Local lands songwriting honor

Tucumcari resident Levi Mericle has landed his second songwriting honor since 2018.

Mericle's composition, "All Mama Does Is Cry," was one of nine runner-ups in the Demo Your Lyrics category of the 2019 International Songwriting Competition. Winners were announced Wednesday.

"It's a heartbreak country song," he said during a telephone interview Friday. "I've had friends who've had hardships in life, where their family situation isn't exactly a good one. That's what the song is about. The father is abusive and ends up going to prison, which is in the chorus."

Mericle's song earns a free demo recording at Pearl Snap Studios in Nashville with one instrument (normally a piano or guitar), a vocal track and background vocals, if needed.

The song then will be shopped to record labels and music artists who might be interested in recording it.

Mericle said he won't sing the demo; a professional vocalist will do that instead.

"I don't play music. I get tunes in my head that I think it should sound like, but I can't sing worth a lick," he said. "For me, it's the words that come. I'm pretty good at that, I think. It's why I sent stuff to bands; I want to collaborate on music."

Mericle's category included entrants from the U.S., Canada, Nigeria, Ireland, United Arab Emirates and Australia.

The overall winner was "The Debt" by Randi Garnick of Buffalo Grove, Illinois.

Judges of this year's competition included Tanya Tucker, Tom Waits, John Mayall, Sara Evans and Heart's Nancy Wilson, plus several dozen music-industry executives.

Toni Watson (aka Tones and I) was a 2019 grand-prize winner in the competition for her song "Dance Monkey," which became a worldwide hit. The video for "Dance Monkey" also has drawn nearly 1 billion views on YouTube.

Mericle entered his first song in the competition in 2014; it was a rap tune that didn't get much notice from the judges.

"I didn't do enough research," he said. "It was the type of lyrics that weren't going to get published."

He learned fast. In 2018, Mericle's "Whiskey Deep" song finished third in the Lyrics Only category of the International Songwriting Competition.

Mericle also is a published poet and writer. Encouraged by his recent good showings in the tunesmith realm, he said he'll submit another song for the competition again.

"Maybe next year will be my year," he said.