14th Annual Maine Songwriters Association, Songwriting Contest Finals

Finalists:

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 currently working in a duo, “Cribstone,” with Kathleen MaGee.

Janice O’Rourke is an award-winning Yarmouth-based songwriter known for her

powerful vocals and equally impactful lyrics. She is a member of Arcadia Band, playing Folk/Americana originals. The band just won an IAMA finalist award for Dream Rolling By on their new EP titled Lonesome Holy Sound. This summer, Janice formed a band called Follow The Crow co-writing folk/ pop trio with multi- instrumentalist, Mark McDonough and percussionist Chris Wilkes. In 2023, she also composed and performed music for deathwings project, a beautiful play and community maker project exploring death, grief and transformation by Bess Welden.

Judges:

Kate McCann is a folk singer and banjo player based in midcoast Maine. Playing both original and traditional music, Kate draws from her time spent immersed in old-time, Irish, and maritime folk music traditions. Through her arrangements of traditional songs and original compositions she explores how traditional music exists in the contemporary world not as a static artifact of the past but as an active practice that both the musician and audience can engage with. Her first EP “Sea Songs,” was released during the summer of 2023 and pulls from the maritime music tradition she became deeply familiar with after spending a year working as a chanteyman at the Mystic Seaport Museum. The EP’s first single “Bone Dry”, was winner of the 2023 Maine Songwriters Association Songwriting Contest. With a sound comparable to classic troubadours such as Joan Baez and Peggy Seeger but with contemporary flair and distinct New England roots, Kate is excited to continue creating material that straddles the line between old and new.

Originally from Bangor, Maine, Larry John McNally's songs have been recorded by some of the greatest recording artists of all time, including The Eagles, Aaron Neville, Bonnie Raitt, Mavis Staples, Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker and more. His debut album appeared on Columbia Records in 1981. His lyrics are literary yet conversational and his guitar playing has been described as "Folk-Hendrix." These past few years he has performed all over the world; in Argentina, Japan, Paris, London, Edinburgh, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, and more, both as a solo artist and as half of the duo McNally Waters, with keyboardist Harry Waters, son of Pink Floyd's Roger Waters. Please visit Substack and Instagram for more information: https://substack.com/home/post/p-146329296?r=3t7vv9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Meg Shorette is the co-founder and Executive Director of Launchpad, a Maine-based Arts Incubator. She also served as the lead Talent Buyer for Port City Music Hall in Portland, Maine; the 580 capacity sister venue of the State Theatre until its permanent closure in August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her passion for supporting the DIY Music Scene and “all ages venues” inspired her to create the DIY performance space Central Gallery; the All Roads Music Festival; and the Bangor Arts Exchange. In 2014, Maine Magazine named Meg one of 50 people helping to shape the state of Maine; the youngest acknowledged at just 30 years old. Meg previously served as a music programmer and Visual Arts Director for the former KahBang Music & Arts Festival until leaving to form Launchpad in 2011.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Cadenza, 5 Depot Street, Freeport, United States