At this Riverhead church, local musicians get a spotlight for their original songs

The musicians sit in a row on a brightly lit stage, taking turns singing and strumming authentic songs and telling the tales behind them. One performs a breakup tune they wrote a couple of canine. One other sings a lament about visitors on the LIE. (“Damn this 495.”) 

The performers are individuals within the East Finish Writers’ Spherical, a semiregular live performance hosted by the North Shore Christian Church on Kroemer Avenue in Riverhead that enables musicians to showcase new songs to their friends, and for an viewers to hearken to authentic music from native expertise. 

Modeled after the writers’ spherical occasions in Nashville — particularly the long-lasting Bluebird Café — East Finish Author’s Spherical occasions began final 12 months as a collaboration between Jerry and Kristen Halpin of Riverhead, the church’s ministers, and Matt Marshak of Riverhead, a musician and music educator.

There may be an “abundance of cover bands” you can hear “everywhere,” Marshak stated. “But it’s sort of a rarity and unique thing to get artists who are putting out their own music.”

Marshak stated occasions like East Finish Writers’ Spherical are vital in creating assist methods for musicians to get their new songs to the purpose the place they are often hits. 

“This is how every well known song started,” Marshak stated. 

Chloe Halpin, a songwriter and performer from Riverhead, and Jerry and Kristen’s daughter, stated there’s nothing like getting to attach with the viewers by her music.

“It’s a very vulnerable feeling, but it’s cool. To me, it’s what I’ve always wanted to do, was be on a stage singing songs I wrote for people to connect to,” she stated.

Marshak and Chloe Halpin — together with Frank Critelli, a musician and radio host from New Haven, Connecticut — carried out their authentic music final Thursday in entrance of an viewers of greater than 20 individuals. The songwriters take turns performing their work. Though there are some regulars at East Finish Writers’ Spherical which have carried out a number of occasions, reminiscent of Marshak and Halpin, the performers are by no means the identical every time.

“A lot of these are stories about Long Island, life here on the East End. And people get to hear your perspective on life and some of your views, and you try to kind of paint a ‘song picture’ for people,” Marshak stated.

Critelli, who grew up in Levittown, stated he drove roughly 4 hours to Riverhead with a good friend to spend the day on the North Fork and play on the spherical.

“We play music and that’s what we do. And it’s always a nice thing to play for people in different places and meet new people and hear new songs and see new stuff,” Critelli stated. “That’s where you get inspiration from.”

Every efficiency runs from 7-8:30 p.m.. It prices $10 to attend, with the cash going to the artists, Jerry Halpin stated. The church offers free mild refreshments, however the viewers is welcome to carry their very own meals and drinks.

“People that come love it, they can’t believe how good it is. Not just the quality of music that we get from the performers — because we’ve picked people from the island — but the sound quality, because we set it up like a listening room,” Chloe Halpin stated. Every present is recorded by the church’s state-of-the-art sound system, giving musicians the chance to put up their performances and get much more publicity.

“I just think we don’t have a lot of places here that do that — that really focus on everybody sitting quietly and paying attention to the artists,” she stated.

Pat Carr of Speonk, an everyday viewers member, stated she enjoys listening to the artists speak about how they wrote the songs and what their writing means to them. “The intimacy of it gives it a whole special thing compared to just going and listening to music without that interaction,” she stated.

Charlie Mckenna of Centereach, additionally an everyday attendee, stated he enjoys the music and the connection he feels with the artists. 

“Everyone is here for that reason — to hear the music. They’re not here for the beer — we bring it with us — but [it’s not] like in a bar, where everybody’s talking while the musician’s playing. Here people are listening,” McKenna stated. “It’s sort of an intimate, personal kind of a feeling that you get sitting here and listening to it, and we love it.”

“Best $10 deal in town,” he added.

Details about upcoming East Finish Writers’ Spherical occasions may be discovered on its web site and its social media accounts, together with by Fb.