06 Apr MSA Songwriter Showcase April 13

We’re very excited to be continuing our series at Blue in Portland in April. The show will feature Jud Caswell, Carole Wise, Bob McKillop, and Andrea Cole swapping songs and probably some stories as well in this songwriters round. Tickets are not required but a donation of $20 (or more) is suggested. All proceeds go to the performers.

Meet the performers:

Bob McKillop loves songwriters and songwriting. He wrote his first song at the tender age of five years, and has been writing folk, country, and Americana songs since his teens. His songwriting shifted into high gear in 2003, when he moved to Portland began to perform at open mics and small gigs around Southern Maine. Bob admires the work of songwriters like Roger Miller, Cindy Walker, Carole King, Mark Erelli, Tony Lane, Shane McAnally, Guy Clark, Jason Eady, and Sam Outlaw. Lori McKenna is his songwriting hero.

Andrea Goldman Cole is a Maine singer and songwriter whose music has been performed by groups throughout New England. Reflecting on themes of nature, love, and family, Andrea aims to write melodic tunes with heartfelt lyrics and rich harmonies. She was the 2nd place winner in the MSA 2021 Songwriting Contest.

Carole Wise is a singer/songwriter from Brunswick Maine. Her music is sweet and soulful, drawing on a lifelong passion for education, the beauty of the natural world, and the adventures of finding truth through life’s challenges. Her music is also organic – grown and nurtured from the seed of a feeling or a visual. “I do not chase a song,” Carole says. Nature is where her spirit thrives and meditative walks are often the source of the seeds – as in the hawk she watched soaring above – that was the seed from New Frontier. Once planted in her mind and heart, Carole gifts it the time to grow. Carole’s most recent release “Long Way Home” charted as No. 18 on Folk Radio in November 2021.

Maine singer/songwriter Jud Caswell has got a keen eye for detail, a head full of far-away, and a heart full of home. In 2006 he burst on the national scene, winning the legendary Kerrville New Folk competition. His songs have been taught at Berklee, recorded by Judy Collins, and named “#4 Song of the Decade” by New York’s WFUV. Jud left the road to raise a family where his own roots go deep. He draws inspiration from the land like Mary Oliver, pushing gently into the specific until it unfolds into the universal. He paints his landscapes like Wyeth, with a reverence for humble beauty. And with a voice fresh as water over granite and soft as a pine needle bed, he wields his instruments with the matter-of fact deftness of an old woodsman with an axe.