Gulf Coast College Encore Program Features "The Price of a Song: Writing More Dangerous Lyrics"

You have stars in your eyes, dreaming of being a songwriter. Or you're a songwriter and want to take your lyrics where no song has gone before. Gulf Coast College’s Encore program features "The Price of a Song: Writing More Dangerous Lyrics" once again in its spring semester. Taught by an award-winning lyricist that Lori McKenna called "Brilliant."

Songwriter Michael R. J. Roth likes to say that “writing songs is like mining for stars,” a reflection of both the absurdity and aspiration of the undertaking. “You try to take the things around you, the people, the events, the relationships, and create a story that is intriguing, moving, and meaningful to listeners,” he said. “You’re trying to make something wonderful and miraculous out of ordinary life.”

Roth will be teaching a class on lyric writing titled "The Price of a Song: Writing More Dangerous Lyrics" at the Gulf Coast College’s Encore education program, an affordable continuing education program that allows students to explore a variety of topics. The fee for participants is $125 for the six-week program, which includes four classes each Friday. Other classes cover a wide range of topics, including calligraphy, foreign policy, birding, ukulele and dulcimer, the history of tourism, the Bill of Rights, ancestry, watercolor and acrylic painting, bridge, humor, meditation and more. Classes run from January 19 to February 23, 2024, and registration is currently open.

The lyric writing course will look at the basics of modern songwriting and explore ways to break the rules of composing lyrics that avoid cliches and stand out in unexpected ways to grab the attention of the listener. Roth has won numerous awards for his lyric writing. He is the lyric winner of the USA Songwriting Competition, the Nashville Songwriters Association, the Dallas Songwriters Association, the Austin Songwriters Group, the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest and three-time lyric winner of The Great American Song Contest. His song “Gone Gone Gone,” written with Eric Ramsey, was a runner-up Grand Prize Winner in Dallas.

Roth has performed locally at Maggie’s Musical Farm, Roberts Hall, Capstone House, Taproom, Mosey’s and Millie’s, and kicked off the Friends of the Bay County Public Libraries Concert Series earlier this year. He currently performs on Thursday nights with Lucky Mud’s Songwriters in the Round series at Thistle & Thorne on Harrison Street. He was also part of a group of songwriters who put on the recent Songwriters Underground event at Mosey’s earlier this month, aimed at raising awareness of the wealth of songwriting talent in the city.

You can learn more about the Encore Program here:

https://www.gulfcoast.edu/academics/degrees-programs/continuing-education/continuing-education-courses/education-encore/index.html

Spring Catalog

https://www.gulfcoast.edu/academics/degrees-programs/continuing-education/continuing-education-courses/education-encore/documents/education-encore-spring-2024.pdf

Roth’s website is http://easyheroes.com, and you can find his music on Apple, Amazon, Spotify and other streaming services.

He performs every Thursday night with Lucky Mud at Thistle & Thorne in downtown Panama City, 6-8 p.m. These are Nashville-style "Songwriter Sessions" featuring original music.

Watch for his solo concert at the Panama City Beach Library on February 21 at 10 a.m.