Association provides a base for old hands and young talent

Carole Walker spent years feeling awkward while performing at open-mic shows.

As a middle-aged woman, she said, she often felt overlooked for younger artists.

"I wish I could say I was a tough girl and none of that stuff ever bothered me,” said Walker, 48. “But I wasn’t that tough.”

After an acquaintance told her to try a Columbus Songwriters Association showcase instead, she tentatively pulled up to Woodlands Tavern with her acoustic guitar.

By the end of the evening, Walker had found her place.

“It was unlike any energy I had had before, as far as going to open mics,” she said.

Since its founding in 2012, the CSA has shepherded hundreds of songwriters through creative roadblocks and performance jitters in its monthly showcases — including one tonight at Brothers Drake — where artists perform in front of a friendly audience.

The average open-mic What: Columbus Songwriters Association Showcase Where: Brothers Drake Meadery, 26 E. 5th Ave. Contact: 614-388-8765, www. brothersdrake.com Showtime: 6 p.m. Thursday Tickets: $5 suggested admission

show requires no audience participation, but at association performances, each onlooker is given a feedback card on which to grade each song.

To perform in a showcase, musicians pay a $35 annual fee to become association members, which includes perks such as discounted music-video production, access to writing groups and promotion through the association’s social-media accounts.

During showcases — which take place on the first Thursday of each month at Brothers Drake Meadery near the Short North — songwriters are divided into groups of three or four who each play two original songs.

At the end of the night, the scores on each feedback card are tallied to determine a first-, second- and third-place winner. The top two earn spots in the finale showcase each winter, and the artist in third place earns a wild-card slot as a finale showcase alternate.

Despite the competition, Walker said her greatest takeaway has been the connections she’s made with other local songwriters.

“It was fresh water,” she said. “You’re trying to put yourself out there, and it can become exhausting. And even though they’re in the same misery and toil as you are, you’re connecting with them and exchanging ideas. You just walk out of there like ‘I’ve got this now.’”

Walker’s perspective on the association is exactly how co-founder Joey Hendrickson hoped local musicians would feel about the program when he started it six years ago.

A touring singersongwriter at the time, Hendrickson sat around a bonfire with his good friend Derek DuPont in the fall of 2012, spitballing ideas about how to create a collaborative music scene in Columbus.

By February 2013 they achieved nonprofit status, and soon after they applied for (and received) a grant through the Greater Columbus Arts Council.

Hendrickson initially hoped for 100 local artists to join the group. The organization now lists 400 members.

Carter Winter, the first country artist signed to JayZ’s Roc Nation label, is a CSA member, as is Chris Jamison, who placed third on “The Voice” in 2015.

Even as the group keeps growing, Hendrickson’s goals for the association have moved closer to home.

“Empowering songwriters is our mission, and previously I thought maybe the goal is to get everybody close to a record deal,” he said. “But now I’m starting to think there’s a lot of songwriters that just want to write songs, live in Columbus and make a living, and that’s a beautiful thing.”

Country artist Anthony Mossburg joined the group six years ago, shortly after moving to Columbus from Parkersburg, West Virginia.

While he’s now a seasoned performer, Mossburg — who