We are finishing off September of Sound with a bang! On Sunday the 19th of October, we are having a showcase of local song and tune writers, with a whole TEN performances across the evening, with several pieces written during the challenge or from Shrewsbury Songwriters’ briefs earlier in the year due to be debuted. Albert’s Shed in Shrewsbury has kindly agreed to host the showcase and entry is completely free. Music starts at 7pm so make sure to come down a bit early so as not to miss any of the brilliant performers we have.
Tag: shrewsbury songwriters
September of Sound 2025 Showcase
When?
19th October | Music starts at 7-10pm
Performers
Ron Kill
Ron Kill began playing guitar late in life and writing songs soon after. Meeting Rod Graham 7 years ago, they formed Two Hats and Ron performed then for the first time in public.
Since then, Ron has played many gigs and open mics: solo, with Two Hats, the (short-lived) blues band Highway 46 and latterly with Steve Collins as The March Hares. He has written songs throughout this time, one of which, Call Me Later, was recorded with Highway 46 and played a couple of times on Radio Shropshire.
Ron has been a regular attendee of Shrewsbury Songwriters since the beginning and will be playing at least one song that came out of those sessions.
Two Hats Facebook: www.facebook.com/twohatsband
Charlie Jerrett
Charlie began writing songs in Shrewsbury in 1966 – a never recorded and rarely performed 10 song concept album “Greek Lover” exploring emotional responses to being “dumped”! After a 40-year hiatus he took up the guitar again in 2006. A Dean Friedman Songwriting Course in France re-ignited his creative spirit.
Teamed as lyricist with Phil from Machynlleth (ex-Gold Records contracted songwriter), the reaction “Now I know what Bert Bacharach felt like when he met Hal David” both surprised and encouraged him to persevere. Charlie wrote & performed 3 songs based on Benson Bebbington’s poems at the inaugural Big Busk. At successive Busks over 3 years Charlie produced an 11-song compilation “10 Bensons”.
He remains ready to drag out “Happy Days” (a cheery number about alcoholism & homelessness) at any time whether asked to or not! His songs veer from the deep introspection into his depression/anxiety, to humorous, slightly sideways views of life. He treats public performance as aversion therapy for his fears of public performance.
Eleanor Burnett
Eleanor is a local singer-songwriter, pianist and music teacher. Since childhood, Eleanor has been writing intimate, emotionally raw lyrics and poems, incorporating her questions and musings on life. Since meeting at school over a decade ago, Eleanor has collaborated in composition and performances with Joss, guitarist and fellow musician. For Eleanor, making music gives her an emotional canvas, and a special opportunity to connect with others. She’s now beginning work as a local music teacher and embracing the folk scene in Shropshire, keen to get herself back on stage once again to share the world through song.
Instagram: www.instagram.com/ele.sound
Joss Heaton
Joss is an aspiring musician with a varied musical history, spanning multiple genres and instruments. He has played as a guitarist in cover bands and written indie-folk with his friend and collaborator Eleanor as a teenager (see above), composed his own music acoustically and on Logic Pro X, and played bass/composed with a jazz-tinged indie-rock outfit whilst studying Music in Leeds called Arnold Ziff. In whatever form it may come, Joss’ music betrays an ear for melody, a passion for harmony, and a genuine love of music.
Chris Crompton
Christopher Crompton is a singer-songwriter, musician, writer and poet from the West Midlands. He has toured across the UK and the USA with shows combining original, contemporary and traditional music. Christopher is also the organiser of Next Level Folk Club in Stourbridge.
