By Steve Fulton – Boise Idaho

Sharing my ‘Nashville Experience’ Nov 9^th – 13^th 2025

The set up for the retreat to the Nashville Experience was very exciting. Getting to have an industry pro in Jeff Cohen and all the Industry guests that Saskia and Jeff had set up for the retreat was quite incredible.

Day #0 – Nov 9^th

This evening we were anticipating meeting everyone for a meet & greet then dinner at the Moxy Hotel, in the Vanderbilt area of Nashville. This was to happen at 6pm but we were all dealing with traveling difficulties. I ended up not making it in time but got to follow along with everyone’s arrival progress on Whatsapp.

Saskia started a Whatsapp with a everyone attending the Retreat. This was super helpful so we were all connected. 

Day #1 Nov 10^th – ‘Writing Day 1’

I have to admit I had some slight nervousness for the start of our retreat. I am sure we all did. Meeting new people is always that way. It immediately dissolved with the warm welcomes from Saskia and Jeff and every one of the attendees. 🙂

We met at 9:15, made our introductions and immediately met our first guest speaker, Dave Pacula.         

 Dave is a Music Publisher with Liz Rose Music. He spoke to us for an hour about publishing, and fielded many great questions and really opened our eyes to what Publishing really means. It was very informative. 

Then we broke off into our first writing ‘group’ randomly picked by our retreat organizers. 

I got to write with Al Crew who was from Florida. It was immediately comfortable. Our musical tastes worked nicely together. We got a great start on a song that we called ‘Half Built Bridge’ but didn’t fully get it finished. We left with plans to get back to it and finish it at a later time.

 We broke for lunch then came back for a second writing session where I got paired with Eric Ganeles who was from Boston. Eric and I struck gold. We quickly found a direction based on a guitar part I had come up with a couple days earlier. Eric said something about wanting to write a song the title of a female in the name. (at least I think it was Eric who came up with this idea!? It is sort of a blur…) Then we happened upon the name Arabella. We both loved the name (which means ‘How Beautiful’ or ‘Lovable’ as well as other meanings from different languages) We thought this was a perfect direction. We finished the song and felt like we had a victory. 

These two writing sessions set the tone for the week for me. We shared a Dinner together and planned the next day. 

Then we had a little Song sharing before we went to our rooms.

Nov 11^{th – ‘}Writing Day 2′

Today we start with a Guest Speaker Josh Collum. Josh is a superstar in Music Licensing and Sync.

I have been getting deeply into this industry and found this incredibly interesting. He was very forthcoming and honest and explained how it works for him and his company Sound Stripe.

I left feeling excited about that future for me and us.

We then got put into our next song writing group. I got to write with Linda Lamon and Stephanie Bettman! We had a really fun time writing our song called ‘New Old Friend’ that we wrote about Saskia, Jeff, Jenna and the whole group; how we feel like we had just made some new friends that we would have for a long time until they become old friends!

THEN! That night Jeff made an audible and switched our original song sharing and dinner to going to see a bunch of Top Notch Nashville song writers do a Pop-up gig at the infamous Brown’s Diner! Holy cow that was awesome! 

Nov 12^{th –} ‘Studio & Concert Day‘

Today is probably my favorite day of the retreat and possibly my life? It ranks up there for sure.

I live in Boise, Idaho. I have owned and operated a commercial recording studio since 1992 www.audiolab.org.

I have engineered, Produced and recorded thousands of recordings and all of my own records for all of these years and never been to a world class studio. Today we get to go to the world famous Ocean Way studios. 

I walked into the studio and I swear I wanted to cry. It was overwhelmingly beautiful. Formerly a church, as well as other things, it has now found its home as a recording facility with the main room that we recorded in and 2 other smaller rooms that are just as impressive, honestly.

I first thought that we were just going to watch Rebecca Richards record with a crackpot team of studio musicians. They were to do the Talent is Timeless TV show Theme. I guess I didn’t catch that we were going to pick 2 or 3 songs from the ones that we had written to also record. When I realized this I was entering heaven!

We also got to witness the Music director, David, chart out the song using the Nashville numbers system, in real time, by ear. It was quite impressive. We have used the Nashville numbers system at our studio for the last 5 or 6 years so it was really incredible to see how they do it in the town that it was invented in. Wow!

After the band got the newly made chart we then watched the recording happen. It was super slick and Pro and sounded like a mix even as they were tracking it.

Anyway, after that we all got a chance to record songs we had a part in writing. This was such a thrill and everyone contributed in a BIG way!

I was emotionally spent but wait!….there was more.

We went out ‘The Local’ to see the ‘Freakshow’ songwriters in the Round show as we dined on delicious Nashville fare.

There were a couple songwriters there that were just incredible world class Singers, Songwriters and performers. Wow again!

Jeff Cohen and Rebecca Richards both goth a chance to play as well! We got to see Jeff in his element. I call Jeff the Music Mayor of Nashville!

Rebecca sang a beautiful song!

The night ended and we all went back to the hotel filled with so much inspiration and joy. It was truly a magical day.

Nov 13^{th –} We all had to say our See You Laters cause this was no Good Bye (Inside Story from one of our songs) This ain’t no Goodbye it’s just a See You Later. 

My Takeaway. If this is an indication of what all the retreats are like for Talent is Timeless I suggest everyone find a way to attend one of these life changing trips.

Thank you so much Jeff, Saskia and Jenna

PS: Jenna Kirkpatrick was an absolute incredible asset and made everything so much easier for all of us. Thank you!

Until next time! 

Sincerely, Steve Fulton – www.stevefultonmusic.com