Granum, AB -- What are a bunch of Nashville pro songwriters doing out in Alberta cattle country? They’re here for the first-ever Porcupine Hills Songwriters Roundup. It’s a three-day, four-night song-writing, horse-riding, cattle-chasing adventure. It’s all designed to give aspiring songwriters a chance to hone their craft, spend some time with the people who can best help them do that, and stimulate their minds and hearts with a real cowboy experience.
This year’s Roundup leaders include Grammy-winner Don Henry (Kathy Mattea, Where’ve You Been) and Angela Kaset (Lorrie Morgan, Something in Red), and pro-writer Bruce Michael Miller, one of the event’s organizers.
“We’re keeping it small, only about 15 people,” says Miller. “We want everyone to have a really high-quality experience where they have as much opportunity as possible to interact with the leaders and with each other.”
Miller points out that music sales are back to the model of the single, where people can purchase and download only the songs they like. So that makes a great song even more valuable. Artists can no longer have two great songs on an album and expect people to buy it with the eight other sub-standard songs on it.
“Promotion and pitching and seeking placement for songs is great, but keeping alive the tradition of well-crafted songs from the heart is more important now than ever,” says Miller. “Don and Angela and I are dedicated to that.”
“This isn’t City Slickers,” laughs Keith Lane, who has run the Willow Lane Ranch guest operation with his wife, LeAnne, for the past 18 years. “This is a real working ranch, where we move and treat the cattle, mend the fence lines, and pitch in with the neighbors when it’s time for a gather.” (Click here to find out more about the ranches.)
Songwriters Roundup concludes with a Saturday evening concert in the frontier town of Claresholm, Alberta. Local favorite Charlie Ewing will open for Don, Angela and Bruce, who will perform their hits in the round. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. But Roundup participants are admitted free.
For more information, e-mail info@songwritersroundup.com or call Bruce at 615-356-6930. To book your reservation with just a $600 deposit, call LeAnne, 403-687-2284.
It’s hard not to be inspired, with views like this, from the font porch of the Willow Lane Ranch.
If you want to write from your heart,
you’ve got to find it first.
This is the place to do that.
It also helps to have talent on hand like Grammy-winner Don Henry (far left), hit writer
Angela Kaset, and writer/teacher/performer-extraordinaire Bruce Michael Miller.
Angela Kaset, and writer/teacher/performer-extraordinaire Bruce Michael Miller.
Just one of the many vistas in Alberta’s Porcupine Hills that you’ll encounter on the trail.