Website: christophercrompton.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@christophercrompton
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChristopherCromptonWordsandMusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/christophercromptonmusic
Alan Jenkins
Alan is a local songwriter, poet and writer. In his short but eventful solo career, he’s somehow stumbled his way to local cult hero status, with a difficult to define genre of his own which often teeters into many styles but always upholds the great English storytelling tradition. His songs may be upbeat, quirky or surreal, yet still often deliver serious messages. He loves to engage with audiences and sometimes creates work on the spot. He’s been nominated for local awards and has performed at the Troubadour in London, on BBC & 6Towns Radio, Ludlow and Llangollen Fringes, as well as folk clubs and showcase events locally and further afield – and has recently been supporting touring artists.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/alanjenkinsmusik
Instagram: www.instagram.com/alanjenkinsmusik
Sonya Smith
Sonya is a singer songwriter, writer and artist. She’s known for her emotive songs that take her audiences on contemplative cathartic journeys of the heart from lyrically rich contemporary ballads, to bluesy tunes of love lost & found. From the bitterness of betrayal, to the mellow sentiments of resolution, the passion of new found love, and the empowerment of redemption and self valuing. Playing acoustic guitar she draws you into her stories with vocals that have been described as ‘Honey Sweet & Blue ‘ to ‘ Beautiful & Haunting ‘ … “There’s something really captivating about her … you get locked in … Her distinctive tone and sound penetrates the soul. “ ‘ Micaela Wylde – BBC Radio Shropshire ’ . She’s performed at intimate bars, events & festivals including the Ludlow Fringe, Landed, Burning Woman, Festival at the Edge, Witch, Farmer Phil’s , Llangollen Fringe and the International Music Eisteddfod.
Website: sonyasmith8.wixsite.com/website
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SonyaSmithSinger
Scruffian (Ben Dwyer)
Scruffian was dragged through a hedge backwards, but somehow he’s still clinging on to that guitar. Carving songs from the raw materials that come to hand, he winds his tangled strings around questions that have no answer. These songs arose from climbing trees, riding concrete rivers and mowing meadows the old fashioned way. When you lose yourself, you’ve won.
Website: scruffian.com
Intagram: @scruffian
TikTok: @scruffian
YouTube: youtube.com/scruffian
Nikki Rous
Nikki is a local songwriter, portrait artist and live music event promoter. For the content of her song writing, she draws on relatable experiences as well as the emotional challenges of living with disability which produces some very honest and heartfelt songs. What she crafts is emotive, passionate and moving. Over the years Nikki has developed a connected and buoyant rapport with her audiences which makes her performance both scintillating and a genuinely memorable experience.
Nikki has performed alongside and opened up shows for artists such as Jamiroquai, Level 42, Kaiser Chiefs, James, Supergrass, Miles Hunt, Nick Harper, Jon Gomm and many more. She has graced the stages of venues and festivals up and down the country such as The Wolves Civic Halls, The Wulfrun, The Jamhouse, The Glee Club, The Robin 2, Tamworth Assembly Rooms, Solfest, Nozstock, Lakefest, Sistafest, Farmer Phil’s Fest and Sunrise Celebration to name a few.
Website: www.nikkirous.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/nikkirousmusic
Quantum Peguin (Matt Woolley)
Matt Woolley is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter from Shropshire who plays under the name of Quantum Penguin.
His love of storytelling through song blended with driving instrumentals means his set is one minute lilting and filled with emotion and the next joyfully energetic with soaring Fiddle, Guitar or Bouzouki.
Matt is a founding member of the Folk music group String Workshop and enjoys collaborating with fellow musicians and artists on various projects and art installations from Cornwall to Shropshire.
He has been nominated three times for “Folk Musician of The Year” at the Shropshire Music Awards and his song This Gift, about the importance of the countryside and preserving it for future generations, was one of the winners at Lichfield Festival of Folk’s Songwriting Competition.
Website: www.quantumpenguin.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/QuantumPenguinMusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/quantum_penguin_music
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@quantumpenguinmusic
Shrewsbury Songwriters May & June 2025 Brief (New Beginnings)
Brief for Shrewsbury Songwriters May & June 2025
This month marks the start of a few new things for Shrewsbury Songwriters.
The first is that, although we have always been open to tunewriters, we are now making this official! If you write your own tunes, or are interested in starting, then we would love for you to come on down and join us to discuss writing processes and, if you would like to, share a tune with us.
The second new change is that we are switching to two-monthly briefs to give everyone an opportunity to experiment and go a bit deeper into the briefs. As always, these briefs are be optional and we welcome all of your songs and tunes.
