How to Write a Country Song - Purpose of the verse - Country songs

CODY KIMMEL: Hi. My name is Cody Kimmel. I'm the lead singer of the band Eliot Fitzgerald, and I'm here with Expert Village to teach you how to write a country song. All right. Well, now we're ready to get started. We've talked about the structure of the song, we talked about the general feel of the song, we're going to write more of a Texas country song. "Texas" is more specifically a love ballad country song, it has a Texas twist, and we are in our zone, we have our Texas flag, we have our cowboy hat, we have our cowboy boots, we're here and we're ready to write a country song. So now, the first thing we need to approach is the verse. What is the purpose of the verse in a country song? Now, a prevalent theme, and some of it happens within country music, is the idea of storytelling. Storytelling is a big part of country music. It has been since its inception. Johnny Cash is a great storyteller. All those guys were great storytellers and they just decided to put it to music. Willie Nelson, a great storyteller. So, the purpose of the verse within a country song is to begin and tell the story. Now, this story, it can be from your own perspective and you can be the main character within the song or you can be telling a story about somebody else. In this one, I'm the main character of the song. I'm lonely and I wish the girl who live in Houston is with me. So, I start to describe just the different things around me, start to describe the scene and set up the story and tell the story through the verse, and that is the purpose of the verse in country music.