1st Annual Spa City Songwriter Showcase Mini-Festival
Inaugural Gathering Creates Ties That Bind In Regional Musical Community
HOT SPRINGS, ARK. (October 24, 2009) &endash; With the bluest of skies and the turning leaves of the Ouachita Mountains as a backdrop, a large swath of the brightest stars in the songwriter talent pool of central Arkansas gathered for the 1st Annual Spa City Songwriter Showcase Mini-Festival at the Double R Ranch in rural Royal. It was an offshoot of and a natural progression to the Songwriter Showcase held at The Poet’s Loft in downtown Hot Springs.
It
was a ‘dog and butterfly’ day in poetry and
reality. The human community of musicians and their
audience was visited by dragonflies, butterflies, and
well-mannered canine friends on the ample deck of the ranch
house; and the marvelous home cooking and barbeque spread
lead into a lazy and warm afternoon followed by a crisp
evening warming by the fire. Hosts Rena Wren and
Rodgey Roach kept the events flowing, and Roach set up and
ran the sound system.
The genres included Americana, blues, country, folk, indie, and more. In order of their appearance beginning around noon, the following headliners took us on personal journeys into their worlds and our times:
Jerry Clay played guitar and sang ‘Bear Hollow Road’ about where he grew up in Sebastian County; ‘The Mighty Sioux’ about the Battle of Little Big Horn; and others.
Dana Landers played guitar and sang three songs, the last being new and under development but very strong, ‘Magnet For Lies’.
Kelly Franklin played guitar and gave us just a peek at her considerable vocal talent with her ‘Borderland’ and ‘Easier To Be’ songs, and finished with an instrumental.
Bluesboy Jag played an old Silvertone; an electric fretless cigar box guitar; harmonica and foot drum and sang in old country blues style; ‘My Hometown’ really kicked some dust.
Gene Reid played guitar and sang songs about life and lifestyle, including ‘I’ve Got to Get Away (From the Town)’ and ‘I Was Once Miss Mollie (at the House with the Blue Light)’.
Justin Patterson, accom. by Reid, played guitar and sang songs of lost love and this region, incl. ‘Hwy. 65’ about driving through the SE Ark. delta, and ‘The Road to Memphis’ (top photo).
Mandy Creed played guitar and sang about personal issues, including ‘Empty Me Out’, ‘I Hate Taffeta’ and ‘My Dying Wish’.
Laura
Lynn Cardenas played guitar and sang songs on loving
written from her journey, including ‘Facilitate the
Getalong’, ‘Long Distance Embrace’ and
‘Old Woman’ (accom. by Wren). (photo)
Amy Jo Bishop, accom. by Jason Leak on guitar, sang ‘Tune In’, a song about a family member recovering from addiction, and the effervescent ‘Riding My Pink Canoe’.
Rena Wren & Co. featured Wren on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Rodney Roach on lead guitar, Rodgey Roach on bass and vocals, Joel Fry on drums, w/backups provided by Patterson and L.L. Cardenas; songs of our times and seasons, incl. ‘Summer Solstice’, ‘The State of Things’, and the innovative ‘Random Matter’ about the space between two points.
Country
Way featured Greg Cardenas on lead vocals,
Clyde ‘Cornbread’ Adams on lead guitar and
vocals, and Rodgey Roach on bass and vocals; w/Fry
sitting in on drums and L.L. Cardenas on backup vocals; it
was country all the way with Cardenas singing ‘I Grew
Up On Love, I Grew Up On Music’, ‘That Dusty
Picture’ and ‘Country Way’; Cornbread’s
‘Cell Phone Song’ was entertaining. (Cardenas
left) (Wren and Cornbread below).
The festival was a unique gathering of songwriters and musicians from many different types of musical backgrounds and genres, with the common bond of expressing their own music in their own way. Everyone was interested in and respectful of the other musicians’ performances, and the feeling of community was pervasive.
This property is fine for camping, and the children were provided with a set area for play. For a first year festival, it really came off well and without any visible hitches. We’ll be looking forward to next year’s festival and an ever-expanding circle in the songwriter community in central Arkansas.
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