Local artist holds Songpull events

By ROGER ADKINS, radkins@newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG — Area songwriters have the motivation they need to finish their songs thanks to John Radcliff of Quincy Street and http://www.songpull.com.'>www.songpull.com.

Every month or so, musicians gather at Radcliff’s historic Quincy Street home to perform an original song they have written in the last 30 days. These events are called Songpulls and they’re held on a monthly basis across America.

Radcliff videotapes a short interview with each songwriter and then a performance of the songwriter’s latest composition. The videos are then edited and uploaded to http://www.songpull.com'>www.songpull.com and can be viewed by anyone who logs on to the site.

The concept behind Songpull is an old one. This newest incarnation uses video and recording technology along with the Internet to expose the world to new songwriters. There is no cost to participate in a Songpull.

“From what I understand, Songpull originated from the guitar pulls that people like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings did to pass the time. They would get together and pass the guitar around and play new songs or parts of songs and work on them to finish them,” Radcliff said. “That was the idea behind http://www.songpull.com.'>www.songpull.com. They did it to create or help create songwriting communities across the country and to have this quite impressive collection of songs written within 30 days of the day they were performed.”

In addition to providing some exposure for songwriters, Songpull provides them motivation to finish their songs.

“From a songwriter’s perspective, it keeps you writing,” Radcliff said.

Radcliff first learned about Songpull while reading a blog on the Internet.

“I surfed over and checked it out. It was everything I was thinking I wanted to do, but I never had a way to sell it to any of my songwriting friends until I found it,” Radcliff said.

Radcliff knew he wanted to become involved as soon as he read about Songpull. The songwriting community in the area also was enthusiastic.

“I was looking for a way to have a bunch of my songwriting friends over to my house for a party based around songwriting. I think I was emailing http://www.songpull.com'>www.songpull.com within about five minutes of going to their Web page,” he said. “I sent out an email to everyone with a link to http://www.songpull.com'>www.songpull.com and said, ‘we should do this.’ That was all it took to get started.”

Parkersburg’s sixth Songpull was held May 10. Eight songwriters attended the event along with several spectators. Five of the songwriters were attending their first Songpull, Radcliff said.

“The first one, we had myself and two others. The next one was four or five. It stayed there with basically the same people for the next couple Songpulls until number five. I think we had seven for that one, but we had new people show up. We had eight at the last one, but five of those were new people. That’s the cool thing to me. When more than half of the songwriters are performing at their first Songpull, I’m very encouraged that this thing is going to take off,” he said.

The home of Parkersburg Songpull on the Web is located at http://www.myspace.com/songpullparkersburg.'>www.myspace.com/songpullparkersburg. Radcliff, who performs locally with other songwriters including fellow Songpuller Todd Burge, has a Web site at http://www.johnradcliff.com'>www.johnradcliff.com

Songpull allows songwriters to meet others in the area on common ground. It creates potential for networking and collaboration.

“When I hear people talking about working on songs together or scheduling gigs together, I feel like I’m helping the songwriting community to grow stronger and closer. And in a small community like the one we live in, that can only mean better things for us all down the line,” Radcliff said.

For Radcliff, Songpull provides an opportunity to host a party based around songwriting at his home, which was built in the 1890s. It’s a chance to catch up with friends, make new friends, play new songs and hear the work of others. Every songwriter gets something different from Songpull.

“Each songwriter has different needs. Some might have a fear to stand in front of a group of people and perform one of their songs. Some might need to hear people clapping for one of their songs before they feel safe in performing it out in public. Some might gain inspiration from someone else’s song,” he said. “I have this big house that just seems like it was made to host parties. There’s a feeling of accomplishment when the night is over. I’ve shown people a good time and had a blast myself.”