Life In 'Songland': The Reality Behind NBC's New Reality Show

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"My parents have no idea what I do," says Shane McAnally, calling from the airport in Los Angeles as he shuffles between his many duties: as a Grammy-winning songwriter, producer and now co-host of NBC's Songland, a new musical competition show from the producers of The Voice that judges songs, not those who sing them. McAnally's mom and dad aren't alone in being a bit confused. The job of a songwriter is likely one of the most important and the least understood in the entire craft of music – and, these days, one of the most proportionately underpaid. All that said, probably not an immediate homerun for compelling TV.

But that's exactly why McAnally, who has written with the likes of Kacey Musgraves and Sam Hunt, signed on to four years ago, without seeing much more than a preliminary concept. Though he's based in Nashville, a town that recognizes the songwriter more than perhaps anywhere on earth, McAnally still was mystified by how low