Grand Prize Judge : Roy Elkins, CEO of Broadjam, Inc.ROY ELKINS is a well-known music technology entrepreneur who has been leading industry innovations for over twenty years. Elkins is the Founder and CEO of Broadjam Inc., serving independent musicians and industry giants such as Warner/Chappell, The Academy of Country Music, AMD, Yamaha, Peavey, Roland, ProSoundWeb and others. Broadjam.com, the company's popular web site, now hosts one of the largest collections of searchable independent music on the planet. The site is known for its user-friendly services for musicians, including artist web pages, song reviews, song contests, Top 10 Charts and the revolutionary METAJAM software.
Before founding Broadjam, Elkins was the Vice President-Sales & Marketing for Sonic Foundry, and held several director-level positions with Ensoniq Corporation. He maintains a database of over 5,000 music industry contacts include executives at virtually every company in the music industry and past and/or present artists such as Will Smith, Eddie Murphy, D.J. Jazzy Jeff, the Beach Boys, the Allman Brothers Band, BoyzIIMen, Roy Firestone, Joe Walsh (The Eagles), Paul Broucek (Lord of the Rings), ELP, Yes, Journey, Skid Row, Bill Walton, Jackie Martling (Howard Stern), David Arkenstone, Randy Jackson and many others. He is an accomplished musician and songwriter who thoroughly understands the musician's world. www.broadjam.comCategory Judges
Americana: Roxi Copland is a songwriter and singer, who is a classically trained musician with a love for great songwriting. Her innovative sound is forged at the crossroads of Americana, roots, and jazz. She has won numerous awards for her songwriting in various competitions including Song Door, Unsigned Only, and International Songwriting Competition. She stays busy performing at the Fairmount and Austin Bergstrom International Airport.
Christian/Inspirational: Bobby Smith and Dorinda Duncan - Author and Gospel Producer E Robert Smith who traveled the road many years with Christian artist, Dion, has switched his created talents to fiction writing. His new novel, Downline, is a gripping tale of the world of multilevel marketing. DORINDA is a songwriter who a performed across the US, most notably at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. Former recording artist with Capitol Records, she is currently cutting a Christian album with Bobby producing.
Bobby's book on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Downline-E-Robert-Smith/dp/0988820900
Country: .Tony Ramey has had hit songs and gold and platinum record awards for songs on albums cut by George Strait, Trisha Yearwood, Doug Stone, Craig Morgan, John Michael Montgomery, Easton Corbin, Alabama, Johnny Lee, Texas artists Aaron Watson and Jason Meadows, and a host of others. More about Tony at http://tonyramey.com/about-tony/
Bobby's book on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Downline-E-Robert-Smith/dp/0988820900
Country: .Tony Ramey has had hit songs and gold and platinum record awards for songs on albums cut by George Strait, Trisha Yearwood, Doug Stone, Craig Morgan, John Michael Montgomery, Easton Corbin, Alabama, Johnny Lee, Texas artists Aaron Watson and Jason Meadows, and a host of others. More about Tony at http://tonyramey.com/about-tony/
Instrumental : Tom Faulkner a New Orleans-born singer/songwriter/producer knew by age 5 that music would be the fascination of his life when his mother took him to see “Lawrence of Arabia” and he begged her to buy him the music score. He graduated from Dallas' Highland Park High School where he played in The Oracle, a popular Dallas band. After earning a degree in philosophy from Washington & Lee University in Virginia and playing for three years throughout the east coast in Daddy Rabbit, Faulkner returned to Dallas and put together The Coconuts, a band that achieved rapid and prolonged regional success.
Signing with United Artists Publishing and a subsequent move to Los Angeles proved to everyone involved that record company promises can be as ethereal as vapor. After a multitude of unfulfilled promises, Faulkner came home, disillusioned, and the band broke up shortly thereafter. He immediately landed a job in a small recording studio with the intention of producing other bands and artists. While Faulkner was gaining production knowledge working in the studio, his boss, Stephen Arnold, asked him if he could write a jingle for a client, and then another… and another. Within a year Faulkner started his own production company. His reputation as an accomplished singer/songwriter turned commercial music composer quickly caught the attention of advertising executives coast-to-coast.
Since then Faulkner, a multi-CLIO winner, has created hundreds of national jingles and scores, including some of the most memorable commercial music on television and radio. Most notably, he composed and sang the wildly popular “I Want My Baby Back” for Chili’s, a jingle that has since found its way into motion pictures (Austin Powers) and over a dozen major network TV shows. He also created the multi-award winning music theme for Motel 6 and Tom Bodett, the longest running commercial campaign in the history of advertising (23 years, 5 CLIOs, and counting). https://www.tomfaulkner.com
Novelty/Children's : Monty Harper Monty Harper writes and performs award-winning children's songs about science, reading, and creativity. His audiences laugh, clap, sing, wiggle, shout, roar, giggle, jump, hoot, pop, snap, and most of all, think!
Harper began dabbling in songwriting just for fun around 1989, the same year he entered the Master's program in mathematics at Oklahoma State University. He found he had a knack for entertaining neighborhood kids with his songs, and by the time he completed his degree in 1992 he was fielding a slew of requests for appearances at schools and libraries.
Two decades of summer library programs have lent meaning to Harper's work. "It's so important for kids to love reading," says Harper. "I try to convey my own exuberance for books and libraries through the songs." Harper visits 40-50 libraries each year. His ReadingSongs.com website lists several dozen songs he has penned for various reading themes since 1990.
