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Announcements by Team SWPro on August 11, 2026
Here are the winners of Songwriting Pro's "Pro Connect" event for August 2026!
First of all, thank you to each of you who took a chance, took positive action, and submitted one or more songs to this special event with Victoria Goodvin, she's Creative Consultant at Jonas Group Entertainment, a successful music publisher in Nashville. Ya’ll are just plain awesome.
There were a lot of worthy songs sent in, and it was tough to leave so many out. If your song wasn’t chosen this time doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good song.
You know, one time I turned a song in to my publisher, and they didn’t know what to do with it, so they didn’t want to do anything with it. My cowriters wanted to demo it, and the publisher said they wouldn’t pay for a demo.
The song was called, “Crickets,” and we got it cut by Joe Nichols. It’s the title track to one of his recent albums.
That’s right. The song my publisher wouldn’t even pay to demo got cut, anyway. (My cowriters did an out-of-pocket guitar/vocal, and we pitched it ourselves.)
Welcome to Nashville. So while each and every song was heard and every effort was made to pick the ones that have the best chance of catching our guest's ear… I could be wrong. That’s just the way the music biz works. So if your song wasn’t selected, it doesn’t mean you should give up on it.
Okay, here are the Top Ten (in no particular order):
"RUN OUTTA WANNA" by Brian Ford & Guy Branche
"THE SCRIPT" by Chandler Williams
"WIFE OF THE PARTY" by Elizabeth Eckert & Carin Fradin
"I CAN CARRY" by Jayne Sachs
"DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS" by Kris Crepeau
"CARDBOARD GEORGE" by Kris Tiscareno & Mike Parker
"WISH I DIDN'T BUT I DO" by Mary Zalla & Jason Wilkes
"SCARS I'M PROUD OF" by Blake Bard
"R.I.P. I GUESS" by Sundi Jo Graham
"I HOPE IT HURTS" by Wynn Hunter
You can hear each Top 10 song with a CLICK HERE. Let us know what you think!
Victoria and I look forward to meeting with you (online) on August 18! Keep your eyes open for the invitation in your email.
Of course, these weren't the only good songs sent in for the event. Here's the list of the "Top 20" songs. These were the next 10 songs, just outside of the Top 10. Any of these songs could have ended up in the top 10 - they were right in there fighting it out for a spot in the Top 10. And there were several that were SO close to making this list, too. So please be encouraged, and keep on writing!
Okay, here are the rest of the Top 20 (in no particular order):
"CAMO IN THE CROSSHAIRS" by Mary Zalla, James Daniel DeBorde & Dennis Deruelle
"MY 53 DATES OF SUMMER" by Robert Boog
"KEEP THE CHANGE" by Denise Bain
"TWO LIGHTS DOWN THE ROAD" by Derek VanBoxel
"LITTLE FEET" by Doug Folkin & Brenna Fear
"MAKE ME DRINK" by Kevin Hazellief
"TOMORROW COMES FROM CALIFORNIA" by Matt Salada
"SHEETROCK & ROSES" byRandy Barber, Larry Fleet & Wayne Mills
"THIS OLD T-Shirt" by Scott Miller & Lee Johnson
"Earn" by Tedd Swormstedt
"CRASHING OUT" by Penelope Lane & Busk Wild
You can hear each Top 20 song with a CLICK HERE. Let us know what you think!
God bless,
Brent
PS- Thanks for stopping by Songwriting Pro! I appreciate it. As a matter of fact, I want to give you a gift just for your visit. It's my FREE PDF e-book, "6 Ways To Make Your Songs More Commercial." It'll help you write songs that artists want to sing and fans want to hear. You can get this awesome gift at 6simpleways.SongwritingPro.com.
Who is Brent Baxter?
Brent is an award-winning songwriter with songs recorded by Alan Jackson (the top 5 Country hit "Monday Morning Church"), Randy Travis, Lady A, Joe Nichols, Ray Stevens, Steve Cropper, Andy Griggs, Buddy Jewell, Lonestar, Gord Bamford (the #1 hit and CCMA Single Of The Year "When Your Lips Are So Close"), The Sound (the #1 hit and Dove-nominated Southern Gospel Song Of The Year "Can I Get A Witness"), Wilburn & Wilburn (#1 single), Dave Adkins (#1 single) The LeFevre Quartet and more!
