COUGAR TRACKS

By Matthew A. Payne (’09)

It Starts With a Song, a new two-volume set released by Tantara Records, celebrates 25 years of BYU’s songwriting program. The albums offer a variety of pop-related music from award-winning songwriters and performers including alumni Julie de Azevedo (’93), Benton A. Paul (BM ’07), Jenny Jordan Frogley (’93), Mindy W. Gledhill (BM ’02), and Hilary Weeks (BM ’93), along with performances by popular local groups Jericho Road and Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band. All of the featured artists are past or current students of Ronald W. Simpson (BA ’83), who teaches songwriting and media composition at BYU. “I hope I was able to help in some way, but I’m just really proud of all of them,” says Simpson, who is also general manager of BYU’s record label, Tantara Records. “The maturity of their songs and the quality of production is really amazing.”

Link: tantararecords.com