Top Michigan Songwriters to Benefit Detroit Public Radio

Winners from the 2005 Michigan Songwriting Contest will perform on Oct. 8 in Canton to benefit WDET-FM.

(PRWEB) September 26, 2005 -- Michigans own songwriters can hold their own against any in the country. After all, this is the state that gave the world the Motown classics, Madonna, and Bob Seger, to name a few. Now, a group of top Michigan Indie songwriters are lending their talents to benefit Detroit Public Radio.

On Saturday, October 8, five performers and their bands will grace the stage at the beautiful new Village Theater in Canton. They will spotlight their winning songs from the 2005 Michigan Songwriting Contest, and the proceeds will benefit WDET.

Public radio is the main venue for independent artists to get airplay," says Cindy Felton, spokesperson for The Michigan Songwriters, which produces the contest and concert. WDET enriches the music community in Southeast Michigan. We want to give back."

Featured in this special 2½ hour concert will be the West Michigan acoustic duo Stage Fright Remedy (recently heard on public radios Prairie Home Companion), Detroit alt-country favorite Whit Hill and the Postcards, Ann Arbor singer-songwriter Bob Skon, Northern Michigans award winning pop-rock duo David Runyan and Brian Whitscell, and special guest David Mosher.

The concert starts at 7:30 pm, and tickets are $15. Reserved tickets are available through the Canton Township offices at (734) 394-5300. Canton Township owns and operates the theater, located at 50400 Cherry Hill Road; the township is co-producing the event. For more information, visit the contest website at www.GreatLakesSongs.com.

It will be the first Detroit-area appearance for Stage Fright Remedy, the sister-brother duo from Niles, Michigan, who were recently heard on the Prairie Home Companion radio show. Rachel and Taylor Clark won the radio shows Teen Talent Search in 2005. They were double winners in the Michigan Songwriting Contest for their songs Not Over You" and My Casanova." Their father, Doug Clark, who was himself a touring singer-songwriter in the '90s, co-wrote both songs.

Whitley Setrakian Hill is well known in Ann Arbor for People Dancing," the dance company she founded after graduating from U of M. She choreographed and performed in over 60 dance and theater works before leaving the dance stage for a music career. In 2001, she formed Whit Hill and the Postcards, an alt-country quartet that includes her husband and renowned piano player, Al Hill. Her two winning songs, Lucy on the Line" and Where Are You in the Morning?" are from the critically acclaimed 2003 release, We Are Here." She and her group keep a busy concert schedule, from the Wheatland Music Festival to the Ann Arbor Art fairs.

The chief engineer for University of Michigan public radio stations WUOM, WFUM-FM, and WVGR, Bob Skon has been singing, playing guitar and writing songs for almost 30 years. His winning song, Till I Stop Thinking About Her," was written after a long relationship had broken up. Bob explains, I had just started dating again and wanted to write a song about the end of an era and the start of something new. What I ended up with was a song about that place in between." The song appears on Bobs new CD 2nd Time Around," to be released in mid September.

After years of working separately in bands, studios and other music-related activities, the Northern Michigan duo of David Runyan and Brian Whitscell started writing songs together about seven years ago. Their songs have been featured on three volumes of Northern Michigan Rocks," a compilation CD produced by WKLT-FM of Traverse City. Both Dave and Brian are professional sound engineers: Dave and his wife founded Runyan Media, a remote recording facility in Daves hometown of Bellaire, while Brian spends his time songwriting, recording and producing out of his White-Cellar Studio in Traverse City. Dave started writing their winning song, All Ill Ever Ask," as a birthday present for his wife, Monique, then later collaborated with Brian to finish the piece.

Special guest David Mosher will perform several of the winning songs from the 2005 Michigan Songwriting Contest. A virtuoso musician with a fine tenor voice, David is a member of The Raisin Pickers and a frequent partner with childrens musician Julie Austin. Well known as a session musician, producer, and songwriter, he has toured nationally with several well-known country, folk and bluegrass groups.

The 2005 Michigan Songwriting Contest drew about 500 entries from across the state to compete for 13 prizes of cash, gift certificates for Elderly Instruments of Lansing, discounts on Lambs Retreat for Songwriters, and publicity and performance opportunities. Elderly Instruments and Lambs Retreat for Songwriters are sponsors of the contest, which was created by a partnership of southeast Michigan songwriters. In 2006, the contest has been expanded to the eight Great Lakes states and the province of Ontario, and renamed the Great Lakes Songwriting Contest. More information is available at www.GreatLakesSongs.com.

The five judges for this years contest were: Michael Lutz, producer and former bass player with Ted Nugent and Brownsville Station (and co-writer of the rock classic, Smokin In The Boys Room"); David Tamulevich, a partner in The Roots Agency and half of the well-known Michigan acoustic duo Mustards Retreat; Pam Rossi, host of the Over Easy" show on Detroits WCSX-FM; John Lamb, songwriter, performer and the organizer of songwriting and poetry retreats in northern Michigan; and Terri Senecal, a Flint-area songwriter, former Nashville Songwriters Association International coordinator, songwriting teacher, and author.

For more information on last years winners and sold-out concert at Trinity House in Livonia, visit the concert website at www.GreatLakesSongs.com.

Press contact:                                            
Cindy Felton
Concert Spokesperson
(734) 678-1479

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