The Somerville Songwriter Sessions hit the Rooted Cafe on Saturday, 5 October 2024.

Erin Ash Sullivan, Colette O’Connor, and Beth DeSombre join in the round.

The Somerville Songwriter Sessions is a regular event series at Rooted Cafe, off the lobby of Arts at the Armory. $15 at the door, but it’s a NOTAFLOF kind of vibe. If you do notaflof it, it’s a bad look to load up on snacks and drinks at the awesome food counter. But why should it be? Notafloffers have to eat and drink too.

The cozy quarters at Rooted Cafe has everything you need for a folk gig. In fact, it’s kind of overpowered with a 16-track mixer, sound dude, and all kinds of PA to support the musicians on stage. Which is great. Add that to food, drink, seating and standing room, and you’ve got a nice set up.

Two points of improvement I’d mention though…

House mix! It doesn’t have to be so deathly silent before the set starts. It was a full room, but it had that “scared to speak above a whisper” vibe. Get some music playing to set the mood.

Lighting! There’s actually real stage lights above the stage, but they weren’t being used. Maybe they’re broken? The fluorescent standing lamps (think: corporate office interior) backlighting the artists so they appeared like shadow presences is not the play. Get some warm “living room”-style lamps in the place with the old school incandescent bulbs. Less efficient, sure — it’s the price you pay if you don’t want your artists to look like they’re waiting to be seen by an emergency room physician.

And now for some words from my Cambridge Day gig:

“Does this place smell permanently like chocolate chip cookies?”

Everyone nestled in the comfy confines of the Rooted Cafe at Arts at the Armory was sort of thinking the same thing. The air was redolent (redolent, I say!) with the warm aromas of chocolatey confections spilling out of the kitchen. But the moment required singer-songwriter Erin Ash Sullivan to put words to a thought that lingered at the doorstep of recognition, not yet invited into full view.

SInger-songwriters do that sort of thing: put words to thoughts and feelings that we share in common, but not all of us possess the perspicacity (perspicacity, I say!) to express.

Three singer-songwriters – Erin Ash Sullivan, Colette O’Connor and Beth DeSombre – did just that on Saturday night at the Somerville Songwriter Sessions. The event was part of a regular musical series that is scheduled through the fall, winter, and spring.

The structure of the evenings can vary. Saturday’s schedule included three “mini-sets,” in which each musician played a three-song medley. O’Connor was joined onstage by a bodhrán player. A bodhrán is a drum, shaped like an oversized tambourine, struck with a soft-headed mallet. Good for traditional Irish folk songs, but works just fine with Johnny Cash covers too.

At the conclusion of the “mini-sets,” the night was turned over to a songwriter’s round. The “round” format allows the discursive (discursive, I say!) heart & soul of folky storytelling roam free, joining the artists together on stage to find the words on the tip of your tongue.

Words like “How much is a freshly-baked chocolate chip cookie?” and “Damn, that much?” and “Well, it’s not as expensive as the Lobster Bisque, so I’m actually saving money if I buy a cookie instead, if you really think about it” and “Mmmmmm, that’s good.”

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