Master Tunesmith

Tony Arata has penned more than 600 songs

In 1984, Tony Arata (’80) was making a living performing in cover bands in Savannah.

The journalism graduate came home from work one day to greet the landlord at his apartment wishing him good luck when he moved in 30 days. Puzzled, Arata discovered that his wife, Jaymi (’80, ’83), had given notice.

“My wife forced my hand to move to Nashville. She said, ‘If you’re going to write songs, you need to go where people know what it means. She got us there and kept us there,” said Arata, who became interested in music during his childhood.

Even though Arata wasn’t aware of it at the time, the road to Nashville began simply enough when he started looking at his siblings’ album collections.

“I spent time reading the lyrics from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and R&B – all kinds of styles,” he said. “That was when it really clicked with me that sometimes songs came from songwriters and the artists were usually not writing themselves,” he mentioned, such as Rod Stewart, Aretha Franklin and Glenn Campbell.

Arata taught himself to play guitar, and during his sophomore year at Georgia Southern, he began writing songs and playing in local clubs. After the couple’s move to Nashville, Arata squeezed in his songwriting with his workday, waking up early each morning to write songs before heading off to his job loading trucks for UPS.

After work, he would perform at Open Mic nights in some of the city’s clubs. Call it fate or call it perfect timing, but one night after performing a song, “The Dance,” at the Bluebird Café, Arata met another aspiring writer who was himself working selling boots named Garth Brooks, who had just moved there from Oklahoma. “Garth said to me, ‘If I ever get a record contract, I’m going to record that song.’ When he signed with Capitol Records, he called me and asked if the song was still available,” said Arata.

“The Dance” – Arata’s first song to be recorded, and also the first of several songs that Brooks would record by the songwriter – went on to win Song of the Year in 1990 from the Academy of Country Music; was number one for three weeks in Billboard and Radio & Records and received Grammy and CMA nominations.

“I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of artists sing my songs,” said Arata, estimating that he’s written anywhere from 600 to 700 songs penning charttoppers for country stars like Patty Loveless, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Lee Roy Parnell, Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, Clay Walker, Suzy Bogguss, Don Williams, Hal Ketchum and Tanya Tucker.

When it comes to songwriting, Arata follows one simple rule: “Write the best thing you can on any given day. What some people shy away from in a song is what others may like in a song,” he says about composing lyrics. “There’s no real trick to songwriting – you don’t have to come up with something new. The best songs are what someone has already lived – like having a broken heart.”

Arata performs some 60 shows per year, including a monthly show at the Bluebird Café. Some of his favorite concerts are home shows – small intimate gatherings where residents can walk to the venue. Last fall, he returned to his hometown of Tybee Island, Ga., to perform a benefit concert for the Tybee Post Theater.

Performances aside, Arata acknowledged that some of his most gratifying work comes from speaking engagements. He shares advice and tips from his experiences in the industry with teenagers and college students serious about their craft. “I want these aspiring writers and artists to know that rejection isn’t the end – it’s where it starts.”