Country-pop songwriting with Cam Brown

Joining us today is rising Canadian country artist Cam Brown, hailing from Barrie, Ontario. Fresh off opening for Dean Brody at this year’s Troubadour Festival in his hometown, Cam is making waves with his original music. His debut single Pretty Lime Margarita recently climbed to #1 on the Canadian Indie Country Countdown and is now spinning on radio stations coast-to-coast. With a modern country sound that blends catchy hooks and heartfelt lyrics, Cam’s also been playing songwriters rounds in Toronto and Newmarket. With two songs out on Spotify—Pretty Lime Margarita and Nothing Like When We Met—he’s spending the summer writing new music and heads back into the studio to record his EP this fall.

Cam shared his song Nothing Like When We Met. Download the lyrics to follow along.

We talked about:

• Our songwriting challenge for 2025 to write a song in an odd time signature
• Writing with a hook-priority approach these days with diminishing attention spans in listeners
• Introducing the right amount of complexity in your song, depending on your story and central idea
• The difference in the rhythmic approach between traditional country and modern pop-country songs
• The evolution of country music and mashing with other genres in the last 10+ years