The last change is that, instead of having one brief for songwriters and one for tunewriters, we will have two options for each brief, one that focuses on the subject matter and one that looks at the musical side. This will allow both types of writers to try different aspects (or perhaps both if you’re feeling inspired!) – you might want to write a tune that you feel reflects the subject (my sister, for example, always likes to have the name of a tune before she writes it) or you might want to try a new musical style for you songs.
In the spirit of these new aspects, I thought our brief for May and June should be about trying something new.
The Brief
Choose a focus (or do both!)
Subject
Choose a subject area, theme or topic that you haven’t written about before.
Music
Use this brief to experiment with something you haven’t tried before. It could with different instruments, keys, rhythms, tunings, compositional techniques – let your creativity run wild!
Shrewsbury Songwriters is a free monthly social meetup I run for song and tune writers (of all stages) as an opportunity to meet up with fellow writers and discuss their approaches. If you would like to learn more then please head to this page. Hope to see you there!
Shrewsbury Songwriters April 2025 Brief (The Book of Songs)
Brief for Shrewsbury Songwriters March 2025
As the month that includes World Book Day, let’s celebrate this wonderful literacy media with a song!
Choose one of your favourite books and either write about your experiences with the book (for example, how it’s influenced you, experiences tied to it etc.) OR write a song about a situation in the book, turning a part of the book into a song.
Shrewsbury Songwriters is a free monthly social meetup I run for songwriters (of all stages) as an opportunity to meet up with fellow writers and discuss their approaches. If you would like to learn more then please head to this page. Hope to see you there!
Shrewsbury Songwriters – December 2022
For the first brief of our new group Shrewsbury Songwriters (created to give local songwriters an opportunity to meet each other and share their advice and experiences) I thought I would share something that I was able to try at the students’ Songwriters Society at Falmouth University (brilliantly run by songwriter Ilaina Lowe). The idea is that you randomly choose three words from a selection and write a song including those words. I created my selection and randomly chose my three words, which were Storm, Beige and Snow (I was quite relieved I didn’t get Reliant Robin!). I also thought I would use the opportunity to share and document the creative process behind my songwriting on my blog, which you can read and keep up-to-date with below.
The selection of words
The terrible moment I picked out Beige
I was a bit tired from helping on my sister Becky’s (AKA Daffodowndilly) craft stall at St Mary’s Church in Shrewsbury but thought I would crack out the Bouzouki and spend a few minutes trying to get down some ideas. I’ve started a chorus and managed to use two of my three words (Storm and Snow) in it, with the phrase (and possibly the song title):
“A money snowstorm in a winter wonderland”
My subconscious seems to have a hand on my creative controls – I often don’t know where the words come from and only find the meaning behind my lyrics after I have written them. With this one though, I think it might turn out as a comment on how much throwaway (and often quite expensive) stuff we buy at Christmas, when giving personal cards, messages and meaningful small gifts can be so much more meaningful. Some of the most precious gifts I have been given have not been the most expensive in cash-terms but when it is clear that some thought has gone into its choosing. To me, a personal hand-written card can be worth so much more than an expensive gift.
I think helping at the craft stall today helped to give me the idea for the message behind the song, as looking at all the wonderful designs and hand-made products from the brilliant local independent makers, such as Sister Sister, Eynonymous Designs and of course my sister at Daffodowndilly, reminded me that they were just so much more meaningful than the products advertised on Amazon and other massive online marketplaces and companies.
I’m quite happy with my start on the song and will hopefully be able to build on the chorus in the next few days.
Not much progress today but I did manage to add another line to my chorus, so only another two lines to completely finish the chorus. My mind is already thinking about how I want the finished song to sound like – I’ve discovered and have been listening to Slicer by Kensington and really like the way they double-up the vocals on the chorus, so might look at something similar for my song.
I’ve managed to finish the last two line for the chorus, although I’m not totally sold on them yet, so I might revisit it after I’ve made some progress with the verses. I’ve still got to fit Beige in somewhere, it might involve a sofa…