Songwriters Uncovered Series

I performed at my last gig for a month or two on Thursday. The last 2019 Songwriters Uncovered show organised by Shelagh McKay.

Shelagh has been organising these shows at the Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock and providing an opportunity for lots of artists to showcase their original songs for a couple of years. I think she has some funding but she works really hard and is hoping to get some help with it all to allow the show to go on next year. I really hope she gets the support she needs, as I think the format is really special, for both artists and audience.

There were six performers this time and we performed “In The Round”, each taking it in turns to sing one of our four songs. There were three guys, three girls, two keyboards, three acoustic and one electric guitar and songs that ranged from sad to comical. That provided a real variety for the audience. It was interesting for me, with my four "love-filled and love-lost personal" songs, to hear a little about the things that inspire other people to write – from a story about the Blitz, to a person spotted in an Airport lounge.

The atmosphere is very supportive, with the artists encouraging each other and talking to each other on stage when not performing. This really helped put me in a place where I felt comfortable debuting a brand new song “Sail Away”, a song about saying goodbye, which I knew would make me emotional.

The Beacon Arts Centre is a lovely venue but and the Songwriters Uncovered Series attracts the best kind of audience. They really listen, support and appreciate. All in all, it really was the best kind of gig at which to trial new material and showcase some of those songs most dear to me.

I’ve decided to take a break from performing until the New Year. I have a single to get ready for release and a new song writing project for Paisley to get off the ground, as well as 2 videos to record and tons of Uni work. All of this is throwing deadlines at me and, as I am lucky enough to be spending the Christmas holidays in Switzerland, I don’t want to go into meltdown before I get there.

I’ll be sharing details of the Paisley project very soon! I was in the town centre taking a few photos yesterday, ready to use with social media posts and the press release.

Lisa x