Music on the Tracks

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Is it a concert series? Not exactly. Are they lectures? Not hardly. Is it singer-songwriters playing their songs and talking about how they came to write them? Now you're on the right track. That was Annie Capps's intent when she engineered the series. Capps, herself an award-winning singer-songwriter, says she has long sensed a need for a behind-the-scenes look at how songs are created. "How often do you hear a performer play a song and wonder 'Where did that come from?' asks Capps. "We're trying to get our performers to talk more about their own writing process, inspirations, and motivations, rather than do their usual schtick between songs. We're asking for a little more insight."

Finding people who fit that bill was easy--Capps is much loved on the local and national music scene by audiences and fellow musicians alike. Though she's bringing in only solo or duo acts--so audiences can focus more on the lyrics of the songs rather than on a bigger band sound--the hardest part of scheduling was realizing she wouldn't ever have enough Wednesday nights to accommodate all her friends in the business, even if the series never derails.

There was also a learning curve. "I think every artist should consider running their own series or getting involved on the other side of things for awhile," says Capps. "It's a great exercise in understanding things from a promoter/presenter's perspective."