Stephen Desjardins

Stephen’s Favorite Songwriters

FELICE / BOUDLEOUX BRYANT:
Growing up listening to the everly brothers i discovered this husband and wife team had written most of their hits. The first songwriting super stars in country music.

WILLIE NELSON:
Crazy, always on my mind, blue eyes crying in the rain are all in my top 30 favorite songs. Pretty Paper is my favorite Christmas song.

JOHN LENNON & PAUL MCCARTNEY
They changed my world. Their influence on my life as big any teacher or family member. Masters of melody and lyrics, master performers and as clever with words as any songwriters in history. Has there ever been a song of theirs not published? Two hundred years from now the Beatle's music will still be studied and taught in colleges.

JOHN DENVER:
My love of songwriting has no boundaries. The people who create those songs are nothing short of awe inspiring. John Denver is at the top my list. His love of life, family, friends and the world around him all so obvious in his songs. No one wrote songs like John Denver. His lyrics and melodies touch my heart and soul. "Seasons of the heart" is my favorite album and Perhaps Love is my favorite song.

JIMMIE CRANE:
Rhode island's version of Irving Berlin: "If I Give My Heart To You" (Nat King Cole & Doris Day); "Every Day Of My Life" (Bobby Vinton); "Hurt" (Timi Yuro, Elvis Presley and Juice Newton). Living in Rhode Island during the 70's and 80's I had the pleasure of Jimmie's insights to songwriting. For over twenty years we talked about the craft of songwriting and the music business. He was quite a man, and one hell of a songwriter.

Biography of Stephen Desjardins

Songwriter Stephen Desjardins was born and raised in Rhode Island. As a young boy his mother would take him to local amusement parks for the local country music shows. Listening to Eddie Zack and the Hayloft jamboree a popular local band playing cover songs of country hits is where his love of country music was born.

Listening to country songs on the radio was another great source of inspiration and a growing love for country music. The Everly Brothers, Brenda Lee, Jim Reeves, Johnny Tillotson, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Roy Orbison, were always on the radio. The song that would change his life forever was a country song without a single lyric. The song was Floyd Cramer's "The Last Date" the greatest piano instrumental ever recorded. This recording was a cross over hit and played on pop and country radio. After hearing this song, he knew it was the piano he wanted to play. It remains today one of his favorite county songs.

If Floyd Cramer is why Stephen plays piano, then John Denver is the person responsible for him becoming a song writer. He attended a dozen of John Denver's live shows and bought every John Denver songbook ever published, during the 70's and 80's. It was listening to these wonderful lyrics and melodies that first influenced Stephen to try to write songs that could also touch people and make a difference in someone's life. A letter and a demo to Connie Bradley asking for advice got him a slot in his first workshop. Stephen spent eight Monday Nights in the ASCAP building with songwriter Bonnie Baker. He began traveling to Nashville for songwriting workshops and symposiums and continues in his quest for a songwriting deal.

A member of NSAI and ASCAP, Stephen has been writing in and around Nashville at every opportunity possible. In 2003 his amusing Christmas Song "Santa's Gonna Come Sometime Tonight" made the finals and was voted Honorable Mention at Nashville Song Search. In 2005 his song "I Am Because Of You" was voted #1 country song for April in the VH-1 Song Of The Year Contest. In 2006 his song "I'm Not Laughing Anymore" was voted a top five song for April at the Songwriter Universe. In several major song writing contest his songs have been voted into the finals. His songs can be heard on The Radio Indy Network.

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