As the creator of the 11:59 Songwriting Group, Dave Madden has built an annual project designed to provide support, accountability, and feedback for a diverse group of musicians and songwriters.

Every year, Madden curates a collective of artists ranging from singer-songwriters to instrumentalists, poets, visual artists, composers, solo artists, and bands.

It’s a vibrant community where many genres of music are represented. Since its inception in 2018, the group has created 720 songs—and they're just getting started.

“I had no idea that running into Dave Madden at Noelle Hampton's birthday party would lead to me (slightly begrudgingly) joining the 11:59 songwriting group. As someone who's always kind of thought of myself as "just a bass player", being a part of this group really gave me the opportunity to stretch in ways that I never have before. The last song that I turned in, "Truth or Dare '95" was such a crazy fun experiment for me and allowed me to play with Logic in a way that I hadn't before, delve into using midi, layering vocals, etc. Hard to believe that the person who was so afraid of saying yes to this group is now already looking forward to next year!” - Harmoni Kelley, bass player for Kenny Chesney
“Being a participant for the last five years in the 11:59 Songwriting Club has been a beautiful, creative way to kick off every year. Songwriters are poets, after all, so as a poet (not a musician), I've been welcomed and encouraged by this uber-talented group of folks. I look forward to as many years as Dave wants to do it!” - Lizzie Wann, poet

11:59 "in the wild"

The 11:59 Songwriting Group serves as a creative incubator for an ever-growing body of publicly released work. Below you'll find just a small sample of songs that members of 11:59 chose to record and release.