9:00 PM, $8 suggested

Elastic Arts 
2830 N Milwaukee

SONGWRITER SHOWCASE: SHELLEY MILLER, ROCKFALLS, JORDAN BURK & HANNA ASHBROOK

Homeroom’s Songwriter Showcase emphasizes the craft of songwriting by inviting songwriters from diverse musical backgrounds to perform without a backing band or a full amplifier rig.

Shelley Miller is an accomplished songwriter that can send the listener through multiple emotions in each song. She shifts from confrontational to contemplative or embracing with a simple turn of phrase and melody. Shelley seems embrace contradictions and dichotomies as a way to penetrate a deep truth and uses vivid imagery to weave tales of love, loss and depression.

Rockfalls writes intimate and playful songs delivered with her soft and powerful voice. She performs with both guitar and ukulele and her songs have quality reminiscent of the great American songbook. With hints of jazz and soul, Rockfalls’ melodies are broad and fill her sparse instrumentation and arrangements. Her lyrics are often sad and wishful, but her music is constantly permeated by the simple joy of beautiful music.

Hanna Ashbrook crafts sophisticated songs that belie her youth. Plucked guitar provides a counterpoint for her vocal melodies that slowly rise and fall. At times, her songs seem to capture a single moment, crystalized and delicate, and her voice can be simultaneously vulnerable and strong.

Jordan Burk’s Georgia roots are evident in her folk and country songs. With a twang in her voice and rambling plucked guitars, Burk delivers her songs with an intense sense of forlorn sadness and beauty.

The Showcase features four songwriters per event who are each encouraged to discuss their song-writing processes and influences in an intimate environment that fosters focused listening and promotes open interaction with the audience. By stripping away the style and posture of a full band, songwriters’ techniques and philosophies become unobscured.

Photo by CB Lindsey.