August 2019 VOCAL Showcase

A special award winners showcase was on tap, tonight, at O’Toole’s Bar and Grill. Before a huge crowd of noisy patrons which made it difficult to hear the lyrics of songs, the performances featured winning songwriters and winning songs from the last two years.

Steve Nuckolls

Voted on by the membership, Steve Nuckolls who won both categories in 2018, opened the evening with a set of songs “Remembering the Past”, “Higher Bar”, “Two Good” and his winner from last year, “Something About Your Love”. After that, this year’s winners took the stage.

Jeff Wagner

Jeff Wagner, who split songwriter of the year, introduced his wife, Sherry Heath Wagner as his accompaniment on guitar and back up vocals. His set included the tunes “I Think I might Forget You”, a new song, “She Was Raised on Sad Songs” a very traditional type country song, “Sometimes”, a tribute to Nashville, titled “Musicland” and the closer “Ghost Riders” about a relationship gone wrong.

Keely Burn

Keely Burn, who split songwriter honors with Jeff, was next. VOCAL’s youngest member, Keely performed on both ukelele, and keyboard. She opened with “When I’m Acting” a tale of insecurity where the singer is better liked when she’s not herself. That was followed by a new song “Guiding Light” with some great piano riffs. Picking up the uke, she offered “I’m Not Afraid”, “Come Down Love” with whistling, then “Masterpiece” , which implied there was more to be done to to be impressive, and the set ender, “Wake Up”, which has the interesting line in it, “the greatest gift is in my mind, tonight.

Doug Patrick

The closing act, Doug Patrick won this year’s “song of the year” poll. He is a long time member of VOCAL and it’s always a treat to hear him perform his narrative songs. Dueling with a feisty 12 string guitar, he began his set with “I Wouldn’t Change a Thing”, followed by a sweet song of love “I’ll Hold You As Long As I Can” which relies on memories that are made throughout a Life time. As a contrast, “You Don’t Cross My Mind” sort of takes the opposite view, when I think about the good things in my life, “You Don’t Cross My Mind”. “Grand Daddy’s Knee” his winning song, closed out his set. This well honed tale about lessons learned in life from his grand daddy is full of poignant remembrances and visual sentiment. A song well deserved to win.