Warren Attwell

“...I don’t wanna go screw it all up 
Maybe we’re too close to get closer...”

In a city like Nashville it’s pretty normal to collaborate with people you barely even know.  It’s not unusual to co-ordinate a session with someone you may have never met before or potentially may never meet again.  Yet somehow you’re expected to get to know each other in an incredibly intimate way and finish creating something from nothing within that 3-4 hour window that you have together.  Naturally the best way to develop…

“...I guess I never knew just what it was to need someone 
To be in love...” 

I’m back in Nashville, Tennessee for my second writing trip and I’m staying with one of my very best friends, Josh Willcutts, who lives in an apartment complex just round the corner from the Bluebird Cafe.  Although we’ve only known each other for 10 months at this stage, in the limited time we’ve had together we’ve shared some incredible memories and connected on a level much deeper than you experience with most people.  If…

“...How did I come to deserve this? 
You, you’re a picture of perfect...” 

I’m sat in the living room of a terraced house on the outskirts of Belfast.  This is the third or fourth time I’ve written with my buddy Ryan McMullan and we’ve now developed a ritualistic catch up over brunch before ever putting pen to paper.  The food in fact, has almost become more of a priority than the writing itself; understandable for anyone who has experienced the delights of the General Merchants breakfast menu. 

Ryan…

‘...There are things in this world of which you can never be sure 
But I hope when I find me the girl that I’ve been searching for 
That there will be trumpets and there will be signs...’ 

It was a rainy Wednesday in June, one of those rainy days that just makes the entirety of life feel truly grim.  This means that today I shall write a sad song, or at least one that has a fairly sombre vibe.  I’ve not long returned from a highly successful writing trip to Nashville, Tennessee and, although I’m once again…

‘...If this life is just a puzzle then you’re my missing piece 
You make me complete...’

It’s New Years Day 2018 and I’m on the motorway driving home from a wedding ceremony in a little town called Moira.  Considering it’s January in Ireland the weather is incredible and the countryside stretching out either side of my car looks even more green and beautiful than usual.  The first day of a new year; a year in which I’ve decided to make a lot of changes in my working life, about time I start getting…

‘...While everybody else is busy acting so dumb  
We’ve been busy making plans for the long run...’  

I’m running late to yet another writing session... I pull off Music Row and park my Chevrolet hastily in what looks like a typical office building car park.  Not only is this my first ever writing trip to Nashville, it’s also the first time I’ve ever been invited to write at a publisher’s office and I’ve got to admit I’m just a little nervous.  I briefly say hello to the secretary and the owner of the…

‘...The knives of lovers past she pulls gently from my back 
Cause she makes love so easy...’ 

I still vividly remember the moment those words fell out of my mouth in the home studio of my good friend Max T Barnes.  We were writing at his ranch in Hendersonville, Tennessee - right down the road from where Johnny Cash used to live.  The walls are full of gold record plaques from artists like Randy Travis, LeAnn Rimes and Colin Raye, yet somehow we’re in the process of giving birth to (what I would consider…