Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Bill DiLuigi . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Bill , thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I’ve heard it said, never forget what you already know . When I started writing and playing songs for myself as a kid, I followed my feelings and my heart . It was all discovery because I hadn’t been anywhere yet ! These skills came in handy when I became a pro .In learning to write commercially I just had to expand and improve what was already there .
I got involved with some songwriting organizations where you could play your songs for professional songwriters or publishers. In those sessions you got to listen to a lot of songs. They would give subtle suggestions( maybe try a different rhyme scheme ) and not so subtle ones (start the whole thing over this is not working! ). I had to quickly get over that hurdle of hurt feelings if I wanted to get better. Not keeping an open mind and serving the ego instead of the song, are obstacles for success.

I had two mentors who were willing to write with me and coach me. I learned from what they did in a session and took note of how they did it . Kinda like Edison and the light bulb, I learned hundreds of ways how NOT to write a song . That process got to the good ones . The keepers, the one’s worth crossing every T and dotting every I in the lyric and exploring all melody options. Even though Nashville is a lyric town, melody is so important,

I’m not sure what I would’ve done differently. It took what it took to be able to make my house payment by being a writer. Maybe I would be more selective about what ideas to write . I’d look a little harder at the idea to see if it is worth the exerting the brainpower to bring it to life.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I became a commercial writer when my rock band crashed and burned in the late nineties. I’d never even thought of writing for other people. I knew I had a God given gifting , so when the band was through I was looking up going…umm now what ?

As it happens when there is a divine conspiracy,, I started looking around one day and half the people I met were talking about Nashville. I also ran into Jim Femino, a very succesful writer, who had writing workshop in PA , where I lived at the time . Jim encouraged me to take the plunge and start writing in Music City. He also introduced me to other Nashville songwriters.
On my first trip to a writer’s seminar in Nashville, an artist attending heard one of my songs and recorded it. I thought “This is easy!”, so I kept doing writing trips and packed it all up and moved there in ’05.

I’ve had two co publishing deals , one with a great friend Melissa Bollea of Rhyme Partners and I have been independent as well . Since I’ve been independent , I learned ( and am always learning ) the ins and outs of publishing admin. I still try to find outlets for my songs and set up writes myself I suggest all writers take PUB 101 courses! and learn to be their own publishers .
Currently I have co pub deal with a Music Row publisher, LuckySky Music. They truly get who I am and love what I do .

Maybe what sets me apart is I am interested in the new twist , the unsaid, the turning of the cliche on it’s ear. Chasing what’s on the radio now is chasing trends of songs written two years ago, Also if it turns me on personally , it will probably move someone else.

I’ve had around 500 songs recorded. Some by people you know, but many by people you don’t know right now. I’ve never had the huge hit here in the US, but I’ve been in the top 100 in a few genres. I won the Covenant Award in Canada, which would be a Dove Award here. I’ve also had great deal of music in film and tv.. It never gets old to hear your song on radio or the Opry ,and to see your name in the credits anywhere !

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

It was 2012 , I was still working a part time day job and writing every available minute , I’d had some success at that point but just couldn’t seem to get to the next level. I’d taken several publisher meetings meeting with rejection over and over. I was coming home one night, tired and discouraged from a day at work when the phone rang as I stood on my porch . I was the Grand Prize winner of the NSAI/CMT contest !

That put some fuel in my tank. Because it was a song I wrote alone, I got a lot of attention. I had also been the Grand Prize winner of American Songwriter Magazine’s contest in 2011 with a song I wrote alone. By March of 2013 I was signed to my first writing deal.

Something I say a lot is don’t give up a minute before the miracle happens. You might be one phone call or email away from a life changing experience ! My faith is important to me . I believe since God put this desire in my heart to write, that He will bless it in better ways than I can imagine !

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

“Write mostly upbeat songs like you hear on the radio ”

It’s ok to do that, especially if you are writing with an artist who has say in what songs they will cut , However, i’m learning to write the song that is in the room . Where are everybody’s heads and hearts at ? What happened in the world today ? Anyone in love or just broke up ?

Songs are to make people FEEL. People can smell contrivance miles away . Be different , write it “to the bone” as Guy Clark used to say , Case in point, the day I wrote the song that won the 2012 NSAI/CMT contest , I had just come back form a 3 hour hime in the gloomy Autumn cold. I was just feeling and trying to recapture a mood. I had ZERO intention of trying to write a commercial song . It ended up being a song that opened so many doors. Lionel Ritchie called it a “perfect song”. That comment put fuel in my tank all night long …lol

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.diluigi
• Other: www.billdiluigi.com