SiS Learning Series: Storytelling in Songwriting

Instructor: Wes Weddell (www.wesweddell.com)

Despite the shallow stereotype of the over-emotional open-mic-er, songwriting remains an excellent vehicle for storytelling and narration - not just feelings. So let’s dig in!

This workshop will highlight the unique potential and challenge offered by the songwriting process, particularly as it relates to storytelling. We’ll discuss how our craft differs from prose-writing and poetry and also engage in several different writing exercises surrounding channeling inspiration and finding different voices to use when telling stories in song-form.

For beginners and seasoned writers alike - no specific prior experience necessary. Bring a notebook and pen/pencil. Instruments and prior works welcome.

Instructor Bio

For the past twenty years, Wes Weddell has worked multiple shifts in the engine room of Seattle’s roots music scene. The veteran performer keeps his hands in abundant projects as frontman, sideman, writer, teacher, and community-builder.

“Always heartfelt and well-constructed” (Seattle Weekly), listeners have come to expect Weddell’s regionally-rooted songs to “speak for themselves” (No Depression). Yet performed live—solo or with his band behind him—the melodic stories deepen further against the backdrop of the multi-instrumentalist’s relatable presence and quick wit.

In 2010, Weddell began working with The Bushwick Book Club Seattle (www.thebushwickbookclubseattle.com), an expanding collective of songwriters who each compose new music inspired by literature to share in monthly showcases focused around specific books. Songs from this catalog appear on his latest release, Somewhere in the Middle (2019), and comprise the entirety of the full-band showpiece Nobody’s Flag (2015).

A native of Pullman, WA, Weddell also holds a full-time Seattle Mariners media credential and has participated in a major university study of mountain huckleberry harvesters.