Fogartyville Singer Songwriter Series

The Fogartyville Songwriters Series is a new showcase opportunity to highlight some of the region’s best songwriting talent.  The April event will be hosted by Dean Johanesen.

Originally from Long Island, NY, Dean Johanesen is a songwriter and guitarist inspired by historical fiction, speakeasy era Americana and the sounds of Hot Club Jazz (Django Reinhardt), Western Swing (Bob Wills, Lyle Lovett, etc) and American Roots Music. As a songwriter, Dean says his process and style has transformed over the years. Earlier compositions were introspective, where his later work has taken him down the path of writing about other people. Working on soundtracks has taken him in a direction where he uses history as subject matter.

Singer/guitarist multi instrumentalist producer Karlus Trapp describes his sound as musical good vibes. Mixing the eclectic sounds of New Orleans, Caribbean/Jamaican influences with Bluesy rockin funky jamming ,for Trapp it’s all about  doing it live. Fearlessly going wherever the urge  takes him, he can move naturally between time periods as diverse as the 40’s or the 80’s,effortlessly and seamlessly making it his I own while bringing audiences along for the ride. The Native New Yorker is now makiing fans in his new stomping  grounds of  southwest Florida for the first time.

Indie vocalist Sara Nelms is classically trained.  Critic Justin Kreitzer says, “she possesses one heck of a beautiful voice; her versatile acoustic-based sound is fluid enough to slide between intimate coffee shops and club stages with full band arrangements without losing any of the passion in translation.”

The Fogartyville showcase will present three solo singer-songwriters performing four songs each.

Following the showcase, we will host an Open Round for musicians, inviting any singer-songwriters in the audience to submit their name for a chance to be picked at random to play a few songs.  The Open Round is a good place for musicians to try out new material, meet other songwriters, practice performance skills and become a part of the local songwriting community.  Feedback from the audience is welcomed. Anyone is eligible to play at the Open Round as long as your material is original. (This is an acoustic event, no pre-recorded tracks allowed).