Jen Kearney

You won’t want to miss Songwriters in the Round at the Center for Arts at the Armory. Jen Kearney is a powerful performer who sings with grit, swing, and soul. Derek Rando is the frontman of Boston folk/rock band Blue Tomorrow, appearing solo at the Armory for the first time. Fluid vocalist and fiddle player Emily Haviland will beguile you with her surprising and beautiful songs. And longtime friend of the series Mark Stepakoff is back to charm us after performing with Christine Lavin at Club Passim. Songwriters in the Round Wednesday April 17, 7pm-8:30pm Arts at the Armory Café suggested donation $10 The Armory Café is a warm, welcoming place where people can enjoy food and drink as well as chance meetings and conversation. But everyone becomes quiet when four songwriters take the stage to take turns playing songs, occasionally joining each other on harmony vocals or guitar licks. In between songs, the audience listens while the performers discuss music and life in general. “I was inspired by the ‘guitar pulls’ of the Bluebird Café in Nashville,” host David Thorne Scott says, “but with a wider variety. There is folk and country, but also rock, R&B, soul, jazz, and musical theater.” Held on the first and third Wednesdays of each month from 7:00-8:30 p.m. This program is supported in part by the Somerville Arts Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The event is free but you may want to donate $10-$20 for the performers. Part of the ROOTED Armory Café Series. Café menu is available here: https://artsatthearmory.org/rooted-cafe/rooted-menu/Beer and wine also available! You might hear a young up-and-coming pro, an established mid-career performer and mentor, and a cherished elder of the scene -- all sharing music. The growing relationships will warm your heart and enrich your soul. Come every week as the lineup shifts and new friends are made. All ages welcome. Sign up for the Songwriters in the Round email list at http://eepurl.com/c2gNWf Our songwriters this week Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Jen Kearney has spent some time seasoning her particular style of original music. Her sound is truly an amalgamation of musical styles including Soul, R&B, Funk, Rock, and Latin. Kearney’s music and attention to lyrics and has met critical acclaim nationally and internationally. Kearney released an EP entitled “Atlantic” in March of 2022. She has recorded and released six studio albums and has done session work on many other projects. She is a 2022 New England Music Award nominee for soul/r&b act of the year. Kearney tours both as a solo act and with a full band. She spent 2018-2020 living in London touring the UK/ Europe with her own act and with a 9-piece Latin band called Snowboy & the Latin Section. She has shared the stage with the likes of Maceo Parker, Los Lobos, Daryl Hall, Mavis Staples, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, The Derek Trucks Band and more. https://jenkearney.com Derek Rando is a Massachusetts-based songwriter and front man of the band, Blue Tomorrow. The music is introspective and has the dark shaking hands with the optimistic...partly sunny with a promise of rain. bluetomorrowmusic.com https://instagram.com/derekrando Emily Haviland has been a part of the Greater Boston music scene for nearly a decade. As a graduate of Berklee College of Music with concentrations in fiddle performance and music therapy, she studied everything from music and how it can alter the brain, all the way to American Roots and its rocky history. In recent years, Emily has become known for her fiddling and background-vocal support of local folk acts like Kaiti Jones. But with her latest solo project, her powerhouse voice and interesting melodies will come as a pleasant surprise to listeners. She’s shared the stage with some of the great contemporaries like Darol Anger, the late Emy Phelps, Bruce Molsky, Aoife O’Donovan, Margo Price, Twisted Pine, Kaiti Jones, and has been showcased on records released by Alisa Amador, Kaiti Jones, and others. https://linktr.ee/emilyhavi Boston area singer-songwriter Mark Stepakoffis widely admired on the New England folk music scene for his mix of wry humorous material and poignant ballads, in the vein of artists such as John Prine and Loudon Wainwright III. He has won numerous songwriting awards and his songs have reached as high as number 3 on the national folk radio airplay chart. Mark performs frequently in the Boston area. Among the artists he has opened for are Bill Morrissey, Steve Forbert, Christine Lavin, and Cheryl Wheeler. www.markstepakoff.com