2007 Song Contest Judges

DSA 2008 SONG CONTEST Back to Winners Page

Grand Prize Judge

Roy Elkins is a well-known music technology entrepreneur who has been leading industry innovations for over twenty years. Elkins is the Founder and CEO of Broadjam Inc., serving independent musicians and industry giants such as Warner/Chappell, The Academy of Country Music, AMD, Yamaha, Peavey, Roland, ProSoundWeb and others. Broadjam.com, the company’s popular web site, now hosts one of the largest collections of searchable independent music on the planet. The site is known for its user-friendly services for musicians, including artist web pages, song reviews, song contests, and Top 10 Charts.

Before founding Broadjam, Elkins was the Vice President-Sales & Marketing for Sonic Foundry, and held several Director-level positions with Ensoniq Corporation. He maintains a database of over 5,000 music industry contacts include executives at virtually every company in the music industry and past and/or present artists such as Will Smith, Eddie Murphy, D.J. Jazzy Jeff, the Beach Boys, the Allman Brothers Band, BoyzIIMen, Roy Firestone, Joe Walsh (The Eagles), Paul Broucek(Lord of the Rings), ELP, Yes, Journey, Skid Row, Bill Walton, Jackie Martling (Howard Stern), David Arkenstone, Randy Jackson and many others. He is an accomplished musician and songwriter who thoroughly understands the musician’s world.

Category Judges

Pop/Rock/Alt/R&B/Urban -Barbe McMillen

Founding President of the Dallas Songwriters Association, Barbe is a voting member of the Recording Academy, who recently voted for the 2009 Grammy Awards. and she is an instructor of songwriting at Collin College and is still an active member of the DSA Board of Directors. She has served on the executive board of the Texas Music Association and is an active member of the music community. She has directed five major conferences, the Dallas Songwriter's Association Seminar, DSS1-5, and New Dimensions Festival from 1990 - 95, plus numerous workshops, concerts, open mic events and other activities. Barbe has brought music industry professionals from all over the world to Dallas to provide educational & networking experiences for the DFW music industry. Under her direction, DSA grew from a handful of songwriters meeting within the Texas Music Association, to almost 300 members, when she left office as president. She molded DSA into an internationally known organization that many other groups aspired to imitate. While President, Barbe incorporated DSA into a 501 C3 educational organization with the help of local music attorney, Charles McGarry. She also advised many other founders of songwriter organizations across the country on starting their own regional groups. As a recording artist, she has recorded five albums that have been released by WHIT Records. All were co-produced by Don Ashley; and two were co-produced by Grammy-award winner, Richard Theisen. She has also recorded with other solo artists, bands and for various other commercial projects as lead or background vocalist. Her composer credits range from album cuts, to television and films credits, which include co-writing the theme music for a syndicated national television program, Billy Bob's Country Countdown, and winning a Mercom Gold Award and a US Film & Video Silver Screen Award for original music & lyrics on other projects. Besides co-producing her own releases, she has also produced, two albums for Remarkable Records, Songs To Grow By, and When I Was A Dinosaur which features the Dixie Chicks on one number. She has also co-produced The Passage with Grammy winner, Richard Theisen, for Whit Records. She is currently working on her second musical, Give Me A Break, a rock musical.

Country - Marty Rendleman

Rendleman Management Group, Inc. is an artist management company with a reputation for discovering and managing young talent.
Marty Rendleman, President & CEO of Rendleman Management Group, has been involved in the entertainment industry since 1984. In 1992, Marty discovered and then managed LeAnn Rimes for three years. She obtained the song, “Blue,” from her dear friend, Bill Mack, and the rest, as they say, is history.In 1996, Marty would again sign a 9-year old, Mikaila, and start the process all over again-- but this time in ‘Pop’ music. In June of l999, at the age of twelve, Mikaila signed one of the biggest new-artist deals in history with Universal’s Island Label. Her first single, "So In Love With Two," was released in November, 2000, and her self-titled album was released in January, 2001.In August of 1999, Marty signed Kristy Lee Cook (stage name, Kristy Lee), another blonde-haired, blue-eyed Country Singer. At the age of 16, Kristy was signed by RCA Label Group, Nashville. Kristy also became the first artist signed by Britney Spears production company. However, RCA put some of their young artists on hold and subsequently dropped them. Kristy is an American Idol finalist from the 7th season, and is currently signed with Ren-Hen Records. Marty Rendleman consults with many talented young people but signs very few. So far, she is three for three at spotting "major league" talent!

