Perfect Mix For Success
In the world of songwriting, finding the right co-writer can be a difficult task. Finding the right fit and building a relationship with other writers requires patience and is often compared to a marriage.
Many songwriters today prefer to spend time together in person creating lyrics to a melody. Publishing companies often unite writers in songwriting rooms hoping for something magical to develop with those face-to-face experiences. Nashville, the songwriting capital, is known for pairing artists, songwriters, and musicians in writing rooms to hash out songs.
Brad Davis and Paula Breedlove live in different states but have had a successful ongoing co-writing relationship for thirty-two years. Together they have found a way to combine their lyrics and melodies with the perfect mix for success. The songs they have had cut by artists is proof that you can live miles apart and still be successful in the music industry.
Brad and Paula met in 1989 at the Capital Music Hall in Wheeling, West Virginia while he was on tour with The Forester Sisters. At the time Brad lived in Nashville, and Paula was in Ohio. Paula offered to send some songs to Brad with hopes that he would have an interest in co-writing. When Brad read the lyrics he was immediately inspired with ideas. Paula was already a successful writer and he knew working with her would push him to grow as a writer. That was the beginning of a collaboration that continues today.
Paula doesn’t play an instrument or sing—but is a strong lyric writer. Brad is a talented multi-instrumentalist with the ability to create great melodies. They have been able to equally offer strength in what they do best when working together as a team. Paula often sends finished lyrics to Brad so he can use his talent to create a melodic arrangement around her well-written words. Other times Brad might send a catchy bridge and chorus melody to Paula for her to create a storyline. Using her fingers to count the timing, she fits the syllables of the words into his musical arrangement.
Brad admits that working this way takes all of the instrument bias away in the process. Nothing is instrument heavy and their songs are crafted with equal melodic and lyrical expertise. “We have faith in each other that we can make the song work with what each person puts into it,” he explains.
Brad produces their songs himself and usually does the vocals if it fits his singing ability. He doesn’t produce demos of their songs, instead, he records and engineers a master using only a few instruments. He adds, “I like to put my best into our songs so they have energy. If someone loves it but doesn’t feel they can play the part, I tell them to take the song and do what they do best. I want them to love the song and get excited about cutting it, I have no problem if they want to change it up.” With Brad’s musical and engineering abilities they can keep all of the cost in-house and the songs sound amazing when they go out.
The writing duo share lyrics, digital audio files of rough recording ideas, and melodies through the internet. Brad feels acoustic work is his sweet spot despite his ability to play multiple electric instruments. He doesn’t like to put a brand on the style of music they produce—although it often falls into the bluegrass genre. Paula says co-writing long distance allows her time to ponder a song idea before sending a rewrite. “I keep a pencil and paper beside my bed so I don’t forget any ideas I have in the middle of the night,” she adds.
Paula’s husband does all of their song plugging and has a heavy influence in the bluegrass, gospel, and folk markets. Those industries are sometimes easier to navigate and he is able to get the right people to listen to the material. It’s much harder to pitch in mainstream music markets where the competition is much greater. Brad expresses, “Everyone needs someone like John in their corner. He is amazing at pitching songs.”
Over the years Brad and Paula’s friendship has grown alongside their powerful writing relationship. Brad feels confident that Paula can always offer great lyrics no matter what the genre. When he was working with Tommy Shaw on The Great Divide they had a lyrical block with the title track and could not finish the song. They both decided to send it to Paula and she was able to finish it the very same night.
At times when Brad was busy touring, his relationship with Paula would drift apart but would always come back together at a later time. The longest pause in the duo’s writing was in the early ’90s while Paula was battling breast cancer while also losing both parents to the disease. Her daughter also went through treatment for cancer in 2000. Paula refers to the 10+ years that these events occurred as the “cancer years” and they created a gap in her ability to write. When her son returned home after majoring in music at Belmont University in Nashville his guitar practice filled her home with music. It revised her love of songwriting and gave her the inspiration and desire to write again.
Paula and Brad’s first major cut was “Love You Don’t Know,” recorded by Alan Bibey & Grasstowne and then again by Darren Beachley and The Legends of the Potomac. They both agree their favorite songs they have written together are “4th & Goal,” “Dark Side Of The Mountain,” “Derailed,” and “I’m A Rambling Rolling Stone.” In 2017 “4th & Goal” became the #1 played song by Terry Baucom’s, Dukes of Drive, and the band became the first bluegrass band to perform at the Football Hall of Fame’s yearly festivities in Canton, Ohio.
Other artists who have cut their co-written songs include Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Lonesome River Band, Red Wine, Nightflyer, Lorraine Jordan, The Hagar’s Mountain Boys, Davis-Miller-May, Phil Leadbetter, Unspoken Tradition, King James Boys, Backline, and more. Additionally, Brad Davis has recorded thirteen of their co-written songs on his solo albums.
Paula is a self-taught songwriter with no musical background. She grew up in a family who loved listening to all kinds of music although no one played an instrument. As a child, she learned dance, took a few piano lessons, and sang in the school choir but admits she struggled with stage fright. She decided that songwriting would allow her to continue her love of music without the discomfort of being the center of attention.
