Positive songwriting with Nelson Little

Nelson Little is a celebrated storyteller from Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, who brought home his third award from the Manitoba Country Music Awards this winter for “Best Roots Artist”, and has also received an Aboriginal People’s Choice Award. Little has opened for Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Charlie Major, The Sheepdogs, and Fred Eaglesmith. His music has been featured across Canada on CTV Morning Live, SiriusXM, and the CBC Radio network, reaching #1 on the Indigenous Music Countdown, Canada’s largest running Indigenous music chart program since 2000. Two years after releasing his single “High Road”, a song inspired by his son that urges listeners to keep their heads up, Little released “Just Make It Happen”, a high energy, Chuck Berry-inspired 50’s Rock song that is designed to inspire any listener of any age to take control of their destiny and go for their dreams.

Nelson talked about his song Just Make It Happen. Download the lyrics to follow along.

We talked about:

• Every type of Song Structure EXPLAINED video
• Trusting your intuitions when writing a song
• Amping up your bridge when your song is already high energy
• Working with producer Dave Wasyliw
• Turning negative experiences into a positive song
• Is older music better than today’s music? (SPOILER ALERT: Yes, yes it is)
• Taking a long time to write a song but making it sound organic and natural
• Discovering lyrical gems and turning them into hooks