Fred Koller

Fred Koller (born March 5, 1950 in Chicago) is an American singer-songwriter. He has been active in the music business since 1973. Fred lives and works in Nashville with his wife Trish and their cat Buddy.

Music career

Koller has written over 300 songs which have been recorded. He was awarded the BMI Millionaire Performance Award for both "Angel Eyes" and "She Came from Fort Worth". Koller also won BMI Awards for "This Dream's On Me", "Goin' Gone", "Life As We Knew It" and "Will It Be Love By Morning". He is the former Vice President of The Nashville Songwriters Association International. Koller has taught for Songwriters Guild of America and was a staff instructor for both the Kerrville Folk Festival and the Augusta Heritage Festival.

Books and bookselling

Koller opened his first bookstore in Capitola, California in 1975. It was located a few blocks from the ocean on Bay Ave. and was called Words and Music. The shop stocked an eclectic collection of used records, books and sheet music. After two years the store moved to an old fisherman's cottage where Fred and his first wife, majolica artist Farraday Newsome, lived upstairs.

In 1979 Fred sold his bookstore and moved back to Nashville, Tennessee. He opened Rhino Booksellers in Nashville in Oct. 2001. There are presently two locations.

Koller is the author of How to Pitch and Promote Your Songs[1] which is in its third edition. He also contributed to The Homespun Songwriter's Workshop and taught Homespun Tapes: Developing Your Lyrics.

Fred and Shel

Children's author Shel Silverstein was spending a lot of time on his houseboat in Sausalito, California and would often visit to write songs and explore Santa Cruz, California.

In 1974, Silverstein and Koller began writing their first song together. Silverstein was already famous for his Playboy cartoons, children's books and several songwriting hits for artists like Doctor Hook and Johnny Cash. Their collaboration grew into a friendship that would last for the next 25 years.

On one two-week trip together to Santa Cruz, California [2] they wrote a dozen songs like "Don’t Knock The Music (You Were Made To)" and "Lovely Margarita," which features a transvestite strip tease artist unveiling the "secrets of an ancient world's delight." Other encounters produced "Little Green Buttons," which introduces listeners to a woman saving a dying marriage with carefully placed tattoos, and "The Happy Caucasian," which chronicles a modern-day Johnny Appleseed who spreads joy and jubilation all across the nation while "singing out good news." Country singer Bobby Bare recorded a version of "This Guitar Is for Sale," and Robert Earl Keen, Conway Twitty and Bare have all recorded versions of the first song Koller and Silverstein wrote together, "Jennifer Johnson and Me". A few more were recorded on Fred's "Night of The Living Fred" release.

Discography

  • Night of the Living Fred, Alcazar (1989)
  • Songs From the Night Before, Alcazar (1994)
  • Where the Fast Lane Ends, Alcazar (1994)
  • Sweet Baby Fred, Appaloosa (1998)
  • No Song Left To Sell, Gadfly (2001)
  • 12 Original Songs Live From Norm's River Road House, Lucrative Music (2012)

