By Cathy Spaulding
A night swim, a night without sleep, a death in the family, boredom in a drama class — all sorts of things could inspire people to write a song.
The 20 people who performed their original songs at the Muskogee Songwriting Contest Songfest on Saturday night found inspiration in such places and more. The 10 youth winners and 10 adult winners performed at the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame and were judged on their lyrics, melody creativity, marketability, musicality and performance.
Emcee David Gerard, editorial editor for the Muskogee Phoenix, said more than 200 people from across Oklahoma entered the contest, up from 80 who entered last year.
“So the degree of difficulty doubled” in narrowing down the 20 finalists, he said. “The contest generated a lot of interest. We heard a lot of good songwriters and good singers.”
Tahlequah High School senior Darien Williams, who won the youth songwriting division, said she wrote her song, “Sleep,” after hearing people complain they weren’t getting enough sleep.
“So I decided there aren’t enough lullabies in the world,” she said.
With her gentle guitar accompaniment, Williams sang about “looking for a place to rest your head in the afternoon, nature makes a room for you.”
Shannon Farmer, one of the three contest judges said the melody and lyrics showed “real creativity.”
Wagoner High School junior Boone Brady said he wrote his rock song, “Shoot the Sun,” to inspire people to aim high. He said he wrote the song because “I was bored and I was in drama class and I wanted out, so, ‘shoot the sun.’”
The youngest contestant, 16-year-old Tanner Evan Hodges, also came the farthest — from the small town of Randlett between Lawton and Wichita Falls, Texas. Wearing a straw cowboy hat, he performed “I’m Not Through Loving You,” which he said he wrote when his mother died.
Justin Lance Springwater of Gans had a whole flock of family and friends cheering his song, “Goodbye.”
“Our whole family is really musically inclined,” said Springwater’s cousin, Amy Grooms of Coweta. “He’s my biggest fan and I’m his.”
She said Springwater has only been writing songs for about two years and playing guitar for one year.
“He actually has his music on MySpace,” said Miranda Cuiston of Coweta, a friend of the family.
“We were raised on southern gospel,” Springwater said. “My uncle, mom and aunt started a group and everyone writes songs.”
He said he was the only one in the family to enter the contest, though.
Andrea Turner, who teaches art in Jenks, said she was inspired to write her “Moon Song” while swimming at night.
“The moon was illuminating and intoxicating beyond belief,” the acoustic guitarist said.
Muskogee teen Jonah Corn, who aspires to be a performing artist and music instructor, played a flowing guitar solo called “Black Swallowtail”
Songs ranged from the driving rock of Sarah Dickenson’s “Windowsill” to the soulful hip hop of Racheal Jackson’s “Tonight’s the Night.”
Other judges were Kelli Doolen Farmer and Shannon Farmer.
Winners
Youth
1st: Darien Williams, Tahlequah
2nd: Tanner Evan Hodges, Rand Lett
3rd: Sarah Auckerman, Muskogee
Adult
1st: Nick Knudsen, Durant
2nd: Angie Cockrell, Broken Arrow
3rd: Pierce Nix, Tulsa
