Bridport songwriter and musician releases songwriting book

Bridport songwriterand musician Elijah Wolf, who has been writing songs and producing music for two decades, has penned a book to help others get their creative juices flowing.

He started his 'self-taught' journey in the music industry 20 years ago after only having ‘a few basic lessons’ as he followed his dreams and ambitions.

Elijah's band, The Gravity Drive, which features himself and wife Ava, have had their songs played on BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music, but his passion for music hasn’t stopped there.

The songwriter also hosts a podcast and YouTube channel called ‘Songwriting for Songwriters’ where he speaks with songwriters of note – including famed American musician Suzi Quatro.

Now though, the musician from Bridport has decided to release a book to pass on his experience to others. 

“It was a book inspired by a weekly YouTube channel,” the songwriter says.

“I would ask subscribers to come up with subjects to write songs about, and it’s a case of me deep diving into a subject, to find a seed or a spark for a song.”

The book contains 52 topics from which readers can create their own songs, and Elijah is keen for people to use their own imagination.

“It’s an interactive book, so it is not me telling you how to write a song,” he added.

“I’m just simply asking the reader questions on each subject and asking them to write how they feel about them, and asking them to go into their imagination and creativity and see what they think about something.”

Elijah’s ‘deepest desire’ is to simply try and 'connect people with their creativity and hopefully inspire them to write songs’.

The Gravity Drive are also in the process of working on their third album, which Elijah revealed will feature a special guest.

“We are currently recording our third album. There is someone really exciting involved with it and we are just finishing that off – it should be out next year.”

Whilst Elijah did not want to reveal who they had been working on the album with, he was happy to talk about the upcoming release.

“This time Ava’s written a lot of the songs and there is her voice, then my voice and then both our voices together which gives it more variety,” he adds.

“The themes are quite wide. There is unity, and because of the pandemic there is the theme of being at home, as well as the human condition.”

Part of a Bridport music scene he describes as ‘vibrant and fun’, Elijah also believes there should ‘always be more live music’ and encourages venues in the area to put on more gigs.

However, with releasing a new book and working on the band’s latest album, it has left little time to get out on the circuit himself, with Elijah admitting ‘he has done a few solo gigs’, but that the focus had been on his other projects.

Not wanting to be pinned down on a favourite venue, the musician did point to one location that he believes serves the West Dorset music community well.

 “I don't have a favourite place to play as I try to be in the moment wherever I am, but I have a real affection for Tom Browns in Dorchester, which is incredibly well run, supports music, local art, local food and is a great community facing venue.”

Elijah’s new book The Songwriters Handbook: Songwriting For Songwriters is available from Amazon.