What would possess a woman, who had already achieved a lion’s share of fame and success in the entertainment world, to sit and wait until eleven o’clock on a Monday night, just to play one of her songs for an audience of seven tired people in a relatively unknown club located at the center of some industrial stretch in North Hollywood? If you’re Tracy Newman the answer is “Love. I love songwriting and I love playing my music for others.”

Tracy Newman started her show business career as an actress. From the seventies on she has been involved intermittently as part owner, director and cast member of the Groundlings, the premier improvisational group and theater in Los Angeles, of which her younger sister, Laraine Newman, of “Saturday Night Live” fame, was also a member. From 1989 to 2004, Tracy was a television writer and producer. Along with her partner, Jonathon Stark, her first staff writing position was on “Cheers.” After that she wrote for “The Nanny,” “Ellen” (with Ellen Degeneres), “The Drew Carey Show,” “Bob” (with Bob Newhart) and “Hiller and Diller” (with Richard Lewis and Kevin Nealon).” She and John won an Emmy for co-writing the groundbreaking “coming out” episode of “Ellen.” And, for her television finale, they wrote and co-created “According to Jim” starring Jim Belushi, which is still running today.

But now she dedicates her life to songwriting. It is indeed rare that a veteran with Tracy’s accomplishments is willing to start over and pay her dues in a completely different aspect of entertainment. But that’s exactly what Tracy has done. A guitarist her whole life, Tracy has studied nobly to learn to adapt her storytelling from a twenty-two minute format to a three-minute one.

Tracy credits much of her success to a songwriting workshop that she has been involved in for the last few years, where she has steeped herself in the craft of lyric writing and learned to make every note and word count. Half the songs from her album were written in the workshop, taught by Harriet Schock, a veteran songwriter herself (“Ain’t No Way to Treat a Lady”). Harriet is quick to return Tracy’s compliment. “Tracy Newman is a born writer. She observes life and pulls out the meaning, the irony, the pictures and mesmerizes us all with her story telling.”

A few years have passed since Tracy’s return to songwriting, her first love, and with the passage of time and a lot of hard work comes the release of her first CD “a place in the sun.” that she wrote, co-produced and sings along with the Reinforcements, her back up vocalists. Each song on the CD is a unique experience for the listener and incorporates the irony that Tracy has learned to bring to her music. My favorite from the album, a song where Tracy really flexes her writing muscle is “Waffle Boy” where the listener is transported to a Waffle House in Nashville, Tennessee, and placed inside the skin of a boy who by trial and fire is experiencing his first day on the job as the official waffle maker.

How inspirational, that with all her experience and success, Tracy sought out classes and workshops to make herself a better songwriter? If you need proof, her CD can be purchased on iTunes or through Tracy’s web site.

For more information on Harriet Schock’s songwriting classes, browse her profile on Two Smart Dogs. GO!

Browse writing classes on Two Smart Dogs. GO!