I would imagine that many towns with enough musicians has open mic events.  Our does.  Some of them are truly open... arrive, jump on a sign up list, play.  Some of them are curated... anyone can play, but you must sign up in advance of the show date. You'll see all sorts of musicians at these events. You'll see seasoned musicians working out new material.  You'll see people performing their own music in public for the first time.  You'll sometimes see a musician build an ad-hoc band right there in the venue, and perform a few songs with no rehearsal. I tend to enjoy these events, as seeing live music always tends to give me the good endorphins.

I am sure there are more open mic events in the Greater Dayton area than I know of.  I am very familiar with the one at Peach's Grill in Yellow Springs.  It is hosted by the effervescent Kyleen Downes, who you might recognize from a previous blog post here.  (Sign up for that one is right here.) In addition to delicious pizza, South Park Tavern has an open mic even on Wednesdays. (Sign up for that one is right here.)  My favorite of these events in the area is Showcase Thursday over at Yellow Cab Tavern. I can't share a sign up for that one, you need to do it in person.

Although I always enjoy these sorts of events, I prefer the ones where everyone is playing original music. Foremost among these types of events are Songwriter-in-the-Round type occasions.  For these, each songwriter plays one original song in turn, and round and round we go.  I've attended countless of these events, but had never had the opportunity to play in one until last week, Sunday March 27th.  Rich Reuter hosted the Songwriter-in-the-Round at Devil Wind Brewing in my hometown of Xenia, Ohio, and invited me to be part of the lineup.

This is going to become a photo blog now.

That right up there is my hometown.  Specifically, it is the view toward the courthouse from Detroit Street, just south of Main Street.

This next picture right here is Khrys Blank arriving.  She played during the same Round as me, and she is exactly as cool as she looks in this photograph.  Dennis Geehan also played in that Round, but since I was next to him during the time we played, I didn't get any pictures of him.

The second Round of the evening consisted of Nicolas Johnson, Jenna Gomes, and the host, Rich Reuter.

The last Round was Kevin Milner, Rachel Litteral, and Anna Marie.

It's always somewhat emotional playing songs in front of people, but that was cranked up for me, as this was my first time playing in my hometown.  Also, it was a bit nerve-wracking to be surrounded by so much talent. We all survived it though, and then I got the post-show endorphins.  

I'll keep on trying to play as many events like this as I can.  I'll also keep trying to attend even when I'm NOT playing, as a way to show support for people who are brave enough to share a piece of their art with the public when they don't know how it will be received. These open mic events are customarily free to attend.  I encourage you, no matter where you are, to try to find similar events in your area and try one of them out.  You never know, you might discover some music that you love.

I enjoyed getting to learn more about some talented folks this year via these written interviews.  I hope you enjoyed them as well, and I hope you found some new music to enjoy.  Below the picture is a review of the people we met this year.

with Baby Molly in Austin before the pandemic

Riley Hall - Bass player and singer in Snarls, a band from Columbus that you really should check out.

Jenee Halstead - Artist, singer-songwriter. She released an album called Disposable Love this year.

Baby Molly - Songwriter who recently moved from Toronto to Vancouver. You'll be hearing more from him soon.  

Chris Keats - Artist name is stylized as KEATS.  He released an EP this year called When the Sails Collapse, As Live.

Elyssa Vulpes - Italian songwriter who has moved to New Zealand since we did our interview.

Emmrose - Songwriter and artist from New York City.

Kyleen Downes - A music professional from right here in the Dayton area.

If you missed any of these interviews, or would like to re-familiarize yourself with any of these fine people, feel free to visit the links.  Listen to their music, connect with them on social media, and if you find any of the songs particularly moving, maybe tell a friend?

In March 2020, just after finishing up Anxious Inventions & Fictions, I was able to schedule a visit to Juliet Fromholt's Kaleidoscope show on WYSO. Then, the pandemic lockdown happened.  Juliet was kind enough to have a conversation with me about the album to put on the air.  It would have been SO much cooler to head over there in person and play some songs, though.  Well, last week, on 13th October 2021, we finally made that happen.

The room where live music happens over at WYSO is larger than I thought it would be.  Here's Juliet, MD at WYSO, getting the gear set up for us to play.  Over in the corner, that's Allan Ware, who played guitar with me.

Here's where I stood.  My amp is over at the far side of the picture.

Here are the kind folks who played with me.

You might recognize Kyleen Downes from last week's blog entry. She played guitar and sang harmonies.  Right there next to me is Ray Owens, who normally plays drums for Sadbox, and he kindly provided the percussion.

I am thankful to Allan, Kyleen, and Ray for being my band for the evening.  This involved taking the time to learn my songs, rehearse them, and come play with me on the radio.  I am thankful to Juliet for inviting me to play, and for her continued support of the independent artists in our area.  

