Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers wins Lennon songwriting prize

Date: Sep 25, 2008

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September 25, 2008
For immediate release

Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers takes grand prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest

“Fly,” a song by musician, author, and NPR contributor Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, won the grand prize in the country category of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest (2008 Session I). Judged by music industry veterans and recording artists such as Bob Weir, John Legend, and Natasha Bedingfield, the Lennon contest is one of today’s most prestigious international songwriting competitions.

The song can be heard on the John Lennon Songwriting Contest website at:

http://www.jlsc.com (click on Winners)

“Carpe diem with a hoedown beat”: that’s how Rodgers describes “Fly,” recorded on his CD Humming My Way Back Home as a duet with country-pop singer Lisa Gentile. For a prize-winning country track, “Fly” was recorded in homespun fashion on a laptop in Rodgers’ basement. Gentile contributed the duet vocal, Joe Cleveland picked the five-string banjo, and Rodgers anchored the rhythm section by playing a cajón (wooden box) and a plastic toy tambourine with a large crack covered by mailing tape.

The John Lennon Songwriting Contest award marks yet another way that Rodgers has combined his twin passions for words and music into a multifaceted career as a musician, writer, and editor. In addition to writing and performing his own songs, he reports on the music scene for NPR’s All Things Considered. He is author of The Complete Singer-Songwriter and Rock Troubadours (which features his conversations with Jerry Garcia, Paul Simon, James Taylor, and more), and founding editor of Acoustic Guitar magazine. He lives outside Syracuse, New York, where he hosts a concert series called the Words and Music Songwriter Showcase.

The CD Humming My Way Back Home, featuring “Fly,” was released on Rodgers’ own Words and Music label and is available at iTunes, CD Baby, and jeffreypepperrodgers.com.

More about Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers at:
http://www.jeffreypepperrodgers.com

Hi-res press photos are available at:
http://www.jeffreypepperrodgers.com/press.htm

CONTACT
jpr@wordsandmusic.info | 315.637.7507