Love Songs/EZ Listening -Ron Grimes

Songwriter, producer, Lewisville, Texas. Co-wrote three songs with LeeAnn Rimes when she was 12 years old that eventually sold over 10 million.

Novelty/Children’s - Kim Copeland

With more than 20 years in the music business as a successful songwriter and record producer, Kim Copeland has emerged as one of the industry’s most valued leaders. She is a staff writer at Sage House Music (Nashville), and her songs have been recorded by numerous artists in Canada, Europe and the United States. She has also released two albums of her own material, to tremendous critical acclaim.. Kim’s work as a producer consistently receives rave reviews.

Americana/Folk/Bluegrass -Brandi Warden

President, Moonkiss Music, Austin, Brandi comes from a long line of country music veterans, Her grandparents, father, uncle and cousin are all award winning songwriters and/or producers, with the family's record sales in excess of 100 million. She began her own music career in the mid '90's in A&R for Decca Records, before moving to Austin to marry songwriter/recording artist Monte Warden. Since founding her publishing company, Moonkiss Music, in 2002, she has earned numerous gold and platinum records, had major cuts in both country and rock, and several charted singles, including George Strait's "Desperately", which earned a BMI award in 2005 and a BMI Million-Air award in 2006.

Instrumental/TV/Film/Classical/Jazz - Don Ashley

Singer/Songwriter - Rob Fraboni
Grammy award-winning sound engineer Rob Fraboni has worked with some of the music world's brightest stars: Bob Dylan, Patti LaBelle, John Lennon, Keith Richards and more. His experience in the music industry has included handling signings, A&R, product management, artist development, quality control and remastering of artists' catalogs. Fraboni was nominated for Producer of the Year at the New York Music Awards in 1989 for a Wendy Wall album on SBK, which won Best Folk Album of the Year. He received a Grammy nomination in 1982 for a Bonnie Raitt record, Green Light, as well as a Grammy nomination in 1978 for the Last Waltz movie soundtrack. The Stones' Bridges to Babylon was nominated for Best Rock Album of 1997 (along with co-production, Fraboni was the consultant on that 1997-1998 tour) and he won a Grammy in 2002 for the Hank Williams tribute when Timeless got the award for Best Country Album. Fraboni brings his considerable talent to the DSA Song Contest, where he will judge the __________

Christian/Inspirational -Keith Ferguson

Keith Ferguson, a native of Dallas, Texas, is a freelance writer, director, actor and worship leader. His theatrical background includes professional work with Dallas Theatre Center, Theatre Three, Lyric Stage and the Dallas' Children's Theater. He is a proud member of Actors Equity, the union for professional actors and stage managers in the United States. His most recent roles include FATHER in Children of Eden and ROBERT in Jane Eyre. In addition, Keith has written dramatic scripts and lyrics for several musicals and plays published with Word Music, Benson Music, Genevox Music, and Allegis Publications. He has an undergraduate degree from Dallas Baptist University ( Cum Laude, Distinguished Alumnus Award) and Masters in Vocal Performance degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Barebones - David Card

Owner, Poor David’s Pub
Most of Texas’ greatest songwriters have one thing in common: they’ve headlined at Dallas’ legendary music venue, Poor David’s Pub. For the past 31 years, Poor David’s Pub owner David Card has been host to outstanding artists such as Sara Hickman, the Dixie Chicks, Patrice Pike, Max Stalling, Guy Clark, Jimmy Webb and more. Card is also the founder of the annual BW Stevenson Memorial Singer-Songwriter Competition, held at Poor David’s every April and now in its 20th year. Card, Poor David’s Pub and the annual contest have helped the careers of past singer-songwriter winners including Adam Carroll, Max Stalling, Kristi Kruger, Gordy Quist, Elizabeth Wills, Colin Boyd, Owen Temple and many others. www.poordavidspub.com

Music Video - Bart Weiss

Founder, Dallas Video Festival
Barton Weiss is an award-winning independent film and video producer, director, editor and educator and consultant and co-founder of the Dallas Video Festival (est. 1988). Weiss was Associate Producer of Vatican II Productions, and has taught film and video at Texas A&M's Visualization Lab, Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas at Austin and Arlington, and West Virginia State College. He is a Co-President of the Board of Directors of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF), past Vice President of the Texas Association of Film and Tape Professionals (TAFTP), founder and past President of the West Virginia Filmmakers' Guild, and co-founder of the Video Association of Dallas. He is currently the producer for “Frame of Mind,” a monthly show of independent film and video for KERA /KDTN Public Television in North Texas. www.videofest.org

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