Paula says she became fascinated by the stories within her favorite musical arrangements. “I read every music magazine I could get my hands on paying particular attention to the lyrics and different rhyming patterns of the songs at the top of the charts. I found the first successful element of a song is to have a title or hook line in the chorus that is repeated and grabs the listener’s attention. The first verse needs a strong opening line that leads the listener into the chorus. I like to have the last line of each verse lead into the chorus,” she adds.
Paula gravitated toward the heartfelt songs and performances of Dolly Parton and John Denver. They became her favorite source of influence in developing her lyrical story ideas. As a lyric writer, Paula spent years learning the successful techniques of hit writers and perfecting her own writing style.
She explains “I usually start with a hook or idea, and the chorus more often than not comes first. Then I write the last line of the first verse next so that it is a good lead into the title. It is important to make each matching line of each verse match up metrically, making it easier for the melody writer to do their magic. Once I have a basic chorus and two verses, I go back and try to fine-tune every line by seeing if there is a better or more unique way to say it.”
Paula studied and visited the Nashville market, pitching her lyrics to Music Row publishers and to writers she knew did cowrites. Over time, with patience, it paid off. Her first recorded song was a co-write with Bob Morrison used on the soundtrack of Tough Enough, in 1983.
She admits, “I learned everything I know about writing lyrics from award-winning country writers like Bob Morrison, and Archie Jordan. I developed my own skills by first listening to the advice of those who were already successful, and by not being discouraged, but learning from criticism.”
The path to success was difficult, but Paula has grown comfortable with long-distance writing and has a select group of co-writers she works with regularly. Paula’s husband has played a big part in helping get her work out to publishers. He pitches her lyrics while developing his reputation as a song plugger working primarily in the bluegrass and Christian music markets.
Paula recalls the difficulty in being heard, “The first struggle as a songwriter is to find artists who are willing to listen to your songs. If you are unknown in the industry, it is hard to get that to happen. So you just have to keep trying. Bluegrass artists are often the exception,” she adds.
In the ’80s-’90s the songwriting process took a long time because it was done primarily through snail mail and phone calls. It was a time when cassette tapes were the only way to share audio files. The digital era changed everything allowing songwriters to work remotely due to the ability to share digital files through the internet.
Paula acknowledges that her greatest accomplishment was a 10-song collaboration for Rural Rhythm Records called God Didn’t Choose Sides: Civil War True Stories about Real People. After running into songwriter Mark Brinkman at bluegrass festivals, they began writing together. The result was a three-year project of songs based on true stories about people living through the Civil War. In 2013 that project won them a nomination as IBMA “Songwriter of the Year.” In December of 2019, Paula became an honorary member of the Daughters of Bluegrass.
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas Brad Davis is known as an incredible guitarist, singer-songwriter, and recording engineer. He has performed with bluegrass, rock and country acts including the Forester Sisters, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, Marty Stuart, Sam Bush, Earl Scruggs, Billy Bob Thornton, John Jorgenson, and others.
He has had songs recorded by Tim McGraw, Marty Stuart, Billy Bob Thornton, Tommy Shaw (of Styx), Terry Baucom, Doyle Lawson, John Jorgenson, Phil Ledbetter, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Cash, and many others.
Brad has had a solo career of his own and he was a vocalist and guitarist on a record by Warren Zevon that won a Grammy. He also developed a well-known guitar flatpicking technique known as the double-down-up, or ddup and is known as a guitar icon in the industry.
Brad worked in the Nashville music industry for 21 years but moved back to Texas when his wife’s father was diagnosed with cancer. For 12 years Brad toured with Billy Bob Thornton and would take trips to California to work out of “room 11” of Thornton’s music studio in Beverly Hills. Both experiences offered him the opportunity to grow his business knowledge, develop into a great engineer and build diversity within the music industry.
In 2015, based on his resume, Brad was hired to teach Digital Audio Production as an artist in residence at Texas A&M. When he learned that his pay would be increased if he had a college degree, Brad enrolled in the Berklee College of Music’s online course in Audio Production in 2017 and graduated from that program with a bachelor’s degree in 2019. Brad is currently finishing up a master’s degree at Texas A&M in Lyrical Analysis. He says that when the University offered him an opportunity to run an audio program with full benefits, he couldn’t turn it down. He is excited that he only has one more semester to complete his master’s degree and hopes his workload to be more manageable after the school work is completed.
Outside of cowriting and college, Brad also operates his three recording studios in Commerce, Texas where he says he has 132 demos cued for production. He plans to focus more on his solo career and less on touring now that he has a deal with Alvarez guitars.
Brad is working to finish several songs he and Paula have written that no one has heard yet. He is currently mastering “The Hangman’s Daughter,” “Death,” and “Annalee’’ and says he is excited about releasing them soon.
Brad and Paula have had interesting careers both separately and together. They also co-write with different musicians in different music genres. Brad admits he prefers working with Paula because of their awesome dynamic and her flexible availability. They both look forward to writing together more once Brad completes his degree later this year.
The songwriting duo Brad and Paula each agree that it takes a bit of give and take to create a solid well-written song. Their unique songwriting mix allows them to virtually write well-crafted music despite the hundreds of miles in-between them.
