Last Wednesday, our third Sixthman Sessions came to an end.  I’m excited to say that lightning has struck all three times, and we came away with some amazing songs.  Steve posted a video from Sessions last week, but I wanted to give you a little more of the behind-the-scenes play by play.

Last week was the first time we brought together a group of artists from Cayamo, and I don’t think we could’ve found a more perfect collection of five.  Shawn Mullins and Rebecca Lovell joined us for dinner on Sunday night.  We didn’t have any writing sessions planning until everyone got in Monday morning, but Rebecca and Shawn felt inspired to begin writing right away.  So as Alan, our sound guy, and I set up for the following day, Shawn and Rebecca wrote a beautiful chorus.  They started on guitar and mandolin, played around with a piano part, and ultimately decided at midnight to put the song on hold until the morning.

We knew Edie Carey and Glen Phillips were riding up with Mike Sunday night and were getting in late late, so Alan and I waited up.  Until 3:30am.  After getting everyone situated, we were about to hit the sack when Chuck Cannon texted me and said he would be in at around 4:00am.  After showing him to his room, everyone was able to get a couple hours rest before diving into the songwriting process.

Morning began, and Rebecca and Shawn wanted to continue writing the song they had started, but wanted to add Chuck, a seasoned co-writer, into the mix.  Typically we limit the writing sessions to 3-4 hours, but those three were on a roll and requested to keep writing when it was time to switch things up.  Edie and Glen were happy to write another song together (what would become “Comfortable,”) and the trio ended up recording “Must Be Love” 24 hours after the chorus was born.  After the excitement of the creation of 3 new songs, we couldn’t wait to see what Tuesday brought.

We began Tuesday with Rebecca, Edie, and Chuck in one room and Glen and Shawn in the other.  After only 3 hours or so, Glen and Shawn walked out, ready to record (I secretly think Glen is a super-fast songwriting ninja), and laid down “New Dream” while the others finished up.  After another couple of hours, the trio emerged from their room with a kick-ass (and hilarious) blues song called “You Want It.”  After laying down the initial vocals and instrumentals, the group of five collaborated for another couple of hours, adding tons of harmonies, hand claps, and a killer slide guitar part.  That song ended up as one of my favorites by far.

For the last session, we planned n breaking everyone into groups again, but they wanted to all write together.  Who are we to deny that magic?  While the boys all went off to call their wives and children, the girls hung around the main room, strumming chords and finding a direction for the new song.  When they all came together, the talent was overflowing.  Everyone stayed up into the wee hours writing and recording, and continued the process the following morning, eventually putting finishing touches on the song “Snows of Winter.”

There were many similarities in this Sessions retreat to our other retreats, but I noticed one huge difference – the time and thoughtfulness put behind every word, every note, every song.  Instead of writing a line and moving on, the amount of editing was astounding.  By the end, that’s all everyone talked about…how songwriting was all about editing.  Making tweaks, changing words, adjusting whole verses in an effort to create a masterpiece.  And that’s just what we ended up with – 5 masterpieces.  I can’t wait until you guys hear them in their entirety on Cayamo.

-Lauren