Peter Stone Brown talks songwriting

From a 2002 interview

What inspired you into a career in music, was there anything in particular that started it all off?

Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly and the Weavers pretty much kicked it off as well as hearing stuff on the radio like the Everly Brothers, the Coasters, Hank Ballard, Lloyd Price.

What was the first song you wrote?

I can barely remember.  I think it was called “Please Mr. Postman” which wasn’t the same as the hit song.

What was the song about? How did it come about and what influenced its development?

Well it was so long ago, I don’t remember. But see, I wrote poetry, and then I learned guitar, so those poems sort of found their way into songs eventually.  It took a long time before I wrote one that I was really happy about.  But what really got me started writing songs was Bob Dylan’s John Wesley Harding album.  For the couple of…