Sarah Motes Ashley

I know that internet radio isn't exactly the big time, but still, it's fun. My song "Feel This Way," featuring Sydni Stinnett , will be played starting at 5 today here. http://www.wosradio.com/new-music/ She's a 14-year-old from Karns. And then there's the girl who sang this song of mine, Emily Roberts. She's on "The Voice" tonight. Somebody let me know how she does because I have rehearsal. She's also from Karns. I don't know what's going on up there but I like it.

When my son was about four, he brought me some sheet music I had just printed and said "Mama, here's your singing paper." Early on, he learned to distinguish between my "lady friends" - usually there is cackling, food and wine - and "singing friends" - there is singing, cackling, and usually not wine. Because wine. I love singing friends, and I need them. I have some in the Knoxville Choral Society (alto section = much cackling), and some at my church singing gig, and some who go way back and are precious to me. I have my producer, Steve Rutledge, who is like the brother I never wanted, and the random characters who come in to play. Some of my favorite singing friends are the singers who come in to sing my demos. I look for great, unforgettable voices, and I look hard. It's not always easy; this past week I dragged myself to the Tennessee Valley Fair after slaving over a hot microphone all morning, to go sit in the Pepsi Tent and hear a lot of

I finally took the digital distribution plunge. I'm not dying to sell my songs on Itunes but it's kind of a thrill to see it there.

... sometimes you're the swine. I rely heavily on song critiques. I get them from my industry organizations and from independent song coaches and from peers sometimes. The "industry pro" versions are often anonymous, and they evaluate my song on characteristics like lyric, melody, commercial potential, structure, arrangement. I think getting critiques is crucial for anyone who wants to get his or her song on the radio. I often hear people saying that those who give critiques aren't qualified, "how many cuts do they have?" etc. The answer is often lots of cuts. And then a lot of people don't agree with what the critiques say. I think critiques are valuable for the advice they offer (sometimes), but also they require that I step outside myself and look hard at my song, and most of the time, they require that I make edits. I generally try to saw my brain in half for critiques. It only hurts for a second. Half of my brain wants to talk about whether the

"Broken" I didn't get to tell you about Awesome August, but part of it was 12 house guests who came to my house to stay while we recorded 10 songs in 2 days. Members of the "Waiting" cast trekked to E. Tennessee to record songs from the show. It was a risk - hosting 12 houseguests with a 40-gallon water heater and three air conditioning units that are old enough to vote, throwing them into a studio environment requiring three separate vocal areas, 12 sets of headphones, a way to record tap dance without ruining the floor, and a lot of singing. I don't know how many Michelin stars I got for my breakfast casserole and lack of bathrooms, but the recording went amazingly well. Everyone was prepared, nobody was a diva, nobody got sick or got red light syndrome or anything. The young woman above sang this and other tracks with a shimmering beauty that I crave to hear on just about any song I have ever written, and her friends did as well with spirit and that wo