“Gathering in person after two years of making connections though our online events is going to be so lovely,” said Dalis Allen, SWRFA’s executive director and longtime conference coordinator. “Everyone is so excited! We have many new folks attending – joining our team of folks that have continued to make our SWRFA conference the welcoming event that it is.”

Prior to the official start of the conference on Thursday, folks will converge on Austin’s NeWorlDeli on Wednesday night for a party and meet & greet during which many registered artists will e afforded an opportunity to perform a song. Similarly, there will be an open mic during a pool party at the Holiday Inn-Midtown, the conference’s host hotel, on Thursday night, along with a meal courtesy of Berkalin Records. Prior to the pool party, there will be several panels during the mid-late afternoon.

Performing Artists Will Have Lots of Opportunities to Showcase Their Talents; Official Showcases are Open to the Public on Friday and Saturday Nights

A number of unplugged in-room showcases will follow the Official Showcases on Friday and Saturday overnight from 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. AcousticMusicScene.com’s in-room showcase on Saturday overnight will feature a Midnight Hoot preceded by several song swaps. Although the online publication for the folk, roots and singer-songwriter communities has hosted showcases at Northeast Regional Folk Alliance (NERFA) and Southeast Regional Folk Alliance (SERFA) conferences for many years, this marks the first time it is doing so during a SWRFA conference. A popular annual event at NERFA conferences since 2007, the AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot at the SWRFA conference will feature two-dozen artists/acts — each performing one song between midnight and 2 a.m. A house band is available to accompany any artists on request.

Here’s the AcousticMusicScene.com showcase schedule:

10:30 Song Swap: Catherine Miles & Jay Mafale, Shanna in a Dress

11:00 Song Swap: George Ensle, Tim Grimm

11:30 Texas Troubadours: Brian Kalinec, Randy Palmer, Joel White

12:00 AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot – Part 1
(One song per artist/act; order subject to change.)

Taylor Pie, Nancy K. Dillon, Michael Henchman, Libby Koch, Ken Gaines, Karyn Oliver, Jake Farr, Grace Morrison, Sarah Pierce, Kacey & Jenna, Roxi Copland, Erin Ivey

House Band: Merel Bregante (percussion), John Inman and Brian Kalinec (guitars)

1:00 AcousticMusicScene.com Midnight Hoot – Part 2
(One song per artist/act; order subject to change.)

Ryan Biter, Deidre McCalla, Carl Solomon, Carla Ulbrich, Vanessa Lively & Ben Bedford, Claudia Gibson, Alicia Stockman, Natalie Price, Carolyn Shulman, Dan Weber, Lynn McCracken

House Band: Merel Bregante (percussion), John Inman and Brian Kalinec (guitars)

The conference wraps up with an extended Sunday brunch during which songwriters who drew a random song assignment/topic upon picking up their credentials at the outset of the conference, will share the songs that they wrote over the weekend. “Getting to listen to the songs written during the conference from a prompt is still one of my very favorite things I do all year,” said Allen. Many artists and other conference attendees share her sentiments and have made the song-sharing event a longtime conference highlight.

SWRFA (swfolkalliance.org) is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International, a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion. SWRFA includes the southwestern United States and Mexico.

Editor’s Note: Besides hosting a late-night song swaps and a midnight hoot during the SWRFA conference, I will assist PuffBunny Records (an indie label for which I provide PR counsel and services) with its in-room showcase and Taylor Pie with a Q & A following the screening of Nobody Famous, an award-winning documentary about her and the 1960s folk-pop trio Pozo Seco Singers of which she was the lead singer and a founding member (along with Don Williams and Lofton Kline). I also will take part in a panel discussion on showcasing and offer some mentoring sessions on various PR, social media and strategic communications topics. I am a board member of Folk Alliance International and NERFA.

There are no fees to enter the competition in which songwriters will be evaluated based on lyrics (imagery, story, creativity, and originality), melody (structure, phrasing, and rhythm), and performing ability (vocals, musicianship). Stage presence/audience rapport also will be taken into consideration during the semifinals and finals in May. Tickets for the event, to be emceed by singer-songwriter Ken Gaines, are available to the public for $15.

Online entry forms, along with complete contest rules and additional information, may be found at www.songwriterserenade.com. Songwriters are expected to fill out the form and attach four songs in .mp3 format, along with titles and lyrics. All submitted songs must have been written and/or copyrighted within the last three years and each must not exceed five minutes in length. Those songwriters selected as semifinalists will be notified by April 6. Singer-songwriters Mary Bragg (last year’s first-place winner), Susan Gibson and Walt Wilkins will judge the competition.

Songwriter Serenade was established in 2007 to provide performing songwriters with a platform to showcase their skills before their peers, a panel of esteemed judges and an enthusiastic crowd of music lovers. Sponsors of this year’s competition include Berkalin Records, Blue Rock Studio, The Bugle Boy, Callisto Culinary, Folk Alliance International, Majek Vineyard & Winery, The Moravia Store, Olive View Ranch, and TR Ranch.

Slated to perform in the hotel’s ballroom on Friday evening, Sept. 28, from 7:30-10 p.m., are Scott Cook, Byrd & Street, Mike P. Ryan, T Buckley, Dave Ray Cecil, Suzie Vinnick, The Cowboy Way, and The Flyin’ A’s.

Saturday night’s lineup features Nancy Beaudette, Andrew Delaney, Claudia Nygaard, Jaime Michaels, Ben Bedford, Helene Cronin, Clint Alphin, Jenny Reynolds, and Joana Howerton & Michael Cross.

Rich Warren, host of the nationally syndicated “The Midnight Special” radio show that emanates from Chicago’s WFMT-FM, and who celebrates 50 years of hosting folk music on the radio in 2018, emcees both nights. In addition to conference registrants, the official showcases will be open to the public for a $15 cover charge each night.

Following a popular pool party and open mic hosted by John Whipple (with a buffet sponsored by Berkalin Records) on Thursday night, Sept. 27, Charlie Stewart of Handshake Management will emcee the Official Alternates Showcase in the hotel’s Elm Room. Set to perform short sets beginning at 10:30 p.m. are Cari Ray & Shaky Legs, Flagship Romance, Kyle Donovan, Kora Feder, Susan Cattaneo Band, and Ronny Cox.

Besides the official showcases, the SWRFA Conference will feature open mics, in-room showcases extending into the early morning hours, and daytime panel discussions and seminars that address many facets of the music business, according to Dalis Allen, who produces the conference, as well as the annual Kerrville Folk Festival. “We eat meals together, form wonderful new relationships and renew old ones,” she notes. “And we are certain to have fun.”

Prior to the official start of the conference, Paul Barker will host a SWRFA meet and greet and open mic at Threadgill’s North on Wednesday night, Sep. 26, while John Whipple hosts another one by the hotel’s pool on Saturday afternoon. A two-hour, hands-on ‘SongCRAFT” workshop, led by singer-songwriters Nancy Beaudette and Laura Zucker, is set for Thursday afternoon.

Upon arriving at the conference, all registered artists will be given a random song topic/prompt. They are expected to write about these during the weekend and perform their songs following Sunday brunch. This song-sharing event has long been a conference highlight.

SWRFA is a regional affiliate of Folk Alliance International, a nonprofit organization that aims to nurture, engage and empower the international folk music community — traditional and contemporary, amateur and professional — through education, advocacy and performance. SWRFA includes the southwestern United States and Mexico. Its 19th annual conference is expected to draw performing artists, presenters, managers, agents and others engaged more than peripherally in the world of folk and acoustic music. For more information and to register to attend the conference, visit www.swfolkalliance.org.