written a while ago at a songwriting course. Wasn’t very proud of them before, but singing them again and noticing that the meaning of my lyrics is picked up and even touches people is so cool. Really got some new views on writing at this meet up. It gave me inspiration to start with new songs and I already created a couple of new ones. Now I only have to finish, that’s the hardest part. It will be pretty scary to put something out there. Like Jo says, they are your babies. Some songs are so personal. Hopefully I can soon let you hear a fresh song of my own.

Next up: Pajama Pickin’ Party