TJR on the Rarewriter website

My song "American Idol" got a write up at the Rare Writer website.

You can read it here:

Rick even wrote a commentary regarding it. I wrote my own response. which you can read below

Dear Rick Thank you so much for your coverage of my song “American Idol”. There is nothing like seeing your name and picture in (virtual) print, to help justify your existence LOL.

I really appreciated your commentary too. I agree with your comments whole heartedly. At the end of the day, AI is just a singing contest and no more. This simple fact is probably the main reason why so many of the idol stars CDs tank or do only moderate business after their season is over (Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson being some of the few exceptions).

Since the beginning AI has been great a creating singing stars who look good, sound good, but who (for the most part) end up recording mostly forgettable songs after they win. And this is because the show is a singing contest with no emphasis on songwriting. Which I’m sure is what Simon and his label want. If they can’t write their own songs they’ll be easier to control. I also agree that I would probably never make the cut on AI. Neither would Johnny Cash (Whom I reference in my song). In fact neither would Dolly Parton who was recently a guest mentor on the show (But then unique musical voices are not what AI is interested in). But as for the age thing…….Sometimes less is more.

I wish that I was such a great songwriter that I could convey all of the opinions that you and I have expressed within a conventional 3-4 minute pop song (That is also entertaining), but alas I am not. But I think I was up to task of writing a song that effectively conveyed at least one of the shows many faults and still entertained. The inspiration for the song was all of those people would excitedly approach me at gigs wanting express their belief that I should be on the show. I always wanted to convey my rather complex feelings about the show, but in the end it was easier to just say to them "American Idol Discriminates against people of age". At this point their jaws would drop in outrage and they would express how wrong they felt that was. This would often times open the door to further express more about what I felt was wrong with the show.

In a better world there would be a show like AI that would have artists who are the whole package competing against each other (strong vocals, strong musicianship, strong songwriting, etc). Thats the kind of show I would audition for (Provided there was no age discrimination LOL). Audiences could still enjoy the drama of the competition but would also be exposed to exciting new artists whose careers would be launched via the exposure. Lastly, I noticed that a sizable number of this years AI contestants are actual musicians. This appears to be a quite a departure from previous seasons, so perhaps slowly (very slowly LOL) AI might become more that show that it needs to be.

MORE AMERICAN IDOL PRESS FOR TJR

My song "American Idol" got a write up in Orange County's biggest paper. Check it out here http://www.ocregister.com/articles/byrnes-songs-stars-2037202-fallen-band

Scroll down to the column entitled "Orange Slices". This is very cool.