PORT TOWNSEND — Songwriting Works’ Life’s a Song trio will premiere an Olympic Peninsula-inspired single, “Hometown,” and music video at two concerts today and Saturday at Key City Public Theatre and Key City Playhouse.
The single — an anthemic folk/pop love song to Port Townsend — will be on the trio’s new album.
Today’s concert will be at 7:30 p.m., while Saturday, the trio will perform a matinee concert at 2:30 p.m., both at the Key City Playhouse, 419 Washington St.
Tickets, available through the Key City box office and online, are $20 for general admission and $10 for students/fixed income with a “pay as you wish” option Saturday.
For those unable to get to the theater, the concert also will stream live over the internet via Concert Window. Visit www.concertwindow.com/songwritingworks for more information about the live stream.
Some of the original songs and stories were co-written with five generations of Jefferson and Clallam County neighbors ages 12 to 103.
The Life’s a Song trio includes Judith-Kate Friedman of Port Townsend, Keeth Monta Apgar of Marrowstone Island and Ash Devine, who returns for the summer to Port Townsend from her roots in Asheville, N.C. All three are nationally touring award-winning singer-songwriters.
In addition to “Hometown,” the concerts will feature songs composed by residents at Seaport Landing, Victoria Place, Life Care Center of Port Townsend, Dungeness Courte and Discovery Memory Care in Sequim and the Port Angeles Senior & Community Center, as well as at community gatherings.
Audio and video of participants past and present will be included in the multimedia show.
“Composing songs with people who’ve never written songs before can lead to wonderfully surprising and very authentic music because everyone is expressing their essence in words, images and melodies without the constraint of rules or ‘how it should be done,’ ” Friedman said.
“We write in the oral tradition, bringing people together with professional songwriters who care about community,” Friedman continued.
“Every facilitator is trained to listen closely and elicit what matters most and springs most naturally from people. So we create contexts in which the natural musician within everyone can jump in — regardless of a person’s age, health situation or where they are at that moment in their lives.”