Kyleen Downes is a true professional. She plays, she writes, she sings, she teaches... and radiates joy when making music.  Every time I go see Kyleen play a show, I end up less grumpy when the show is over than I was before it started.  The community of musicians in the greater Dayton area is better for having her be a part it. 

This is her official music page. I have everything here on compact disc, and I assure you, it's all good.  Why not get yourself a copy of her latest album, Come On Sit Down, on vinyl or CD?

How about we get to know Kyleen a little better?  After the photo, I amplify her voice.

Photo by Jennifer Taylor

1.  Let's hear the elevator pitch for your skill set and genre. 

The best one I’ve come up with is my music sounds like if Tom Petty and Sheryl Crow were raised on TRL. 

2.  You have a Bachelor's degree in Music.  For musicians who are not formally educated in music, but wish to improve, what's a simple piece of advice you could give? 

While I was getting my degree I was inundated with so much information, I was discouraged that I wasn’t retaining what I was learning. But as the years have gone by, many concepts have clicked. So my advice would be, don’t feel like you need to know it all, incorporate what you do know (value it!) and more will come as you go. 

3.  What was the first album you can remember buying with your own money? 

I made two album purchases that day with my own money: The Men In Black soundtrack and Weird Al Yankovic Bad Hair Day.

4.  Tell me about the last concert you saw. 

I saw Cat Power, Garbage and Alanis Morissette at Riverbend in September. A friend invited me and had 3rd row seats, I’ve never been that close before! Cat Power’s performance was gorgeous and humble. Then Garbage performed and they damn near killed me with the bass, but it was awesome. Shirley Manson now has a place on my badass women list. Halfway through one of her songs she called someone out in the audience and said “Hey Kelly” then proceeded to finish the song. Afterwards, she proclaimed how amazing the universe is that in a sea of people she saw their server from the night before, Kelly. She then told the audience that Kelly was in a band called Flying Underground and that she checked them out on the Instagram and said their stuff was great! SO fun! Finally Alanis Morissette came out with her stellar band and washed us all in her unbelievable voice and energy. The concert was incredibly uplifting and an experience that I got to have with two of my closest friends. 

5.  When did you start playing guitar?  Why did you choose guitar as your instrument? 

I started playing guitar when I was 12 years old after my parents gave me one for Christmas. I wish I knew why I chose guitar because it has become such a huge part of my life. As a kid I did love singing musical and Disney songs, and I also played clarinet, but I really don’t know why I chose guitar. I asked my mom once why they got me a guitar for Christmas and she said, “I guess you must have asked for it.” Makes sense Mom, haha! 

6.  You're a solo artist, even though you write full band compositions.  I can relate.  When you finish a song and are thinking about heading to the studio with it, how do you approach making choices for arrangement and instrumentation? 

The songs I take to the band, I work out structure and instruments parts with them. The songs I’ve worked out on my own will often take shape in the studio. I may have an idea of trying something on a particular instrument but won’t know until I try it. I now have an interface and some GarageBand skills to try out more arranging beforehand, I’m excited to see how it works out! 

7. Can you name three influences on your songwriting and sound, along with some details on how you incorporate those influences? 

I’m influenced by whoever I am listening to or perhaps learning to play on guitar. I developed one song on guitar when I was pretending to be Jimi Hendrix in my basement. It sounds nothing like Jimi Hendrix but who does!? It was more how he moves his fingers on the neck that I was trying to imitate. That song I co-wrote with Emma Woodruff for her album Longing for Something I Ain’t Got and it’s called "Yellow Springs Thing". 

A song of mine, not yet released, called "Tell Me What I Want to Hear" was influenced by Prince. I was hearing something in my head that sounded sexy and staccato, so I developed the song with his aesthetic in mind. 

A local influence came out when I was writing my song "Big Top" and that’s the duo Biscuits and Gravy. The acoustic punch of Harold Hensley and the sassiness of Cassandra Barker really drove the tone of that song. 

8.  So... when do we get more new music from Kyleen Downes? 

2022! No specific details but I’ve got new songs written and will be recording soon. They each have very distinct voices so I plan to release them as singles throughout the year.

***

The video for "Give Up the Ghost" is great, and you should watch it.  I've already linked to the official home of Kyleen Downes on the Internet, but here's her website again.  You can find her music there, as well as on all of your normal streaming services.  You can also find Kyleen on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

I am absolutely thrilled that Kyleen is willing to play with me THIS WEEK, when I play live on WYSO.  Again, she is a true professional.  Rehearsals have been solid, and I warmly invite you all to tune in on WYSO dot org Wednesday 13th October at 8 PM Eastern, and you'll hear Kyleen's fine guitar work and harmony vocals.