Home | Shrewsbury Songwriters

Shrewsbury Songwriters

I run free monthly socials for music writers of all levels and stages, where we can meet up, discuss our different approaches to writing and perform our new songs in a safe space with other music writers.

As an optional aspect, a brief to write to is given every two months. It is totally your choice whether you do this or not and we welcome any other songs you have written that are not done to the brief. The idea of this is to give you an opportunity to push yourself into different areas, topics and musical approaches that you may not have written about before. With a different focus area for the subject and the music sides of things, you can really dive in and use the briefs as opportunities to experiment.

These meet-ups really are completely open-to-all, meaning that if you haven’t started writing songs or tunes yet but think you might like to try then please come along. There is no commitment necessary and you can just sit and listen if you want – you will be made very welcome!

If you would like to learn more then you can either join our Facebook group (Shrewsbury Songwriters) or drop me an email on my Contact page.

Upcoming Sessions

The dates for the next few Shrewsbury Songwriters, along with the next brief, are listed below.

17 November 2025 (7-9pm)
Floro Lounge

The S. Files

15 December 2025 (7-9pm)
Floro Lounge

TBA

Location

Currently, our sessions are hosted at Floro Lounge on Pride Hill, Shrewsbury from 7-9pm. Floro is a really lovely and relaxed place with loads of choices of drinks (hot, cold and alcoholic!) and food, if you feel a bit peckish. We are normally in the upstairs part but if you have difficulty managing the stairs then please let me know and we’ll adjust to suit.

Useful Info

Copyrighting Your Music

Since some of you may not have played some of your songs at gigs or uploaded them online and you will be making new compositions, I thought it might be useful to mention about copyrighting your songs.

Why should I copyright my songs?
It is always important to copyright your songs before you perform them in public, so that, if you ever need to, you can prove that you composed your piece before anyone else.
 
 
I am personally quite keen on copywriting my work – a brilliant local Folk singer-songwriter, called Bill Caddick, had his song “John O Dreams” played by many people without his permission and without him getting a penny from it. It was also included in a music book as a “traditional Folk song”, again without his permission and without getting any money. This was before the days of YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, social media etc. so you can imagine how it could spread with today’s platforms.
How can I copyright my songs?
The way I do it (and was told to do it at University and by other musicians) is to print off both your music and lyrics (you can also record your music and burn it on a CD but it’s often safer to print it out if you can) and send it to yourself in the post. Really important things to remember when you’re posting it to yourself:
 
  • Put a reference somewhere on the outside of the envelope so that you can identify which one it is later without opening it.
 
  • Use signed for and tracked postage, so that there’s a record on the Royal Mail system of it being sent and being delivered. You might also want to use a card payment for it to add an extra record and digital footprint.
 
  • Seal the end and then sign your name across the flap, making sure that the signature goes across both the flap and the body of the envelope. If you can, also wrap the stamp around the envelope unsealed end as much as you can.
 
  • (Most post offices don’t date-stamp their mail anymore so this next recommendation is difficult to do, so don’t worry if you can’t get this done) Get the post office to stamp your letter with their offical date stamp, preferably across the letter opening and the stamp. Not all post offices will want to do this but this is really important to do and if they can’t do this then you will have to go to another post office.
  • You can also store your songs with your solicitor but in my experience firms can change and get taken over by other solicitors quite regularly, so you may want to use this as a backup instead.

Places to Play

Round Robin Sessions

If you are just starting out songwriting and want somewhere to try out performing your songs, there are lots of very supportive “Round Robin” sessions (where you sit in a circle and take it in turns to play a piece) around Shrewsbury that you can go to. This is not an exhaustive list but here is a list of some of these sessions (feel free to contact me with some more suggestions to add on).

Loggerheads Acoustic Sessions
Every Tuesday (Phil Jones) and Thrusday (Sue and Geoff Clarkson) (8-11pm)
The Loggerheads Pub, Shrewsbury
The Dog and Pheasant Acoustic Session (run by Gabriela La Foley)
 
Every last Wednesday (7:30-11pm)
The Dog and Pheasant Pub, Shrewsbury
The Royal Oak Acoustic Sessions (run by Paul J Siroky)
 
Every first Saturday (8:30-11pm)
The Royal Oak Pub, Shrewsbury
Oil Un-plugged Acoustic Jam (run by Fergus Reid)
Every last Tuesday (8:30-11pm)
The Oil Bar, Shrewsbury
The Woodman Acoustic Session (run by Ben Taplin)
Every second Tuesday (8:30-11pm)
The Woodmand Pub, Shrewsbury
Open Mics

If you want to take your performance to the next level and play at an open mic night, then here are a few which you might want to consider.

The Wheatsheaf Open Mic (run by Fergus Reid and have to book in first by contacting him here)
Every fortnight on Monday (8:00-11pm) (alternates with Paul Parker)
The Wheatsheaf Pub (High Street), Shrewsbury
The Wheatsheaf Open Mic (run by Paul Parker)
Every fortnight on Monday (8:00-11pm) (alternates with Fergus Reid)
The Wheatsheaf Pub (High Street), Shrewsbury
Full Performances

These are places that champion songwriters and have original-music-only events. You can’t just turn up and play at these events, so you’ll need to apply well in advance to perform. These are usually in a longer format than open mics, so you’ll need to have a good collection of your own songs before applying to perform. It is also common that you’ll be asked to send some samples of your playing, so get a friend to film your set at an open mic!

Albert’s Songwriters Showcase (run by Nikki Rous)
Every Wednesday (8:30pm start with soundchecks beforehand. 1x main act with 45 min set, 2x support acts with 25 min set each)
Albert’s Shed (alternates between Shrewsbury and Telford)