Emily Weisband has cuts on albums made by the likes of Jordan Davis, Thomas Rhett, Luke Bryan, Lainey Wilson, and a whole host of other country heavyweights. Clearly, much of the genre’s upper echelon is in agreement, Weisband is the songwriter to tap if you want to secure a hit.
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Needless to say, Weisband is a big name in Nashville’s songwriting community. On top of her work for other artists, she has also released a number of her own songs. Both pursuits showcase Weisband’s acute songwriting voice.
American Songwriter recently chatted with Weisband about her songwriting journey, the differences between writing for herself and for other artists, and the advice she would extend to burgeoning songwriters. Read our conversation, below.
American Songwriter: You’ve gone the artist route in the past, but have made a name for yourself writing for other artists. Are there any major differences between writing for others and writing for yourself?
Emily Weisband: Writing for myself was a release. It was the first time I could think, ‘What melody do I think is awesome or what lyric do I like?’ Because I’d spent so many years writing for other people before I started writing for myself, I definitely had to sift through what was other people and what was me. That was an ever-evolving journey.
I would say writing for other people, to me, is a service industry. I’m in the room to serve other writers. I would rather connect with the artist or the other writers rather than bring in my ego. I find myself playing chameleon a lot when I’m writing for other people.
AS: Going back in your songwriting journey a little bit: do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
EW: My dad writes songs and I idolized my dad. My dad, to me, was a very immovable figure – like a hero. So I wrote this song and I remember going into his office [and telling him]. He said, ‘Oh, that’s so cute, play it for me.’ So I did. I remember he cried and I just felt so powerful. I felt like a wizard. I was 11 and I made a grown man cry. I caught the bug that day.
It was called ‘Soul on Fire’ and it was about Jesus dying on the cross. My dad would always say, ‘Write what you know.’ I was 11, I’d never dated. I was like, ‘Well, I go to church and learn about Jesus so…” He got my first one and he’ll probably get my last.
AS: Where do you draw songwriting inspiration from?
EW: If you’re in my life, you’ll probably be written about. I pull from a lot of real-life experiences. When I got married, that was the first time that I ever thought ‘I don’t want to write about this.’ It was really weird for me because I have built a whole career exploiting my romantic endeavors. But, my relationship with my husband feels sacred to me. I think it’s just a season. I’ll probably come around to the idea, but these days I’m really pulling from my friends and my siblings’ lives.
Also, I turned 30 a few weeks ago and I’ve been writing a lot about death. I’m not on death’s door by any means, but you start thinking about the mortality of your parents—you start doing the math. I’m terrified of death so, I feel like lately I’ve been writing about it a lot.
And, at the end of the day, humans are the same – deep, deep down inside. The human experience is a timeless thing. We’re laughing about the same things people were laughing about 500 years ago and crying about the same heartbreaks. We [as songwriters] tap into that and then dress it up with details from our own lives.
AS: I have to imagine that songwriting is one of the greatest senses of catharsis you could find.
EW: I’ve saved so much money on therapy. I just write [a few] songs and then I’m done.
AS: What is the biggest bit of advice you have for songwriters that are just starting out?
EW: It’s a hard career because there is nothing guaranteed. First, I would say to fall in love with the process of songwriting. If you start to think of it as a job to show up to every day and make money, you’re not going to last long. If you fall in love with the process, it’ll keep you going every day. Someone told me, “Find your mountaintop moment, because it’s not going to be the Grammys or an award that you get every three or four years if you’re really lucky.” Basically, figure out what it is that you can tap into every day, and for me, it’s getting a demo back. That’s my mountain top moment.
Another piece of advice I have is to figure out what you do well and really lean into it. When I first moved to town, I tried to write what I heard on the radio. I was writing about trucks. I’m from Virginia and I drove a 1999 Saab to school, I don’t know anything about trucks. I remember Connie Harrington [songwriter] sitting me down six months into my publishing deal and saying, “I’ve been listening to your songs. You need to figure out who Emily Weisband is because all I’m hearing is you trying to write like the Peach Pickers. We already signed those people.” That was permission for me to not try and sound like what was on the radio. When I started doing that, I got calls to work on projects. That’s when I started to feel like an asset to the community.
Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images
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