Deep Talk About the Songwriting Process. That's It.

Running and poetry are all Denison Witmer needs as a songwriter. "When I'm being physically active, my brain opens up," he says.

“The more I read, the more chance I have to get inspired because I’m opening myself up to language. But I’m inspired by all art; I’m even inspired by looking out the window. It all comes in, and it all shows up in my writing,” Benmont Tench, keyboardist and founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, says.

"I have no rituals when it comes to writing. I don't want to think something can go wrong if things aren't set up the right way," says James McGovern of The Murder Capital. (photo by Pierre Le Bastard)

“My biggest hurdle as a writer is trying to hack my brain to become less critical,” Christian Lee Hutson says. In other words, Hutson wants to get the hell out of his own way when he writes.

Eli Hewson of Inhaler likes to stay up and writes all night. Come morning, he heads to bed and will sometimes pass his father Bono (yes, that Bono), who is just beginning his day and starting to write. Hewson's bandmate Josh Jenkinson wants no part of those late night writing sessions. "I just go to bed," he says. Jenkinson is a daytime writer; like Hewson, he's most productive during the day when no one else is around.

Hamilton Leithauser keeps regular hours. And those hours can be early: on the day we talked, he had started writing at 5am. It’s a problem if he doesn’t write every day, he says. "I keep regular hours, and if I don’t write every day, I feel anxious or like I’ve done something wrong.