Walk the line

We saw the movie Walk the Line about the life of Johnny Cash. Great movie and music.

From a songwriters point of view there were a few very interesting points.

1) On his first song, Folsom Prison Blues, he was inspired by a movie. He started writing the song and then through the next few days kept adding to it and reworking it. In one scene he's writing at his desk at work(I'd never do that) and another time in the bathroom. He struggled with the guitar at first, but that didn't stop a great song. Actually when you look at his music, the chords were always pretty basic.

2) When first went into the studio, he went to record someone else's music (an old gospel tune). The record producer made a comment like, "I've heard that same old song many times, I want something different." It was the original sound that sold!

3) He had the determination and belief that he would make it. We all know great songwriters that didn't put the effort to getting their music out there. He believed!