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We received a record number of entries for this year's song contest, and now are proud to announce the following 6 Finalists to perform at our 14th Annual Song Contest Finals, which will be held at Cadenza in Freeport on November 3rd. Get your tickets now, and meet these talented writer/performers, as well as this year's accomplished slate of judges, below. Award-winning songwriter Sue Horowitz writes about everyday struggles and joys and makes them meaningful and resonant. Recent highlights- SERFA Official Showcase artist, DJ Showcases @ NERFA and FARM, a full house at Club Passim, Emerging Artist, at Falcon Ridge. Sue’s 5th CD, "Strings, Wings and Curious Things", debuted at # 3 on FAI radio, with several other charting singles. She tours as a folk and spiritual artist as well as with the band Autumn Sun. Lover of the art of songwriting, Sue runs several songwriting retreats. Dar WIlliams says, "Whatever our faith, Sue has the humor, compassion and songs to help us believe again." Wes Covey is a Freeport, Maine-based musician, songwriter, and clinical social worker. His songs explore the resonant emotions of everyday folks doing their best and, often, failing. Having lived throughout the United States and worked jobs ranging from librarian to big cat handler, Wes creates a nuanced web of people and place with a perspective uniquely his own. Wes’ second acoustic album, Finding Light, was released in June, 2024. Carole Wise is a Maine singer/songwriter and self-taught multi-instrumentalist. Her playing is intricate and straightforward; her lyrics are nuanced, lyrical, personal and universal. The title cut of her 2021 release, The Long Way Home, charted in the top 20 on Folk Radio. Her 2024 release, North Star, is picking up momentum. Carole's music is not afraid. She sings about love, loss, society's issues, finding self, courage and perseverance ~ always with a silver lining ~ a belief that every experience is an opportunity for growth and awareness, and seeing the world with all its beauty, wonder and fragility. Aaron Barber spent his youth tinkering with music; playing guitar, songwriting, jamming on drum sets made of books and pans as he listened to the Rolling Stones, and perusing the aisles of vinyl in the local record store with friends. He loves writing original material and is always listening as the world around him presents tons of quips and emotions ripe for storytelling. “Songs are like a scrapbook of memories, where I can dust off a guitar and revisit the experiences I’ve shared with family, friends, and strangers.” Careful or you might find yourself in a song. Tom McKeon is a Maine native who has been playing guitar and singing since he was a kid. He has been working on writing original songs in the last ten years and cites influences including Mark Knopfler, Lyle Lovett, Gillian Welch and Paul Simon. “I learn (steal) a little something from all the songwriters I hear, from Lady Gaga to Michael Hedges, and I’m always looking to broaden my scope.” Tom is...

The 2024 Song Contest is now closed for submissions. Entries had to be submitted by midnight Saturday, August 10th.   The annual song contest always draws a great set of songs from MSA members and this year's entries are spectacular!  The judges will have a hard time choosing the 6 finalists and alternates from the 61 great song entries this year.  The preliminary judging will take place soon and finalists will be announced early September.  Thank you to everyone who entered and...

We had a sold out show on Thursday for the finals of our 12th Annual MSA Songwriting Contest! Congratulations to all of our finalists and particularly our three winners: 1st Place Karen Gray - song “These are the Dreams” 2nd Place John Schindler -song “Indian Hill” 3rd Place Ronnie Mocciola – song “Hazel” ...

MSA had a field of 34 entries for this year's event. Three judges – blinded to contestant names - ranked each song for lyrics, melody, originality, song structure, and overall impact. The rankings were combined to choose six finalists. The top ten songs were extremely close in scoring and combined ranking, a testament to the high-quality of song writing from MSA members. All of the songs were worthy contenders. The six finalists who will compete live for the top three prizes are: Karen Gray Ronnie Mocciola Adam Fromm John Schindler Phillip Redo Stan Keach. Song Contest Finals will return as a full live event this year, Thursday, November 10th, from 7-9 PM, at Nomad (the former Frontier) located in Fort Andross, 14 Maine Street, Brunswick, Maine. ALL TICKETS HAVE BEEN SOLD...

In our 2018-2019 season of SOS - Songwriters On Stage - at Frontier in Brunswick, we continue to be impressed with the songwriters of Maine.  We've had great audiences, and they have appreciated the rich diversity of songwriting talent.  MSA is already looking ahead to our next season of SOS, so get in contact with us if you'd like to be considered for performing.  And by all means, come on out the first Tuesday of the month (September - May) and hear some great songwriters!   Our next SOS will be October 2nd hosted by Will Harris and his guests will be Kevin Libby, Karen Biser, Tom Ward and emerging artist Troy Youngblood.  Tickets are on sale now @ https://www.explorefrontier.com/event/songwriters-on-stage-5/...

If you were at Frontier on October 29th, you heard six wonderful Maine songwriters perform their works for a packed house. Our finalists this year were Jenny Lou Drew, Adam Babcock, Sally Ann Morgan, Richard Wallace, Ruth Hill, and Doug Kolmar, and they put on a fine show.  The judges were impressed with the well-crafted stories and tunes that our songwriters shared, and after lengthy deliberation (the longest ever!), Ruth Hill took the prize for her song “Oh, Brother Mine”.  Doug Kolmar and Sally Morgan also took prizes for their songs “No You Know” and “Sugarcane”.  You can catch their performances on the MSA facebook page or YouTube channel https://youtu.be/7dKcV9wAieo . Ruth Hill performed her winning song on WCSH6 “207” program on Wednesday, November 30, 2016. http://www.wcsh6.com/local/207  ...

MSA once again held the finals of the annual song contest at Frontier in Brunswick to a full house. Six contestants performed a warm up song followed by their composition vying for the winning song for 2015. Finalists included Brad Hooper, Jenny Lou Drew, Rob Cimitile, Andrew Thomas, Jenny Van West and Joel Dobbins. Songs were judged by Jerry Perron, Peter Alexander, and Ronda Dale on originality, melody, lyrics, song structure, and overall impact. The top prize went to Jenny Van West for her song "Nellie". Jenny was joined on stage by her son, Baxter, accompanying her on guitar. You can watch her performance on YouTube. Second place went to Joel Dobbins for his song "Unbury Your Head" and third place went to Rob Cimitile for "A Plot in Falmouth."  ...