The Song School

The Song School

The Song School

2024 Songwriting Instructors

Instructors

​Michaela Anne

Michaela Anne is a songwriter, musician, educator and published writer. She has toured throughout the US, EU and UK and with artists like The Wood Brothers, Watchhouse, Bonny Light Horseman, Joe Pug, and Brandy Clark. She has performed at festivals like Bonnaroo, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, XPonential Fest, Red Wing Roots Festival, NPR’s Mountain Stage and more. Her work has been praised by the New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, Boston Herald and more

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Instructors

Mary Gauthier

Mary Gauthier is a Grammy nominated songwriter who has released eleven studio records. She is also a published author. Her book Saved by a Song (St Martin’s Press) explores the healing power of songwriting, and has been praised by Rolling Stone Magazine as “A must-read book that is just right for the times we live in.” The Associated Press named Mary Gauthier as one of the best songwriters of her generation. Her newest release, Dark Enough to See the Stars, was released in 2022. Her 2019 release, Rifles & Rosary Beads (a collection of songs co-written with wounded veterans), was nominated at the 61st GRAMMY Awards (2019) for Best Folk Album.

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Instructors

Bonnie Hayes

Bonnie Hayes is a songwriter, recording artist, musician and record producer. She has released 5 records as an artist, including a stint at Chrysalis Columbia and the early Slash/Warner’s record Good Clean Fun. Her songs have been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Bette Midler, Booker T & the MG’s, Adam Ant, David Crosby, Huey Lewis & the News and many others. Hayes also toured as a keyboardist/vocalist with Billy Idol and Belinda Carlisle world tours and has shared the stage with Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bonnie Raitt, Tower of Power, Don Was and countless others. 

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Instructors

Phoebe Hunt

On the heels of 2021’s acclaimed “Shanti’s Shadow”, Phoebe Hunt is excited to release “Nothing Else Matters” in July of 2023 (Thirty Tigers). The album of solo fiddle and voice marks a departure for Hunt, whose previous projects have showcased her skill as a bandleader and collaborator. Yet it is also a joyful return to her foundations.

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Instructors

​Peter Mulvey

Peter Mulvey has been a songwriter, road-dog, raconteur, and almost-poet since before he can remember. In 1989 he spent a year in Ireland, busking on the streets of Dublin and hitchhiking to whatever gigs he could find. Back stateside, he spent a couple years gigging through the bars of his native Midwest before taking off for Boston, where he returned to subway busking and coffeehouses. Small shows led to larger shows, which eventually led to regional and then national touring. The wheels have not stopped since.

Twenty albums, one illustrated book, thousands of live performances, a TEDx talk, a decades-long association with the National Youth Science Camp, opening tours and gigs for luminaries such as Ani DiFranco, Greg Brown, Emmylou Harris and Chuck Prophet, appearances on NPR, an annual autumn tour by bicycle, emceeing festivals, hosting his own Lamplighter Sessions for years in Boston and in Wisconsin… he has built his life’s work on collaboration, on an instinct for the eclectic and the vital.

Instructors

Pat Pattison

Pat Pattison is an author, clinician and Berklee Professor of Lyric Writing and Poetry whose students have composed for major artists and written number one songs. At Berklee, he developed the curriculum for the only songwriting major in the country. In addition to his four books, Songwriting Without Boundaries, Writing Better Lyrics, The Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure, and The Essential Guide to Rhyming, Pat has developed three online lyric writing courses, one on poetry, and one on creative writing available through Berkleemusic.com.

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Instructors

Paul Reisler

Paul Reisler is a composer, songwriter, recording artists, performer and teacher. He is the founder and artistic director of Kid Pan Alley, co-founder of Trapezoid, as well as his current bands, Paul Reisler & A Thousand Questions featuring Howard Levy, and Three Good Reasons. Over his almost 50-year career, he has performed in over 3,000 concerts, recorded close to three-dozen albums, co-written Aesop’s Fables for Orchestra and Narrator, music for theatre, dance and film, as well as the script and songs for two musicals—Bouncin’ and The Talented Clementine.

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Steve Seskin

Steve Seskin

Steve Seskin is a successful songwriter who has written seven number one songs, including Grammy-nominated “Grown Men Don’t Cry,” recorded by Tim McGraw, and “Don’t Laugh at Me,” winner of NSAI Song of the Year and Music Row Magazine Song of the Year in 1999 as recorded by Mark Wills. His other #1 hits are “No Doubt About It” and “For a Change,” both recorded by Neal McCoy, “No Man’s Land” and “If You’ve Got Love,” both recorded by John Michael Montgomery, and “Daddy’s Money,” recorded by Ricochet.

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And many more to be announced, so check back again soon!

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