Idyllwild Songwriters Retreat and Festival

Ann Smith
Reporter

What is the Idyllwild Songwriters Retreat and Festival and who is Brett Perkins anyway?

Perkins is a very interesting chap who was born in San Gabriel, California, and brought up in Arcadia. His grandmother had an undeveloped piece of property in Idyllwild during the 1960s.

“I was brought to Idyllwild when I was 8 years old by grandmother,” said Perkins. He explained how Idyllwild has been his “spiritual home.”

His grandmother wasn’t particularly a musical person, but she was a poet. His mother played some piano. Years later, after trying his hand at writing poetry, he was told he was really a lyricist.

Perkins has been making music for more than 40 years. As he is a singer-songwriter, he plays guitar primarily to accompany himself. While not formally trained in music, he attended university for two years, playing music full time. He studied marketing at Cal Poly Pomona. Perkins actually considered going into forestry.

Perkins moved to Copenhagen, Denmark in 1997 after meeting and falling in love with a singer-songwriter he met during one of his travels. She lived in Denmark.

Idyllwild isn’t the only location where Perkins brings retreats and festivals. He has produced festivals in nine different countries over a 20-year period. He travels about Europe and the United States.

A visit to his website, http://www.listeningroomretreats.com, will give you a window into the direction in which Perkins’ music goes. There is a Facebook presence. His songwriting retreats take place in multiple locations from Italy and Ireland to Greenland, and yes, Idyllwild. For Perkins, songwriting is a collaborative effort.

He founded and developed the Copenhagen Songwriters Festival in 2009. His roots are in Denmark as he has a daughter there.

As Perkins puts it, “We bounce back and forth between the U.S. and Denmark.” He tells us his dream is to spend half of his time in Idyllwild and the other half in Copenhagen. When asked about his fluency in the Danish language, his comment was, “I get by.” In Denmark, there is a different educational standard and children learn to speak multiple languages, including English. His daughter is fluent in Danish and English.

Perkins is a former CEO of the National Academy of Songwriters. His vision was and remains to bring his talents and knowledge to Idyllwild and to help other songwriters showcase their talents. He truly wants to be part of the Idyllwild community. He is vested in this community as evidenced by his cultural and financial contributions. This is truly a labor of love for him. He brings in outsiders as well as Idyllwild songwriters, exposing each to the others in a desire to broaden the experiences of all involved. Part of his ongoing vision is to bring in a festival at the end of the retreat he brings to Idyllwild.

The retreat itself is based on co-writing, collaborative writing between participants. They discuss it daily and he guides the entire process.

“My main role as a facilitator is to find a wonderful setting and maintain a welcome, respectful space for all participants.” Retreats always had a concert to give writers an opportunity to hear their song. As songwriting is non-specific to a genre, he tells us, “I believe the creative process is wide-open.”

Perkins plans to continue with the retreats and has added a festival at the end of every retreat. In closing and important to note, Perkins underwrites these events himself, but donates all proceeds to the Idyllwild HELP Center.

The Idyllwild Songwriters Retreat will be held at Spirit Mountain Retreat from July 25 to 31 with festival performances Saturday, July 31. Visit www.idysongfest.com and www.listeningroomretreats.com for more information and to register.