SEARSPORT — A songwriter-focused, multi-artist live music series will be held Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, at 6 p.m., at Hey Sailor’s Starboard Lounge, 25 E. Main St., Searsport.

Four musicians converge on the Starboard Lounge stage at Hey Sailor to perform in the Nashville tradition of a “songwriters’ round,'' in which a group of writers perform in a round-robin style sharing original songs and some of the stories behind them. A variety of voices will be represented in this offering: Melvin Gradiz, Kate McCann, Justin Gordon, and Tom Peabody. McCann will also guest-host this edition.  

Born in Miami, Florida, now residing in Portland, Maine, Melvin Gradiz is a guitarist and songwriter influenced by blues, funk, jazz, punk, and more. 

Kate McCann is a folk singer and banjo player based in Midcoast Maine. Playing both original and traditional music, McCann draws from her time spent immersed in old-time, Irish, and maritime folk music traditions. Through her arrangements of traditional songs and original compositions she explores how traditional music exists in the contemporary world not as a static artifact of the past but as an active practice that both the musician and audience can engage with. Her first EP “Sea Songs,” was released during the summer of 2023 and pulls from the maritime music tradition she became deeply familiar with after spending a year working as a chanteyman at the Mystic Seaport Museum. The EP’s first single “Bone Dry”, was winner of the 2023 Maine Songwriters Association Songwriting Contest. With a sound comparable to classic troubadours such as Joan Baez and Peggy Seeger but with contemporary flair and distinct New England roots, McCann is excited to continue creating material that straddles the line between old and new. 

Justin Gordon is a Georgia-born songwriter who cut his teeth playing country blues and ragtime before writing his first few songs about country life and the road, recording his first album in 2002. In the oughts, he toured the country with The Avett Brothers, self-recording four more albums. Gordon produced and released his sixth full-length album Backwater in January 2019. In the last five years, Gordon has focused his artistic efforts in analog photography yet still enjoys chances to share his music. In 2023, he and his family moved to Brooks and fell in love with Maine, where he continues to take photos, play shows and also enjoys playing bass in local band Dee Dee Sea with two new friends. 

Tom Peabody is a songwriter from Virginia who now calls Portland, Maine home. Though he has been writing songs for much of his life, he only started sharing them after the pandemic, and he has been making up for lost time since. He released an EP “Snow Geese” in 2021, and he has another EP coming out October 25.

Shows will be ongoing on the third Thursday of each month. Tickets are available now for $5 at the door. Food and drink will be available for purchase.  

Upcoming shows include November 21: John & Rachel Nichols, Draudiga, Nolle Bond, and Andre Lascoutx; December 19: Dylan Metrano, Jason Roman, Carole Wise, Kayla Wass; January 16: Fine Pioneer, Matthew Hawkins, Owen Howes, and Abby Litman; February 20: Skip Bailey, Roy Davis, Thomas Strayhorn, and Ashley Lepre; and March 20: Ruth Hill, Troy Youngblood, Mark Horn, and Ashlyn Bard.

The series has previously hosted Maine and touring songwriters such as Laurie Jones, Lisa Redfern, Alyssa Kelly, Stella Prince, Juniper Ginger, George Loring, Alice Limoges, Kelly Ravin, Seth Gallant, and Chris Ross. 

For more information on all the shows happening at Hey Sailor see: https://www.heysailorhey.com/shows. For more information on Sara Trunzo please see: https://www.saratrunzo.com/shows 

For more information or press credentials contact saratrunzomusic@gmail.com.