Local musicians have a chance to broadcast their music from the Tempe Center for the Arts stage to television sets across Arizona.
TCA and Arizona 8 PBS are producing The Songwriters Showcase, where musicians are selected from an open mic event held each Wednesday at the TCA to perform with a backing band and tell their musical story.
A viewing party was held Saturday at the TCA for the broadcast of the first Songwriters Showcase. There have been five showcases, and all have aired on Tempe 11.
TCA Director Don Fassinger said 565 musicians have participated in the open mic events since February 2009. Those musicians have offered more than 1,700 performances, he said.
The Walk-in Wednesdays Open Mic is open to all musicians and held every Wednesday from 5 to 10 p.m.
“It’s been a tremendous journey we’ve taken,” Fassinger said.
TCA spokeswoman Mary Fowler approached Arizona 8 PBS about broadcasting the showcases.
“(We have) some amazing talent and some of them will probably be working in the (music) business for quite a while,” she said.
Fowler approached local singer and songwriter Walt Richardson to host the event. Richardson does much of the sound engineering for Walk-in Wednesdays and is now the host for the Songwriters Showcase.
“The range of creativity that you get to see in one night (at the TCA) is just wonderful,” Richardson said.
ASU life sciences professor Robert Roberson was featured in the third showcase and performed before the viewing of the first showcase.
Roberson originally pursued a degree in music, but he had never learned to read music so he decided on biology. Though music remained one of Roberson’s interests.
His music takes on Americana influences and is focused on acoustic stringed instruments, he said.
When Roberson turned 50, he began attending local open mic nights.
“As you get older some things have to come out,” he said. “It’s just this great swelling up of this musical energy that has been not necessarily trapped but really confined.”
Teaching and performing both come from an emotional and creative place, Roberson said.
“Teaching class and performing are so very similar,” he said. “It’s the same energy. It comes from the same space.”
Thirty-one-year-old singer and songwriter Chris Nelson also performed at the viewing party. Nelson was featured in the second showcase.
“My music comes from a grassroots standpoint because my primary instrument has always been acoustic guitar,” Nelson said.
Nelson grew up in Southern California and Montana. Mountain living and Southern California beach culture have shaped Nelson’s laid-back, organic sound, he said.
The joy of performing comes when you get on stage and you can share your art with someone else, Nelson said.
“That kind of lights me up inside,” he said. “It’s almost like a drug for me. It’s something that I chase.”
Reach the reporter at ryan.mccullough@asu.edu
