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What would you do for a one-on-one collaboration with Quincy Mumford or Deal Casino’s Joe Parella?

For 13-year-old Juels Acevedo of Eatontown, it was simply a matter of wanting to learn how to play the guitar.

Drawn to the 1950s sound, Juels wanted to emulate the musical style. His parents bought him a guitar for Christmas and after plucking away for a bit, he entered the Lakehouse Artist’s Program. In a short time, his hour-long sessions with Mumford and other local music greats led to the mastering of the difficult five chord progression.

“So you have to stretch your fingers on the frets and it always bothers me because it’s difficult to reach my pinky that far,” he explains [at right].

Jules’ journey took him on a path of not only learning chords but how to write songs he’ll debut on Sunday.

“The new song I wrote with Quincy [Summer Tonight] has more of a Justin Timberlake/Michael Jackson feel in the guitar patterns,” he said. There’s also King of Summer and I Can Be The Man, all rifting on the edge of the surf sound.

Juels is among a dozen budding singer-songwriters that will be featured in the 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday Lakehouse Music Academy Artist Program/Moto Records Showcase at the House of Independents, located at 572 Cookman Ave.

Spearheaded by Albie Monterrosa, Eric Novod, and Jon Leidersdorff, the collaborative educational program guides burgeoning singer-songwriters through the behind-the-scenes music industry business via hands-on tutorials with some of the area’s most recognizable talents.

“The kids not only dream it up, we help them put it together and then we really make the dream come true in here [the recording studio] and then we put them out with a band around them,” Monterrosa said.

Paired with the launch of the student-run Moto Records, now budding talents are guided through everything from the songwriting and collaboration experience to tips on self-promotion and marketing, and performance skills. They are then given opportunities to not only perform on stage but to cut tracks in a newly formed Moto Records recording studio.

In a matter of months, Juels has not only perfected his retro sound but the era’s style has taken over his natural cadence.

“He reminds me of young Richie Valenz,” Monterrosa said of the actor/model who has been a part of the entertainment since he was in diapers.  

“I’ve been doing that forever,” he said with a playful sigh. “I did my first commercial for Pampers when I was probably a couple of months. Then I started doing Radio Shack Chuck E Cheese commercials.”

And while this young pro will soon be starring as the lovably mischievous Pugsley in an off-Broadway production of The Addams [based on the popular 1960s television show], his musical debut on Sunday comes with the support of his not only his family and friends, but his program-mates and the industry professionals who are sharing their talents with a next generation.

Among Sunday’s featured program performers is Leah Nawy, a 15-year-old Colts Neck pianist who also took up the guitar last year.

“I’ve actually written enough where I took some of them into the studio and recorded them,” Nawy said as she prepped for a photo shoot with photographer Andrew Holtz last week.

This is where the Moto Records collaboration really sets in. Now budding talents receive tips on everything from self-promotion, marketing, and performance skills as well as recording and performing their music. Once the song is cut, the Lakehouse team will show the new artists how to put the social media together to build his fan base through videos on Facebook and Youtube pages, Monterrosa said.

In December Nawy went into the recording studio for the first time.

“It was so fun,” she said. “We hired three studio musicians and I played keys. I did three songs in one day. It was cool because you just play an acoustic version and then everybody interprets it and it becomes a song.”

Nawy’s four songs were written in collaboration with Andrew Robinson, Tor Miller, Danielle Bouchard, and she also worked with Meg Cannon.

“They were great, Nawy said. “The helped make me much more comfortable with songwriting. Now I feel like I can write. When I first started, I was really new to songwriting, especially songwriting with other people. Each person writes differently. It was really cool to experience how some people want to come up with lyrics immediately and other people really want to come up with a melody first.”

The collaborations led her to find her own voice, which she describes as indie pop.

“I learned different methods of how to song write and what worked best for me,” she said.

She will celebrate the debut of her first single – Picture Frame – with a release party at 7 p.m May 20 at the Asbury Park Music Foundation space inside the Lakehouse Music Academy building on Lake Avenue.  

Also on tap will be the triple threat – EllaRoss, 19, of Monmouth Beach, Sophia ‘Monte’ Montalbano, 16, of Red Bank/Middletown, and ‘Georgia Owen’ Borkowski, 15, of Allentown [at right].

Georgia Owen many may recognize from her acoustic cover of U2’s One in the Just Before Dawn documentary by Tom Jones.

“Her version of the song is also in the trailer of the movie,” Monterrosa said.

“The whole night was already incredible, I got to see myself in the movie and that was amazing,” she said of the Asbury Park Music in Film Festival’s screening of the film that featured an impromptu visit from Bruce Springsteen. “You always hear about how Bruce came from little Asbury but the fact that he showed up and no one knew…and then you see all these guys come back. It was kind of like a pinch-yourself moment.”

These three vocalists are multi-instrumentalists who play everything from the guitar and piano to the ukulele and banjo.

Montalbano who just finished recording an EP with Deal Casino’s Joe Parella said she most appreciated the creative collaborations with different artists.

“No one is competitive at all,” she said. “Everyone just wants to help you.”

Georgia Owen said she was in search of the next step toward carving out a career path when she entered the program.

“It’s just been a steady climb up for me,” she said. “Meeting all these musicians that are just like me and that we are all trying to do the same thing and all trying to work together has been great.

Some of these people that I write songs with are trying to make it themselves but they are still helping you and pushing you and make you the best your are.”

Form more about the program, visit Lakehouse Music Academy here.

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The Asbury Park Sun is affiliated with the triCityNews newspaper.

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