November 20, 2009 - Orange Beach, AL (OBA)- During the Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival (FBISF), I had an opportunity to become friends with a couple of the songwriters visiting our area. I have always wanted to know what type of people wrote words with music that sounded like I felt, so I asked Doug Gill and Lynn Langham if I could interview them. After visiting with Doug and Lynn, I understood the phrase "These people give with their hearts every day."
All during the interview I had a problem keeping Doug and Lynn talking about themselves. The music industry is highly competitive but I saw in Doug and Lynn a willingness to give of themselves in their songs and give of their time with their talent.
Country Music Hall of Fame has an educational program called Words and Music for which Lynn and Doug volunteer their talent. "The Words and Music Program is where the Hall of Fame puts curriculum in schools, the kids write lyrics, all ages from kindergarten to high school; they give us stacks of lyrics that the kids have written. We go through them and pull things that we think we can turn into real songs, and write a song around it or just write a melody to the lyrics. We have done the same thing down here," said Lynn.
When Katrina hit back in 2005, Doug and Lynn brought the words and music program to the schools in the gulf coast area. As a result, a fourth grade girl from Bon Secour wrote lyrics which were subsequently played on the radio. The song’s title is “Katrina” - lyrics by Wynter Plaski, music and vocal by Lynn Langham. Doug and Lynn hope that they teach kids something about self expression and the creative process and maybe give them a little insight into the music industry too.
Why do songwriters put their personal, private thoughts in a song for all to see? "There is so much rejection involved in it that you really need to," Lynn paused and gathered her thoughts, "it needs to be something that comes from in here" Lynn said while cupping her hands, pointing all fingers toward her heart. To help clarify the emotion Lynn described a song she wrote called, "White Bird/Black Bird". "It is a song about two birds flying in the sky together." After one of Lynn's singing sessions, a woman came up to her and handed Lynn her business card that read "grief relief". The woman brought a couple whose child had just died in a car accident to hear Lynn sing. Lynn looked at me and said, "You can see it in their eyes, you reached something that they wanted to have reached." Doug quietly added, "You got to do it for other reasons than the financial payoff"
Doug Gill and Lynn Langham personify the quality of the people who visit our gulf coast area and sing for us during the FBISF.
Doug Gill has collaborated with Pam Tillis, daughter of country music legend Mel Tillis, and has written songs for such well known artists as Wynonna Judd and The Oak Ridge Boys. You can hear Doug's songs at
www.myspace.com/douggill.
Lynn Langham is singing backup with Emmylou Harris in a song called “Shores of
White Sand” on Emmylou’s new CD "All I Intended To Be". Lynn wrote “All of That
Love From Here”, sung by Wynonna Judd on her CD "Wynonna". You can hear Lynn's songs on
www.myspace.com/lynnlangham.
Visit www.FBISF.com
for more info
about the Frank Brown International Songwriters' Festival.
Songwriters' Profile: Doug Gill & Lynn Langham
