The September 30th, 2008 deadline for submissions to the New York Songwriters’ Circle’s (NYSC) annual Songwriting Contest is quickly approaching.

For over 18 years such notable artists as Vanessa Carlton, Norah Jones, Gavin DeGraw, Jesse Harris, Lisa Loeb, Charlotte Sometimes, Avril Lavigne, John Oates and Chris Barron (of the Spin Doctors) have all been a part of this legendary circle. This year’s grand prize winner will take home over $15,000 in cash and prizes, including a performance spot at the world renowned Madison Square Garden, The Live Nation – Jones Beach Concert Series, recording sessions with Grammy award winning producer Glenn Barett and so much more. The contest winner will also be featured on Jonathan Clarke’s highly rated “Out of the Box” radio show on New York’s most popular classic Rock station, Q104.3. For the first time ever, the NYSC will present two additional awards at the contest finale, an International award to an outstanding songwriter from anywhere outside the US, and a Young Writer award, for songwriters ages 8 to 18.

The New York Songwriters Circle contest annually gives performers the rare opportunity to perform their music live in front of top music industry professionals and excited music fans as part of the New York Songwriters Circle’s ongoing showcases series in Philadelphia (at World Café Live), Boston (at Johnny D’s in Somerville), and the legendary Bitter End in New York’s Greenwich Village. Past contest winners include Kate Voegele, (currently starring in the hit TV Show “One Tree Hill”) and “Company of Thieves,” (recently featured as a breaking artist on Billboard Magazine).

The Live Finale events on November 5th and 6th at the Bitter End in New York will spotlight the twelve contest finalists and include rare special guest appearances by Grammy Award winning Singer/Songwriter Marc Cohn and Indie music sensation Dave Barnes. Aside from his own impressive music catalog, Marc Cohn has worked with such notable artists as Tracy Chapman, Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Shawn Colvin and many more. Currently, Dave Barnes is touring with “Los Lonely Boys” and has achieved both critical and commercial success as an indie recording artist.

The panel of judges includes Grammy-Award winning producer Russ Titelman, 785 Records/Publishing and Denise Rich Songs President Mark Eichner, Rolling Stone and New York Magazine contributor and author John Colapinto and many more. Sponsors include 785 Records, Denise Rich Songs, Ascap, Bmi, Sesac, MorningStar Studios, Broadjam.com, SongU.com, Dubway Studios and Sam Ash Music.

For more information and to submit your music please visit http://www.songwriters-circle.com

Tim Young Band’s ‘The Cost’ is the perfect summertime soundtrack. It feels best to listen to it while sitting in front of a campfire, surrounded by company but alone with your thoughts. Every fleeting idea of pain, loss, and confusion come to full circle on each track, bringing to light the themes we all need to spend time thinking about.

The single ‘The Cost’ tugs right at your heart-strings with fully-charged, emotive lyrics like ‘Now the night is sawin’ at my heart…nobody knows the cost of losing you.’ Moving forward from the pain of loss, this twang-y, sorrowful lament about heartbreak infuses country-western rock to create a catchy melody. ‘Outta Town’ adds the electric guitar and makes you imagine what it would be like to just run away from all your problems as Young lists daily hassles we all deal with, such as traffic, landlords, and stresses from work.

One of the strongest songs, with the best intro, is ‘Drifting Cowboy.’ With sliding guitar riffs, the vocals slow down, providing a nice tune to meditate to, amidst your confusion. While listening, you can actually envision a cowboy alone on the ranch, gazing out at the flat land ahead, wondering where to go. Creating an original story on this track, Young tells the tale of a young cowboy from Alabama who quit school: ‘Rejection filled his cup until he landed on the stage in Nashville.’ As Young switches to first person with ‘I’m a drifting cowboy,’ we have to wonder if Young himself is the drifting cowboy. Either way, the story is nothing short of riveting.

‘Just For You’ has a nostalgic feel to it, bringing Elvis’ generation of country/rock back to the mainstream music scene with strumming guitar and wailing, honest vocals: ‘I’d shine every night just for you / I can see just what I need to do.’ ‘Remember’ certainly has an Elvis attitude, with its ‘bad boy’ tone shining through: ‘And even when I write these words / I don’t understand the past.’ The track presents a concept any listener can understand: being at a crossroads of the past and present, trying to decipher what’s happened before in order to know where to go in the future.

On ‘Hangin’ In,’ Young sings the blues, country-style, telling middle class woes of trying to get by, while inspiring listeners to keep their heads up: ‘It’s a long road every day / everyone I know says they’re hangin’ in.’ Shifting the album’s tone, on ‘Cold Wind’ Young introduces the theme of being, as Bob Dylan sings, ‘Blowin’ in the wind’: ‘Cold wind keeps on blowin’ me around; cold wind spins the truth right through the ground.’

‘Renegade’ fittingly closes the album, since after moving from a wandering cowboy, to a lost soul, to the dust blowing through the cold wind, Young advances to a renegade: a proud, brave man advancing forward through nature and city scenes alike, ready to dominate whatever environment he finds himself in. Without looking back, and with his eyes always set straight ahead, Young proves the ability that we all have to completely move on past the painful yesterdays and transform ourselves into powerful individuals that we never thought we could become. Then, truly, the cost of the pain becomes inconsequential; all that matters are the rewards reaped from the incredible growth process that we all are able to enter and emerge from.

‘The Cost’ forces listeners to ask themselves, ‘Where am I? Where have I been? How does it all make sense?’ And more importantly, ‘Where am I going?’ But by the time the CD stops spinning, you realize, thanks to the Tim Young Band, that, no matter what the answers are, everything’s going to be all right.

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