OK, so I've only had one song published, but let me tell the story.

In 1998, I took a trip to Nashville with my son, Roy, & my brother, Bill. Not too long before, I was visiting with my neighbor, Kurt Marben, and discovered that Kurt was a classmate of successful songwriter, Dennis Morgan. Kurt suggested that I visit with Dennis when in "Music City." So, once I got there, I knocked on the door of Little Shop of Morgansongs. For your edification, Dennis has written and published dozens of #1 songs. He has written such mega-hits as "Smoky Mountain Rain" (Ronnie Milsap), "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" (Barbara Mandrell), "Nobody" (Sylvia), "Let Me Let Go"(Faith Hill) & "I Knew Your Were Waiting for Me" (George Michael & Aretha Franklin). And he's published "I Swear," "The Dance" and hundreds of others.

I left my hotel phone # and, in a couple of hours, Dennis invited me to his office. I walked in shook his hand, and sat in the inner sanctum of a songwriting genius. On the walls were gold records and other manuments to the man's achievements. For two hours, Dennis shared his life store and philosophy of song writing. Then, he handed me a piece of paper from his desk. It was a copy of a canceled check made out to Garth Brooks for $25.00. I gave Dennis a puzzled look, and he said that he used to pay Garth $25.00 a pop to sing demos of his songs. Wow!

Anyway, I played several songs for Dennis, watching his face for some clue. He seemed to like certain things but didn't come out of his chair. He suggested that I go home, study the charts, try to anticipate new trends in popular music, try co-writing (his BIG thing) with others, and see where it takes me.

Before I left, I thanked him, then fished out a cassette from my pocket. He popped it into his player, listened to the whole thing, kept nodding his head, then said, "I'll do it." I asked, "You'll do what?" "I'll publish that song," he replied, saying something like, "Someday I plan to do a CD of the greatest redneck love songs ever written. Your song belongs on that CD."

You could've knocked me over with a feather. Dennis told me to come back the next day to sign a single-song contract. I suggested that he try to pitch the song to Cletus Judd. Dennis was quick to say that novelty songs are a tough sell, but he'd give it his best try!

Well, now I'm a BMI writer, and I haven't heard from Dennis since then. I took a chance and signed a contract that didn't have a reversion clause. That means Dennis can "sit" on my song forever and not do anything with it (even though the contract says that he must make a reasonable attempt to market the song.

Every once in a while, I e-mail John Atkinson at Morgan Music to ask if they've pitched the song lately. A couple of years ago, John told me that Larry the Cable Guy's people were nibbling on the song, but they must not have taken the bait!

I haven't pitched songs to any other publishers since then as I'm trying to promote myself as an arist and don't really want to give my songs to other singers. And, with respect to Dennis, I didn't take his advice on studying or even anticipating trends, but I truly took to heart his advice to stick what I'm best at--songs with a twist. I'll continue to write what's on my mind and in my heart, oblivious to the commercial value of the song.

Think I'm pulling your leg? Go to www.bmi.com, and search my name. It's there!

But, who know? Maybe I'll get something else published before I cash in my chips. Keep your eye peeled on this page!