Senator-Songwriter Alleges Piracy

While reading news of yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing–the one at which singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett testified–I, for one, was surprised to discover that one of DC’s most successful composers has been hiding in plain sight for years. As it turns out, Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican and former chairman of the aforementioned Committee, writes gospel hymns and country tunes. Not only that, he has some hit records to prove it.

According to Dana Milbank’s article in today’s Post, Hatch claimed at the hearing–which was called “Exploring the Scope of Public Performance Rights”–that, “I have one gold and one platinum record, but I’ve been told I would have more if it wasn’t for piracy.”

His discography doesn’t cry out, STEAL ME, but the guy does have a song on the Ocean’s Twelve soundtrack, so perhaps his comment is less self-aggrandizing than it sounds. Who’s up for an illegal download of “Morning Breaks on Arlington”?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Country, Law, Radio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.