In this week’s episode of Mighty SONG Writers, Rhett Miller sings songs from the Great American Songbook. Coming off his band Old 97s’ critically-acclaimed new album Twelfth, Miller covers Johnny Cash, Carole King, Otis Redding, and more, breaking down the songs and explaining their history, before ending with an Old 97’s classic.

He also gives aspiring young writers some advice he’s learned from his own writing. “I think of what I spend my life doing, writing songs, as a craft,” he says. “It’s something you get better at as you go. It’s not magic; it’s work.”

Watch the video at Literary Hub: https://lithub.com/watch-rhett-miller-covers-the-great-american-songbook/

Mighty SONG Writers continues through September with a new video every Wednesday. The rest of this month’s artists are: “Despacito” co-writer Erika Ender (Sep 16), AAA radio chart-topping indie-folk artist Matt Quinn of Mt. Joy (Sep. 23), and GLAAD Award-nominated pop songwriter Wrabel (Sep. 30).

Previous performers in the Mighty SONG Writers series include Amanda Shires withJason Isbell, Marcus Roberts, Jewel, Phil Augusta Jackson, Devon Gilfillian, and Valerie June. Catch up on the full series here: https://lithub.com/story-type/mighty-song-writers/

Mighty SONG Writers aims to raise money to support Philadelphia-based non-profit Mighty Writers, which teaches reading and writing to thousands of low-income and marginalized students every year and is seeing more need than ever during the pandemic.

About Mighty Writers

Mighty Writers was founded in 2009 with the mission to teach kids to think clearly and write with clarity. The organization offers free programs for students from elementary through high school at nine centers in diverse neighborhoods around Philadelphia and New Jersey, including several bilingual locations for Spanish-speaking students. Mighty Writers offers daily afterschool academies, long- and short-term writing classes nights and weekends, teen scholar programs, mentorships, College Prep courses and college essay writing classes. Over 400 of the city’s best creative minds (writers, teachers, journalists, etc.) teach 150 writing classes a year to 3,500 kids at Mighty Writers annually.

About Literary Hub

LitHub.com is a daily source for all the news, ideas and richness of contemporary literary life, a website readers can trust for smart, engaged, entertaining writing about all things books.