As we took the Arts in the Heart of Augusta’s Global Stage Friday to announce the winner of the inaugural Press Play songwriter competition, columnist Steven Uhles declared it a “success.”
And I would wholeheartedly agree.
It’s come a long way from the glimmer of an idea I had while on a weekend getaway at Edisto in the dead of winter.
When we launched the contest back in the spring, I had no idea what it would even entail. I relied on Steven to give me a framework and a timeline, and the rest seemed to fall into place. Seventeen songwriters submitted their work. The six finalists took the stage Friday where judges Coco Rubio, Ed Turner and Brooke Lundy decided the top three.
MORE: Gordon wins songwriter contest
Throughout the night, I took photos and videos, played emcee rather poorly and talked with contestants. At one point, I stood back and looked at the beautiful banner across the bottom of the stage and thought – “We did this; we really did this.”
The Augusta Press is a local newspaper with a focus on what happens here in our backyard. Yes, we cover government, school boards, crime and courts, but Augusta has a huge arts community. I recently visited Texas to see my son and was struck by the lack of art.
Visual artists and performers are part of what makes Augusta great, and we are rich with talent.
I was impressed with a couple of things in this contest. One was the diversity of the show we put on Friday.
Paul Gordon won the competition and sang multiple songs including his “Moving On,” which was his entry. Steven said it reminded him of Jim Croce. He also sang “I’m Thinking About Drinking My Way to Heaven” which sounded like something George Jones or Conway Twitty might’ve sung.
Second place finisher Chris Hardy has an indescribably quirky sound. He recently finished a CD featuring bossa novas. One of his songs was about “duty,” which he changed to the word “doot” and added to a bossa nova sound.
Third place went to Priscilla Alexander whose bluesy gospel song “Do We Learn” touched the judges.
Other finalists included Bryan Hatch and Rae’s Creek Revival with their bluegrass/new grass, folksy sound, Dan Agnetti and Mistaken For Strangers with their rock, folk sound and Walter Santiago with his Latin fusion beats.
The other thing that struck me was that the people represented weren’t necessarily the local household names.
Steven is a much better emcee than I am, and one of the things he said was the competition was designed to bring Augusta musicians they’d never heard of as well as give musicians a venue to play. He was right.
When I interviewed Paul Gordon for my feature prior to his appearance, he said that while he wrote dozens of songs, he hadn’t performed in many years. Likewise, Priscilla Alexander told me how much fun she’d had because it had been eight years since she’d been on a stage. And Bryan Hatch said the event was the first time his trio had performed on a large stage.
MORE: Press Play: Priscilla Alexander
If those are the measures of success, then I’ll say we did our job and more. And I’m proud to have been part of such an event.
A special thanks to Brenda Durant with the Greater Augusta Arts Council for hearing me out and letting us share the stage for the Arts In the Heart’s 40th anniversary.
Some people have asked if we’ll do it next year while others went a step farther and gave me suggestions of what to do next year. All I can say is, ask me that around February.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the managing editor of The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