Harper's CDs, Take Me to Your Library, Paws Claws Scales and Tales, Get a Clue, and Let's Get Creative (recorded with kids' rock guru Mr. Billy), were each inspired by past summer reading program themes.
In 2007, Harper brought another life-long interest into his work with the launch of Born to Do Science (www.BornToDoScience.com), a monthly event at the Stillwater Public Library that brings kids into face-to-face conversations with real scientists about their current research. The ongoing program inspired his latest CD, Songs From the Science Frontier. His research-inspired songs power his latest elementary school offering, an interactive multi-media performance about the nature of science.
Harper teaches songwriting through his one-day "Say It in a Song" workshops and extended residencies for elementary schools, funded in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council. The songs he most recently co-wrote with fourth and fifth grade classrooms are available to hear on his website.
Harper has been on the Oklahoma Arts Council Touring Roster since 1995. His songs and recordings have won many honors from groups including Parents' Choice, iParenting, NAPPA, Children's Music Web, Kids Radio Mania, and Unisong International. He has released eight titles on CD, available through CDBaby.com and iTunes Music Store. https://montyharper.com
Harper resides in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with his wife, Lisa, and their daughter, Evalyn.
Novelty/Children's : Monty Harper Monty Harper writes and performs award-winning children's songs about science, reading, and creativity. His audiences laugh, clap, sing, wiggle, shout, roar, giggle, jump, hoot, pop, snap, and most of all, think!
Harper began dabbling in songwriting just for fun around 1989, the same year he entered the Master's program in mathematics at Oklahoma State University. He found he had a knack for entertaining neighborhood kids with his songs, and by the time he completed his degree in 1992 he was fielding a slew of requests for appearances at schools and libraries.
Two decades of summer library programs have lent meaning to Harper's work. "It's so important for kids to love reading," says Harper. "I try to convey my own exuberance for books and libraries through the songs." Harper visits 40-50 libraries each year. His ReadingSongs.com website lists several dozen songs he has penned for various reading themes since 1990.
Harper's CDs, Take Me to Your Library, Paws Claws Scales and Tales, Get a Clue, and Let's Get Creative (recorded with kids' rock guru Mr. Billy), were each inspired by past summer reading program themes.
In 2007, Harper brought another life-long interest into his work with the launch of Born to Do Science (www.BornToDoScience.com), a monthly event at the Stillwater Public Library that brings kids into face-to-face conversations with real scientists about their current research. The ongoing program inspired his latest CD, Songs From the Science Frontier. His research-inspired songs power his latest elementary school offering, an interactive multi-media performance about the nature of science.
Harper teaches songwriting through his one-day "Say It in a Song" workshops and extended residencies for elementary schools, funded in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council. The songs he most recently co-wrote with fourth and fifth grade classrooms are available to hear on his website.
Harper has been on the Oklahoma Arts Council Touring Roster since 1995. His songs and recordings have won many honors from groups including Parents' Choice, iParenting, NAPPA, Children's Music Web, Kids Radio Mania, and Unisong International. He has released eight titles on CD, available through CDBaby.com and iTunes Music Store. https://montyharper.com
Harper resides in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with his wife, Lisa, and their daughter, Evalyn.
Love Songs/Easy Listening: Eyvindur Karlssonis hails from Iceland. The first thing you'll notice about him, his english accent sounds like he was born and raised in the mid-west of the United States! I kid you not.
The next thing you'll notice is how passionate he is about music and these days, especially teaching experienced songwriters to be better! He hosts a successful podcast entitled The Strong Writing Podcast, with at least one Local Open Mic alumni in his catalog. Along the way to all of this, Eyvindur has written music for theatre productions that have taken the show on the road, throughout Europe. His writing style is engaging since all of his songs tell a story. We get to hear the backstory to three of his songs, all while enjoying discussions about his musical journey
Website: https://onebadday.is
Song writing course: https://strongwriting.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eyvindurkarlsson
YouTube: Eyvindur Karlsson - YouTube
Instagram: #eyvindurkarlsson hashtag on Instagram • Photos and Videos
Pop/Rock - Johnny Hooper is an award winning composer of radio and TV jingles, including promos for Kix Brooks' “American Country Countdown”, Radio Disney, and Casey Kasem’s “Top 20 Countdown”. Johnny was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2016. In addition to being an expert on this topic he is a performing vocalist, writer and guitarist who played at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, England.
Singer Songwriter: DAVID CARD, Owner, Poor David’s Pub
Most of Texas’ greatest songwriters have one thing in common: they’ve headlined at Dallas’ legendary music venue, Poor David’s Pub. For the past 33 years, Poor David’s Pub owner David Card has been host to outstanding artists such as Sara Hickman, the Dixie Chicks, Patrice Pike, Max Stalling, Guy Clark, Jimmy Webb and more. Card is also the founder of the annual BW Stevenson Memorial Singer-Songwriter Competition, held at Poor David’s every April and now in its 23rd year. Card, Poor David’s Pub and the annual contest have helped the careers of past singer-songwriter winners including Adam Carroll, Max Stalling, Kristi Kruger, Gordy Quist, Elizabeth Wills, Colin Boyd, Owen Temple and many others. We in the songwriting community are grateful to David Card for keeping the spirit of the Dallas music scene alive. On the 23rd day of April, 2022, the Dallas Songwriters Association inducts David Card of Poor David’s Pub into the Dallas Songwriters Hall of Fame in appreciation for his leadership and service to the songwriting community.
