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Songwriter and Music Publisher

Music: Steve Leslie, Nashville, TN
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Do you want to be a Singer & Songwriter?

Do you watch the Grammy Awards and fantasize about becoming a successful songwriter? Are you ready to not only test your musical creativity but also your tenacity? Would you like your “office” to be on a train, on the beach, at a coffee shop….wherever the inspiration hits you? Steve Leslie knows what it is like to be inspired by words and music. Join Steve in Nashville, Tennessee, the home of country music, for a VocationVacations® dream holiday and learn what it takes to become a songwriter.

Steve has always been in love with the way words come together and the lyrical treatment of language. In fact, when he was in the ninth grade, his counselor asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. Steve quickly said, “A poet.” The counselor repeated, “No seriously, what do you want to be?” Again, Steve replied, “A poet.”

As Steve grew up, he took his creative, poetic writing talents and began to set them to music which he played on his guitar. Steve went on to get a bachelor of music in jazz studies/guitar from Morehead State University. His dreams of becoming a jazz guitarist took him to Boston. “After two and a half years of freezing and starving, I realized there were already too many starving jazz guitarists in Boston,” remembers Steve.

A friend invited him to work with him in a music studio in Tallahassee, and Steve was ready for the sunshine. He continued his songwriting, started teaching guitar and played in a band, the Southern Swing Quartet. The band did very well. “We became a big fish in a small oyster bar,” Steve laughs. But he soon realized if he was going to get really serious about his songwriting, he needed to pack his bags for Nashville.

Steve arrived in Nashville on a Thursday in 1992. He went directly to BMI and performed one of his songs. He got great response and found himself as the featured songwriter and performer on Sunday at the Bluebird Café. He worked odd jobs and continued to play whenever and wherever he had the opportunity. In 1994, he signed as a staff song writer with EMI. “I was officially a song writer and wasn’t sure what that really meant,” says Steve. “EMI told me just go away and write songs.”

And that is what Steve did. His first cut, “Let It Rain”recorded by Mark Chesnutt, rose to #2 on the Billboard chart. Over the years his songs have been recorded by country music greats like Kenny Rogers and George Strait to name a few. He received a Grammy Award Certificate for the title cut on the 2004 Best Bluegrass Alum of the Year recorded by Ricky Skaggs.

Steve is now an independent songwriter/publisher who continually works to stay on top of what is happening in the industry. “You need to understand the market you are writing for and what artists are recording,” says Steve. “As a songwriter, you also need to be patient and humble; have lots of energy; be continually networking; and be willing to learn and listen.”

Steve loves what he does and the diversity and flexibility of his work. As fellow song writer Jimmy Webb says, “our office is between our ears.” Perhaps those lyrics in your head are just waiting to be discovered. Why not find out on a songwriter VocationVacation with Steve Leslie.

While on your Songwriter & Music Publisher VocationVacations® dream job holiday with Steve Leslie, activities will include some or all of the following:
  • Co- write a song with Steve and possibly another professional songwriter
  • Meet with publishers, professional songwriters, developing artists, and other people “in the loop”
  • Meet future contact people at BMI
  • Listen to an evening of amazing pro songwriters perform at places like the Bluebird Café and The Listening Room
  • If mentor session includes a Monday evening, vocationer may have the opportunity to play a two-songs at the Bluebird Café.
  • Sit in and observe a Nashville phenomenon: a live demo-recording session with the best songwriters, musicians, and engineers in the world!
  • Discuss with the mentor the realities of achieving varying levels of success in the music business
  • Discuss the marketability of vocationers’ current work
  • Discuss music publishing from an independent perspective and as a staff-writer for a major company
  • Discuss available and emerging opportunities for entrepreneurs in the new music business
The Songwriter & Music Publisher Vocation Vacations® dream job holiday with Steve Leslie includes:
  • Two days of one-on-one mentorship in your dream job as a songwriter & music publisher
  • The option to participate in a total of one hour of pre- and post- VocationVacations career coaching from an accredited, affiliated VocationVacations career coach
  • A pocket-size VocationVacations journal so you can document your dream job coming to reality
  • Light lunches with your mentor

Available: All year based on mentor's availability

Price: $1249 Per Person

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Suggested Accommodations

Hotel Preston

Sheraton Music City
(Not included in the price of your VocationVacation holiday)

Other activities and tourist destinations while on your VocationVacations® adventure:

Reservation, Cancellation and Rescheduling Rules and Conditions:

Full payment of the VocationVacations dream job holiday is required to make a reservation. A $100 non-refundable fee is assessed if a VocationVacations experience is cancelled or rescheduled prior to 14-days of the scheduled VocationVacations holiday, based on the approved availability of the mentor to reschedule. A VocationVacations adventure cannot be rescheduled and is non-refundable if cancelled within 14 days of the scheduled VocationVacations holiday. Written notification of cancellation or rescheduling is required in all cases. In the US, Grounded Nomads, LLC and VocationVacations holidays encourage all customers to acquire travel insurance to cover any unforeseen expenses due to cancellation or rescheduling. In the UK, Grounded Nomads, Ltd and VocationVacations holidays must require all customers to acquire travel insurance to cover any unforeseen expenses due to cancellation or rescheduling and provide verification of such travel insurance to