© Courtesy Annie Capps

Music on the Tracks

Singer-songwriters bring it home.

by Sandor Slomovits

posted 1/18/2013

On The Tracks is a new monthly music series in Chelsea. It debuted in September and will continue through next May on the first Wednesday of every month in the Chelsea Depot--hence the title.

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."

Capps and her husband and musical partner, Rod, have played Zou Zou's Cafe since 2002 and have lived out in the country in Linden Township since 2005. They wanted to share their far-flung musical friends with their adopted hometown. Turns out Chelsea wanted that too and needed no heavy-handed railroading from Capps. A number of people, businesses, and organizations have jumped on board. Bob

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Pierce at the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce has helped find sponsors and has been enthusiastically promoting the series. (The intent is to give performers 100 percent of the gate and raise funds to cover the building rental and other expenses.) A3Radio.com has been webcasting the shows; coffee is being donated by Back to the Roots; and the first two shows were very well attended and received.

The recently renovated old Chelsea Depot accommodates fifty to sixty people. With wall-to-wall windows on three sides, and painted in several tones of Michigan Central Railroad green, it's a charming venue for the informal, interactive shows Capps envisioned. Trains have not stopped at the Depot since 1974, but they still roar by every day and have come past at least once during every concert.

"It's really cool when it happens," says Capps. "Everyone wants to applaud, and the performers play off it--but this is Amtrak, so timing a specific song for a specific train is never an option."

Capps already has some performers lined up for next year's season. She says, "Our hope is that this will carry on for a very long time!"

For info about upcoming performances please visit htmaynardmusic.com/onthetracks.   

[Originally published in January, 2013.]

 

 

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