Ten years in the Round — writers sing their stories

A dozen years ago, Rochester singer-songwriter Brian Coughlin took a trip to what he calls “the mecca of songwriting” — Nashville, naturally — to check out the scene and see how his songwriting stacked up. He found himself in The Bluebird Cafe, the city’s chief performance space for songwriters — many of whose names are unknown but whose songs are famous.

“They all sat around in a circle with a lamp in the middle, and one by one, they started playing songs,” Coughlin recalled. The singing ranged from great to mediocre, but the lyrics, and the music, floored him: “Across the board, they wrote the most amazing songs. In their simplest form is how you heard them, not all produced like what you hear on the radio, coming out of Nashville. I was just amazed at the depth of emotion and quality.”

Coughlin wanted to bring that “In the Round” experience home to Rochester with him. He started thinking about all the local songwriters he knew through open mikes hosted by the Irish duo The Dady Brothers, and put together plans for Rochester’s own “Songwriters in the Round” series. In 2001, he made it happen, inviting two of his favorite local songwriters, Maria Gillard and Jeff Riales, to join him on stage at 389 Gregory St.

It’s 10 years later, and this Saturday, Sept. 17, Coughlin, Gillard and Riales will take the stage again to mark the 10th anniversary of Songwriters in the Round. Gillard, who teaches at Finger Lakes Community College in Hopewell, is known for folk- and jazz-infused performances. Riales is among the area’s preeminent country and Americana writers and singers, with a rich baritone reminiscent of Waylon Jennings or Johnny Cash. Coughlin writes in various genres, but finds himself most comfortable in the rootsy Americana vein.

Coughlin estimates there have been more than 60 distinct songwriters take the Songwriters in the Round stage at one point or another in the monthly sets. He’s drawn them from the local scene — John and Joe Dady (separately), guitar virtuoso Kinloch Nelson, Naples singer-songwriter Lisa Bigwood and many more — and regionally, such as Buffalo’s Alan Whitney and Greg Klyma. Some have come from as far as Toronto, even Nashville.

What attracts them — and what Coughlin has been happy to encourage — is a venue where the audience is there to listen to the music, to hear what they’re singing rather than experience the music as a backdrop to drinking, socializing and darts.

“So many people at the end of the night when I give them their money say, ‘Oh, I’m getting paid for this too?’” he laughed.

Coughlin likes to catch them when they’re just starting to make waves. He hosted Joe Crookston of Ithaca for five years straight, 2005-09 — and now Crookston’s a rising star in the folk world, the 2009 recipient of the Album of the Year award from the Memphis-based International Folk Alliance.

“I watched him grow from this songwriter who shared our stage to touring Ireland, touring all over the world,” Coughlin said proudly.

With 10 years and more than 60 performers at 389 Gregory — a venue which has seen multiple owners and name changes during the Songwriters’ sojourn — Coughlin could talk all night about special moments that have meant a lot to him. He fondly remembers Miche Fambro and Miles Brown doing an exquisite voice-and-bass version of “Lullaby of Birdland,” for instance. Or when Jed Curran introduced a song he’d never performed before, about the beloved dog he had to have euthanized. And he particularly remembers what songwriter Reed Waddle — who’s gone on to write for John Oates (of Hall & Oates) and open for Shawn Colvin — told him when Coughlin asked him to do one more song, because once he really takes off, they wouldn’t be able to get ahold of him.

“He said, ‘I’ll come back in a heartbeat — I love this place,’” Coughlin recalled.

“There’ve been so many evenings that have just been outstanding,” he added. “They just turn out to be so organic — you don’t know what’s going to happen.”