Songcrafting Seminar
My 22nd Annual Song Crafting Seminar will be held at The NSAI offices at 1710 Roy Acuff Place in Nashville on January 23rd, 24th and 25th, 2026. It is now open for registration! This amazing event is one of my favorite workshops of the year. We will kick things off on Friday January 23rd with a meet and greet at 6 pm and a concert featuring Steve Seskin, and two other writers TBA.
At the songcrafting seminar, you'll have the opportunity to connect with other songwriters and learn from some of the best and brightest folks in the music biz. It's a great weekend of music, learning, and fun, where we celebrate the sacred act of writing songs. You will hopefully leave more inspired about your creativity than ever before! I will be sharing all the secrets of songwriting I know!
We will be offering two scholarships to the seminar. If you’d like to be considered, please send an email to Steve at seskinmusic@gmail.com and with a short note about why you want to attend and why you think you’d benefit from the weekend.
Register for Songcrafting Seminar here:
You can also pay on venmo @Steve-Seskin or on Zelle at Steve Seskin
If it asks for the last 4 digits of the phone number enter 8780.
Regular Price - $750
PRO Discount Price - $675
Add the note “songcarfting seminar 2026”
This includes two full days January 24th and 25th, 9am to 5pm of instruction as well as an intimate Friday night January 23rd concert with Steve Seskin, and two guests TBA. There’s also a Saturday night January 24th show at The Bluebird Cafe with Steve Seskin, Daphne Gale, Kat Higgins and Mike Reid.
All proceeds from that night go to support Alive Hospice of Greater TN. We will ensure our seminar participants have tickets. For extra tickets, please inquire with Natalie. We will close out the seminar weekend with a Sunday night guitar/piano pull with performances by the participants. It will be at the home of one of our attendees about 10 miles from Nashville proper. Natalie will give you the exact address after you sign up for the seminar.
I am excited to add this closing session to our weekend. It’s a great chance for everyone to hear each other play and get to know each other better.
“Your reputation as a top-notch songwriting teacher is well-deserved! I’ve NEVER attended a songwriting session that was as well-done, informative and professional as Saturday’s seminar.”
Participants in the seminar are encouraged to send in one song for Steve to listen to. Of the songs submitted, several will be chosen to be critiqued during the seminar with an emphasis on what we can all learn from the process. One of these writers will be chosen to perform as a guest artist during the Friday night concert and one during the Saturday night show. To submit your song, please send a lyric as well as an mp3 of the song to Steve at seskinmusic@gmail.com. If you submit a song but don’t want to be considered for performing on Friday or Saturday, please let us know with your submission.
Hour long one-on-one sessions with Steve will be available during the day on Friday, January 23rd and Monday, January 26th. The cost for an hour is $135. During the hour Steve can take an in depth look at two or three songs. These sessions are only available to seminar participants. These sessions will run from approx 9 am till 5 pm each day.
For more information or to arrange a one-on-one session with Steve, contact Natalie at natalieottomusic@gmail.com
“It was such a pleasure to learn from you at the songwriting workshop! I so appreciated your genuine and thoughtful personality, the depth of your songs and advice and all the time you put into preparing such a unique and comprehensive weekend”
This unique and intimate gathering features two full days of lectures, workshops, critiques and inspirational talks as well as two performances, that will totally change the way you look at songwriting. I have prepared several new talks for this years seminar. See my course descriptions, to learn more about possible topics to be covered.
Workshops run from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Saturday and Sunday at the NSAI building at the Music Mill, with a break for lunch from noon to 1pm.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email Natalie. After you sign up, please email her with your contact info, phone, address and the email address you check most often. She will contact you with anything else you need to know. We will also send out a lodging list for those of you coming in from out of town. We just arranged for a block of rooms at e reduced rate of $149 a night at Hotel Motif on Music Row! Obviously you can stay wherever you’d like but I stayed there last year and found it to be excellent and very well located to the event. Ask Natalie for details or email me at seskinmusic@gmail.com to be given the booking link.
Register for Songcrafting Seminar here:
You can also pay on venmo @Steve-Seskin or on Zelle at Steve Seskin
If it asks for the last 4 digits of the phone number enter 8780.
Regular Price - $750
PRO Discount Price - $675
Add the note “songcarfting seminar 2026”
The cost of the 2026 Song Crafting Seminar remains at $750 regular price and $675 for members of ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, NSAI, NETN, WCS, SongU, TSAI and Song Town.
Our special guests this year include Grammy winning songwriter and NSAI Hall of Fame writer Mike Reid, and Kat Higgins.
Mike and Kat both possess what I think is the key to being a great writer. They intrinsically know all the elements that go into writing a great song. They are passionate about what they do and although they have had great success in the music industry, they have attained that by keeping their integrity and staying true to their artistry. They know how to serve each song they write, something I always admire in a writer. They’re also avid re-writers!
Mike Reid! What can you say about someone who is in the NFL Hall of Fame for his prowess on the football field and the NSAI Hall of Fame as a songwriter? Mike Reid is the only one I know who can say that. He has written 12 number one songs but more than that, it’s his integrity, attention to detail and willingness to “work” on his songs that has always attracted me to him. I co - wrote one of the songs on his 1992 album on Columbia records. I’ve included a link below if you’d like to listen. He has always been on my list of writers I try to emulate every time I sit down to write a song.
Interestingly enough, Mike’s most frequent collaborator is Allen Shamblin. Mine too. One day in 1990, Mike and Allen were writing a song at a publishing company where I was working with Craig Wiseman. I decided to say hello to Mike and when I opened the door, he was sitting there with Allen. He looked at me, he looked at Allen and said “You two guys oughtta write together. It was as if God had spoken. Allen and I booked a date and the first song we wrote together was “Life’s A Dance” ! Since then, Allen and I have written 140 songs together and I can honestly say it never would have happened without Mike’s comment. Life is funny that way isn't it?
Mike Reid Press:
I have only written with Kat Higgins a few times but it was easy to tell back then she was destined to have her name on some very well known, important songs. She started off as part of her family band The Higgins in Vancouver Canada. After moving to Nashville her hard work finally paid off in 2022 and 2023 when Kenny Chesney recorded “Knowing You” followed soon after by Cody Johnson recording “The Painter”. I am so excited to have her as my special guest this year. Here are some clips of her work. Enjoy!