A lesson in song writing - country radio

On the way home from a river trip in the middle of Utah, we had the choice of two radio stations, one Navajo and Western, and the second country. After the news came on in Navajo, we were left with country. My two passengers had been interested in songwriting, so I was able to give a lesson as we drove through the desert. It was fairly simple, I first defined a verse, chorus and bridge. In most country songs the pattern is verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge and chorus. While not 100% it's a pretty good place to start. I then explained the concept of a hook. Country writers are the master of the hook. In about five songs they started shouting, here comes the bridge, that's the hook, wow they put the chorus first, etc. It was great fun. What was impressive was that an hour later we remembered a number of the hooks and the accompanying melodies.

Whether you like country music or not, there's a great lesson to be learned in the songwriting.