FAWM Challenges Artists To Write 14 Songs During The 28 Days Of February
Inspired by National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), FAWM Founder, Burr Settles issued the same type of charge to musicians in the form of February Album Writing Month (FAWM) – where artists are challenged to write 14 songs during the 28 days of February. The 11th Annual FAWM challenge is already underway, bringing artists of all ages, styles, and talents together again to make music for music's sake. FAWM prides itself on being a community that spurs spontaneous creativity and fosters an encouraging environment for artists to create, collaborate and communicate.
Last week, in a written interview with Hypebot.com, Settles shared his observation of how artists have been impacted by their participation in FAWM: "Oh, wow… for some it has been immense. I've seen FAWMers go from never having written a song before in their first year to having semi-professional music careers a few years later. Those are exceptional stories, of course, but the community is a safe place to explore musical ideas, and I think it's given a lot of people confidence in their own craft." For Phil Norman, a singer/songwriter and decade long member of Roanoke, Virginia's Newgrass Band, Blue Moonshine, it's done exactly that.
Norman, who has just kicked off his 9th consecutive FAWM challenge with the release of "I Grow Old", a love song for the middle aged, remembers when he first became a FAWMer: "I saw something about the community in 2007. I was married with kids and I thought to myself, 'I'm not writing, but I could be.' I saw FAWM as a motivator. It was the creative tool that I needed to pick up the pen again. There's an unspoken rule amongst the community where no one speaks negatively about another artist's work. It felt like a safe space to create and share my music, and so I did."
Settles said he's seen collaboration become a growing part of the FAWM culture: "I've seen jazz singers from Seattle write amazing thrash-rock songs with guitarists from Amsterdam, among many many other cool things. But working on music across different timezones and different recording software has always been a pain, and we've got a few surprises this year that should make that process easier."
Norman has been an active participant in the growing collaborative community, co-writing with singer/songwriters from Australia and England, as well as posting an all-call for lyrics ideas from followers on Twitter (@PhilNorman) using the hashtag #CoWriteWithPhil. Other FAWMers to keep an eye on: Expendable Friend: @exp_friend is a wonderful English songstress; Nancy Rost (@Nancy_Rost) has been FAWMing since the get-go; Isaac Quatorze (@isaacq) – extraordinary songwriter, and road-trip warrior.
Settles has seen exponential growth among the FAWM community. When asked what he hopes the future of FAWM, he responded "That it continue to grow while remaining a fun and safe place for people to challenge themselves musically. There's a very real trade-off there, and a lot of online communities can grow so fast that it's hard for them to keep an eye on their core purpose. In FAWM's case, that's inspiring people to reach inside of themselves and pull out the music that they either did or didn't know they could always make. So my hope for the future? More and more of that."
