Lewis Knudsen, a Rock Island-based singer/songwriter, had one of his original tunes debut last fall on the Hallmark Channel and he didn’t even know until a couple weeks ago.

“The way it works with composition, there are so many libraries, so many songs. I have a good relationship with this library, but they don’t have the bandwidth to let every artist know,” he said Thursday of Gramoscope Music, which works with artists nationwide to place shows in TV and film.

Knudsen had a two-year-old song, “I Need To Get Free,” as one of eight songs on the soundtrack for Hallmark’s “Love, Fall & Order,” which will air again this Saturday at 6 p.m.

In the 84-minute romance, Claire (Erin Cahill) goes home to save her dad’s (Gregory Harrison) annual Fall Fest on her family’s pumpkin farm, and sparks fly with an old rival — the opposing lawyer (Trevor Donovan) she now faces in court.

Gramoscope is one of several music libraries Knudsen has contracted with to provide exclusive or non-exclusive use of his music. The Hallmark song is exclusive to Gramoscope, so he can’t make it available on his own record or streaming services.

“When I stopped touring (with the pandemic), I needed as a musician to find a different stream of income, and I’m really glad I did,” Knudsen said. “It’s way more viable.”

In the past few years, the 37-year-old (who records at his Moline church, Community Christian Fellowship), has toured coast to coast in the U.S., as well as South Korea, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, and the U.K. Knudsen has opened for bands such as Amy Helm, Jesicca Hernandez, Nicholas David, and Davina and the Vagabonds.

His influences include James Taylor, Randy Newman, Ben Folds, Hozier, Rufus Wainwright, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, and Jack White. In January of 2018, Knudsen’s “All My Sins” was featured on FOX’s “UFC Road to the Octagon.”

So far for Gramoscope, he was asked to write three pieces – one instrumental and two vocals, all within the folk genre.

“They’re really pretty specific what they want,” Knudsen said. One he did was called “Walking On In,” something evocative of being a baseball player, walking into a stadium with a cheering crowd, upbeat and affirmative.

His instrumental piece was used in the series “Wicked Tuna,” and has an acoustic swamp sound.

“I borrowed a slide guitar, and it’s slidey acoustic blues stuff,” Knudesen said. “I’m still waiting for my payout from ASCAP. I have no idea how much it’s going to be. It’s definitely a good thing; I want to get into this more. The pandemic only affirmed it was a good move.”

He said he has about 24 songs in non-exclusive libraries, available for other TV/film projects. “It’s been a journey,” Knudsen said. “This Hallmark thing is a nice shot in the arm.”

The Saturday movie song is acoustic pop, kind of a Jason Mraz feel, and he didn’t see the original film last October. And Knudsen has a gig Saturday, so he’ll have to miss it again, though it should be available after to stream.

He’s performing Saturday at Bootleg Hill Honey Meads at 7 p.m,, 321 E 2nd St., Davenport.

“I’m not sure how many people are allowed inside,” Knudsen said, noting he’s played there a couple times indoors the past few months.

“There have not been any issues. It’s not a big floor space, but at this point, there’s enough room around the bar. It’s cozy; I don’t play really party gigs anyway, like a dance floor. That’s the kind of gig I go for.”

“It’s been surprisingly good, I can’t complain,” he said of the past six months, “Senior living is completely gone, but I’ve played a lot of private parties, people had wedding plans that fell through, and they had it in a backyard or someone’s ranch.

“The awesome thing, the weather this summer — other than the hurricane — has been phenomenal,” Knudsen said. “It’s been really neat, I’ve done a ton of outdoor gigs, and 99 percent have been amazing weather. People asked to play a block party, people want to get together.

“I set up on the driveway, play some songs,” he said. “My schedule has been pretty consistent. I’m not sure what will happen when the weather gets colder. It’s kind of the name of the game.”

“I have doubled down on composition stuff; I’ve been working really hard on custom composition for TV, do that as my day job,” Knudsen said. “I’m just trying to prepare for a world where live gigs aren’t my main source of income.

“I need to pivot – the story I’ve heard about changes that companies made have been interesting, and inspiring in some cases,” he said. “When you have to change, you come up with creative solutions you hadn’t thought of before. I am doing a ton of writing and recording.”

For more information, visit https://lewisknudsen.com/