Songwriting credits

Song TitleArtist
Ain’t It Been LoveVern Gosdin
Alabama BadMarshall Chapman
Angel EyesJeff Healey Band, New Grass Revival, John Hiatt
Bachelor GirlBaillie & the Boys
Blind LuckPeter Case
BoomtownLacy J. Dalton
Breaking Up This Happy HomeBrendan Croker
Caught in the SpotlightBobby Bare & Lacy J. Dalton
Circumstantial EvidenceJerry Lee Lewis
Count the DaysDon Dixon
Daddy Was a Sensitive ManReverend Billy C. Wirtz, Ironweed
Don’t Knock The MusicSean Seman
Don’t The Good TimesRosemary Clooney
Drink AmericanPeter Stampfel
Driving You Out Of My MindJoyce Woodson
Eli WhitneyKay Adams
Elvis Was A NarcPinkard & Bowden
Everytime The Whistle WhinesTony Sarno
Everything You’d Never Want to BeJoe Brock
Exactly What I Thought She’d DoOmar & the Howlers
Fan The FlameBenita Hill
Feels RealAfrikan Dreamland
Fool Like ThatGina Jeffreys
Fourth Wife BluesReverend Billy C. Wirtz
Gauloise BlueJonathan Pointer
Give Me Some Of ThatFred James, C. J. Chenier, Jr.
Giving Up The GhostDon Dixon, Darlene Love
Goin' GonePat Alger, Mary Black, Forester Sisters, Nanci Griffith, Kathy Mattea, Alison Krauss (live versions exist), Woodstock Mountain Revue
Goodnight Little HouseplantBobby Bare, Shel Silverstein
Habits of The HeartThe Woodys
Heart To HeartGail Davies
Heart Of A WomanTerri Gibbs
House of CardsThe New Seekers
I Don't Have The RightJ. T. Hall
I’d Rather Wear Out Than RustThe Hard Travelers
If Love HurtsMary Ann Brandon, Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women
I Get The PictureKeith Whitley
I Got Your NumberDave Edmunds, Al Anderson, Albert Lee, Blues and Trouble, Eddy Raven
If You Came Back TonightLorrie Morgan
I’ll Be There For YouBrendan Croker, Celeste Krenz
I’m Going To TownRobert Earl Keen
I’m Still Feeling BlueJ. D. Myers
In My DreamsAsleep at the Wheel
I Never Got To Say GoodbyeBill Staines
It Doesn’t Matter What The People SayPeter Case
It Makes No Difference NowJoyce Woodson
I Wanna LiveAnnie Hughes
I Want My Rib BackCharlie Sizemore, Keith Whitley, Gene Watson, Kenny Chesney, Adam Harvey
I Want To KnowRobert Earl Keen
I Was Going HomeHundred/Seventy Split
I’ve Loved Enough To KnowJim Rushing
Jennifer Johnson and MeBobby Bare, Mac Davis, Dr. Hook, Goose Creek Symphony, Paul Overstreet, Conway Twitty, Robert Earl Keen
JuanitaDavid Allan Coe, Burl Ives
King Gets A Day JobReverend Billy C. Wirtz
Lady JaneMax D. Barnes
Last Time I LookedPeter Case
Let’s Talk Dirty In HawaiianJonathan Edwards, John Prine, Wild Jimbos, Tom Rush, Those Darlins'
Life As We Knew ItKathy Mattea
Little Green ButtonsLui Collins
Lone Star State of MindPat Alger, Nanci Griffith, Don Williams, Lorrie Morgan
Love Can Be a Dangerous ThingPat Alger
Love Will Always Find Its WayPierce Pettis
Lovers On the ReboundMarie Bottrell, The Younger Brothers
Make It Pretty For MeLilian Askeland, Bobby Bare, Tom Bresh, Suzanne Klee, Helen O'Conner, Tex Williams
Man's Best Friend is His AutomobileBarry and Holly Tashian
Margarita HellReverend Billy C. Wirtz
Mary Goes RoundStu Stevens
Melancholy MoonTim O'Brien
Midnight ChauffeurMarshall Chapman
Missionary RidgeClaire Lynch
Monroe's MuleJohn Cowan
My Baby’s Like a JukeboxJason Sever, Bub Tyler
Niagara FallsBill Lloyd
Neutral GroundPierce Pettis
Never Be The SamePam Tillis
New DayLaurie Lewis
New Old FriendThe New Seekers, The Hard Travelers
Not To Old To CryKenny Serrat
Off To A Crawling StartKeith Whitley
Old Blues SingerLowell Fulsom
On Grafton StreetFrances Black, Nanci Griffith
Open Your EyesBrian Austin
Pale WindLarry Crane
Piece of PaperLarry Crane
Pretty Painted LadiesBobby Bare, Chris LeDoux, Plainsmen, Sons of the Pioneers
Pull TogetherDavid Mallett
Red Neck State of ArtBrendan Croker
Rock In My ShoeTim O'Brien
Rock Stars LamentBobby Bare
Room 309Reverend Billy C. Wirtz
SassafrassCoon Creek Girls
She Came from Fort WorthKathy Mattea, Pat Alger
She Loves Me She Loves Me NotHal Ketchum
She's Just a Place To FallVern Gosdin
Shop ShopThe Bama Band, Erin's Pride, James White
Sidestepping The BluesStonewall Jackson
Skip A StoneBeccy Cole
Somebody Else’s TuneMarge Calhoun
Some of ThatFred James, C. J. Chenier
Something To Hold On ToJoyce Woodson
Stand StillBrothers Brooks
Stars on The WaterPriscilla Herdman
Stolen ArtJeff Wilkinson
Strong Young BreezeSean Seman
Summer MelodyStoney Edwards, The Kendalls
Taking My Chances With YouThe New Seekers
Tell Me I'm MistakenJ. T. Hall
The TV Tells Me SoSmothers Brothers
Tell Me What You WantBrendan Croker
The Town With No DowntownJeff Wilkinson
The First TimeDanny O'Keefe
There’s No GuaranteeAl Anderson
This Dream's On MeGene Watson
This Guitar is For SaleBobby Bare, Wes McGee, John Prine
This Time I'm Gonna Be LovedJ. T. Hall
This TownPat Alger
Til The Coast Is ClearHal Ketchum
True Western MovieChris LeDoux
Twenty-NineTodd Dereemer
Walking With My MemoriesLoretta Lynn
We’re HistoryAtlanta
Wheel of FortunePeter Rowan
When It’s GoneTom Paxton
When The Sun Comes UpTammi Fassert
When You Ran With MeHank Flamingo
Where The Fast Lane EndsSonny Throckmorton, The Oak Ridge Boys
Where the Blue BeganHundred/Seventy Split
Whicita WayJohn Cowan
Whiplash WillBobby Bare
Will It Be Love By MorningMichael Martin Murphey
Winding DownLacy J. Dalton
With Out The LoveThe New Seekers
Words Said In The DarkPierce Pettis
Yard SaleJonathan Pointer
Yes Mr. RogersBob Gibson, Shel Silverstein
You Can’t Take The TexasLacy J. Dalton
You Don’t Mean A ThingAl Anderson

References

  1. Koller, Fred (2001). How To Pitch and Promote Your Songs. Allworth Press. 1581151942
  2. Koller, Fred. "About the songs". No Song Left to Sell. Burlington:Gadfly.
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