Rising Stars: Meet John Goodwin

Hi John, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started as a songwriter at the end of my first year of college. I started by learning a few chords on the guitar and was able to play some songs. Then, after I got good at moving those chords around as I played them, I suddenly started writing a song. It came very naturally and quickly. I loved how it felt to write a song, so I automatically wrote more songs. I kept doing it and have been doing it since 1967. At some point in Los Angeles, I began to co-write songs with some great L.A. songwriters who wrote songs that other people recorded. Some songs I wrote with them were recorded by singers whose records I’d heard, which encouraged me to write even more. It’s been that way ever since.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Inspiration has always been present in my life. That part of my journey has been a smooth road. When writing songs, a person can either write commercially or artistically. They are sometimes, but not usually, the same thing. Artistic songwriters write whatever they feel like writing or are inspired to write. That’s how it was in Los Angeles during the late 1960s and early 1970s among the songwriters who started their careers at the Troubadour. I was there to see most of that era happen. The best songwriters of that era wrote very personal, confessional songs. It’s not like they were trying to write number-one pop hits. The other kind of songwriting is commercial, and people who write that way try to write songs like the ones that are radio hits. Often, in purely commercial songwriting, the statements the songwriters make are more like generalizations. Many of my ‘struggles’ have been because I didn’t want to write big, anthemic music with generic lyrics. It’s very hard to get hired by publishers in Nashville if you’re a songwriter who insists on writing highly personal songs, which are usually the best ones we’ve ever heard. In Nashville, no songwriters have a big career unless they are hired to write songs for a music publisher and the publishers all want radio hits. The publishers and record companies are all on the same page with this. They’re looking to hire Madonnas, not Bob Dylans (as if there can be more than one Dylan). Music publishers don’t want to hire songwriters who write artistic musical confessions. They wouldn’t know what to do with unique personal statements whereas they all know what to do with songs that have big, generic melodies and lyrics. Unless you’re a performing artist who’s making money recording and performing your own songs, when you’re hired to write songs for a publisher, you have to write what the boss expects of you, not just what you feel like writing.

Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your work.
I am not only a lifelong songwriter, but I’ve also been a visual artist. Creating visual art feeds the musical thing. I’ve done lots of painting, large mosaics, and ceramics; I taught myself to crochet and made 25+ sweaters (each one different), and I’ve made mobiles and other art pieces. Music is my main thing, but doing visual art opened my soul further and gave me more reach as a songwriter. For me, doing visual art is like going to the gym, but making music is the actual athletic event to which all exercises apply. I’m most proud of anything I do that other people love. If someone sees one of my paintings and has to have it in their living space, that’s thrilling to me. It makes me proud if someone tells me how much a song I wrote means to them. Whether in music or visual art, I am just different. I always use an idea I create. What I do is different from what anyone else does. I wouldn’t do anything like anything else I’ve ever heard or seen. Being original makes me feel valid as a self-expressive person.

Before we go, can you talk to us a bit about how people can work, collaborate, or support you?
In the past few years, I’ve ‘slowed down’ my output as a writer and co-writer, but if people approach me, I’m always willing to consider writing songs with them. I prefer to work with people with deep experience as songwriters because when I write with beginners, I usually end up writing the whole song and often don’t get treated well by them on the back half of the process. I’m so experienced that I know how to write a song from the start, although I love being surprised at how things develop and grow. I also prefer to write with singers who are in the process of recording their albums. That guarantees that our songs will have a home in the marketplace rather than searching for other singers to sing them, which can be an endless venture.