The Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association, in collaboration with Texas-born, singer-songwriter Jack Ingram and The ASCAP Foundation, announce the 2nd Annual Texas Songwriter U (TexasSongwriterU.com) songwriting event.

Texas Songwriter U (TxSU), an educational program and songwriting competition, serves to identify, develop and support the best adult songwriters in Texas, while improving upon the quality and quantity of professional songwriting across our state.

“Texas has always produced more than its fair share of excellent songwriters over the years and many of them have moved on to make significant contributions to the music industry,” says Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association Executive Director Michelle Johnson. “We are proud to be partnered up with Jack Ingram and ASCAP Foundation, working together to discover excellent young songwriters while keeping the art and craft of songwriting alive and well across the entire Texas music community.”

Beginning July 15th, TxSU will accept application of all lyrical, musical genres into its annual competition. Songwriters will have until midnight, August 31st, to submit two of their songs.

Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and either have been born in Texas or currently reside within the state. These applicants cannot hold a current publishing agreement. TxSU will accept both self-published and co-written songs. A $25 processing fee is required of all contest applicants. The structure for judging individual songwriting talent will rely on industry professionals blindly rating each song

On Monday, September 21st, TxSU will award its top eight finalists with an invitation to visit Austin October 15th and 16th to participate in a two-day songwriting workshop taught by several award-winning recording artists and moderated by Jack Ingram. These finalists will also perform at The Saxon Pub in a Showcase event alongside Jack Ingram and other industry-leading professional songwriters.

“I love this business because I love every piece of making music, so it’s really easy for me to put my heart and energy into giving back to young songwriters,” says Ingram. “Writing songs is therapeutic, especially in the tough times when you’re figuring out who you really are, so I hope that I can offer some perspective to these young artists who are just starting out. We all know that Texas is rich with talent and characters--think about how much fun I get to have helping them tell their story.” 

Texas Songwriter U will announce an overall winner at the conclusion of its showcase event in Austin, awarding the winning Texas songwriter with an opening-act opportunity for Jack Ingram and a special recording studio demo session in Austin.

“What strikes me most about Texas Songwriter U is the generosity of the program,” said 2014 Texas Songwriter U winner, Benton Leachman.

Texas Songwriter U provided me and my fellow contestants with unbelievable opportunities for networking, along with a chance to pick the brains of some of the nation's best songwriting veterans, and an opportunity to play at one of the coolest listening rooms in Texas – the Saxon Pub. Its very encouraging to know that people out there actually care about up-and-coming songwriters enough to do something like this, and I'm very grateful to have been a part of it."

Get more information at TexasSongwriterU.com

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