Wednesday Night Poetry to feature songwriter, poet
The 2012 Nashville Connection Songwriter of the Year Jacob Johnson will be this week’s feature for Wednesday Night Poetry at Kollective Coffee+Tea, 110 Central Ave.
The regular open mic session for all poets begins at 6:30 p.m. and Johnson will perform at 7 p.m., followed by another open mic. Admission is free and open to all ages.
Johnson described his music in a news release as “Neo-Acoustic Folk Funk” because he uses techniques of several different genres to create his own unique style of music. A Savannah Morning News review said he is “… part of a new breed of folk musicians who makes his own rules,” while the Florence Morning News says “Johnson sounds like Norman Rockwell paintings and the open road.”
He calls Travelers Rest, S.C., home but spends a lot of time on the road promoting his music across the country. In 2007, he first played in Hot Springs at The Poet’s Loft and has returned numerous times to feature at WNP. “I have family in the Hot Springs area so it’s a double-sided treat for me to come there,” he said.
Johnson’s grandmother helped him to start playing guitar when he was 10. “In the 1940s she played with pickup bands,” he said. “Big name country artists, like Ernest Tubb, would come to town and hire a local band to back them up. And that’s what she did. She taught me three or four chords and told me if I learned them I could play for people. From there I took off on my own.”
He started writing his own music in high school. “I was playing in a band, and the first songs were about girls and the things most guys that age think about. It wasn’t until I started college that I began writing songs for me. People make a big deal about my guitar-playing, but I see myself more as a storyteller,” he said.
Johnson’s newest CD, “One Take Jake,” features 11 of his most-requested songs and will be available at his Wednesday night performance.
Email budonfoot@yahoo.com for more information about Wednesday Night Poetry.