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CJ Borden has a one track mind. The singer/songwriter has remained faithful to the call of a career in music since she was a young child.
The California native was making up songs and rhymes when she was a youngster. That love for music followed her through high school and college, where she received a degree in nursing.
"My parents urged me to get a degree that I could fall back on if my music didn't work out," CJ says, pointing out that even in college she played in a band and hung out with people who played music and wrote songs. "I agreed to do that and I am an RN but I've always had it in my heart not to give up on my music."
CJ moved to Nashville because she felt she needed to be entrenched in a major music center, surrounded by others who plied the same craft she did. CJ met J. R. Williams there and the two began co-writing. She became an active part of the songwriting community, performing at local songwriting hangouts like the world famous Bluebird Café. She also performed regionally at fairs and other events.
"A lot of that stuff was happening during those first years in Nashville," CJ says. "I know now that some of my early songs were awful but it definitely was a growing, maturing and learning about the business process."
CJ continued to work with other writers and branched into different areas of music including gospel and Christian. After marrying, her husband's job took them to Las Vegas, an area packed with talented performers and musicians. That has been a positive for her because she's expanded her writing to include pop and rock tunes along with her country and Christian numbers. She just released an album of original songs, "A Songwriter's Collage," which serves as much a presentation of her tunes as it does a showcase for her as a performer.
CJ feels certain that some of the songs on the album will get cut. She is getting great feedback from it and that encourages her. "I hear stories all the time about other songwriters, like it took Diane Warren 14 years to have a hit," CJ says. "When I hear stories from people who have made it, and they tell me it doesn't happen over night, it's helped me to stay in there and not give up."
The singer/songwriter admits there are times when she gets frustrated but her love for music keeps her going. She believes music is a powerful tool that moves people and touches them in their daily life. "It can make you laugh or cry, bring you joy or sadness. There's always music to everything we do - weddings, funerals, memorial services, birthday parties. You always remember the song that's associated with major things that happen to you - your first kiss, your first heartbreak. I feel like it's a way for people to express themselves when they aren't sure how to do it otherwise.
"When I write, I try to feel life -- what I've seen other people go through and how they've handled it - and write it in a way that will help people learn more about themselves or express their feelings to others. Music helps us through joy and sorrow and that's what I enjoy about it. I love to express myself in that way, it's my creative out."
CJ says she would love to hear someone sing her songs. She says, "I know the first time I hear one of my songs on the radio I'll be in tears. I'll be telling everybody 'that's my song, go buy that CD'."
The singer/songwriter believes "A Songwriter's Collage" will help her make a better pitch for her songs. "It's includes a lot of variety. Even though my first love is country I have these pop and rock and Christian songs too, so I have a lot of variety in my writing."
"I just know that this is where I'm supposed to be in my life. I feel like I've been created to do it -- it's the desire of my heart to be a songwriter. I know it's a matter of getting the right song to the right person at the right time. That's why I'm going to keep doing everything I know to do and keep pursuing it as best I can and then I'll know I tried my best."
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