Writing music, playing his acoustic guitar and performing for anyone that will listen is Ricky Fitzpatrick’s passion.

So when he got an e-mail from Barbara Cloyd, a songwriter in Nashville, Tenn., offering a chance to attend her songwriter’s workshop, he jumped at the chance.

"As a writer I know that I have to make treks up the road to Nashville," said Fitzpatrick, a native of Commerce. "She picked 18 of us and gave us the opportunity to come up there and do all-day workshops and pitch to, I think, six very prominent publishers in town."

Cloyd, who books shows at the legendary Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, has been putting on these Play for Publishers workshops for seven years and is known for writing "I Guess You Had to be There," released by country star Lori Morgan.

"I look for people that I hear something in their writing," Cloyd said. "That is entertaining and engaging to the listener — something that is, well, just something that is fresh, different and real. It’s like if you are mining for ore."

Fitzpatrick loaded up with wife Cretia in late October and made the trip to the three-day workshop, which is only open to 15 hand-picked songwriters, and had the chance to present his songs to publishers and get feedback from influential Nashville executives.

"The idea was to pick the most pitchable thing," Fitzpatrick said. "I picked what I thought were my three strongest, most commercially ready songs and went up there with those. Most people came up with a demo ... I didn’t. I just went up there with my guitar and I played my songs live, because I think I deliver them better like that."

Fitzpatrick performed "Mississippi Moonshine," "Ballad of Billy the Kid" and "Forever & A Day."

Cloyd was drawn to Fitzpatrick’s music from the start because "he is a good storyteller."

The sound of Fitzpatrick’s music is reminiscent of James Taylor with a down-home Southern feel, which his lyrics reflect.

"His stuff is interesting — the melody and the feeling of the music was just so ... I just wanted to slow dance to it," Cloyd said. "It really conjured up for me the feeling of being there and it was fun. He took me to a place that I wanted to go."

Fitzpatrick said even though he got mixed reviews for "Ballad of Billy the Kid," he thinks that is the best song he has written.

"That’s probably my personal favorite," he said. "The song is very dark, very vague and it’s a fictional idea of what could have possibly been going through the mind of Billy the Kid."

Along with performing songs for Music City publishers, the musicians had the chance to perform at the Bluebird Cafe.

"The place was packed in there," Fitzpatrick said. "The place is tiny; the atmosphere is so intimate."

The writers got a chance to hear live performances from Barry Dean, who co-wrote Carrie Underwood’s "So Small," and Lisa Carver, who is known for writing for Sugarland and Tanya Tucker. After the performances, the writers were able to get a little advice from the professional writers.

"(The best piece of advice was) ignore all the crap and work harder than everybody else," Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick, who has released two CDs, "Pocataligo" and "Peckerhead," plans to keep visiting Nashville and get his name in writer’s circles. He said he would go again to Cloyd’s workshop.

"I would go again and again, simply to meet people" he said. "The bulk of what I learned was from my interaction from the people that are doing the same thing that I am doing."