Let’s Get Folked Up: Songwriters In the Round Launches Wednesday At Watermark
AP's Chris Brown produces show featuring Jo Smith, J.T. Makoviecki, Matty Carlock, and Renee Maskin
Singer-songwriter and longtime Asbury Park creative Chris Brown is launching Let’s Get Folked Up: Songwriters in the Round 6 p.m. Wednesday at Watermark, located at 800 Ocean Ave.
Billed as a collaborative evening for musicians to share their songs and their stories, the showcase further solidifies the Nashville-Asbury Park connection. Brown said he hopes the showcase will grow into a series.
Brown said he got the idea from an Asbury Park Underground showcase he did a few years back at the same venue, and after conversations with Nashville-based soulful country singer Jo Smith, who he befriended after playing the annual Christmas Tree Lighting a few years back, the idea began to come to fruition.
He then turned to Megan O’Shea of 90.5 the Night for the behind the scenes producing collaboration, and after a single social media post received a ‘tremendous response’ for those who wanted to be a part of show.
Aside from Brown and Smith, the lineup features J.T. Makoviecki of Jackson Pines, Matty Carlock, and Renee Maskin of Lowlight, with O’Shea hosting the event.
Brown said his motivation was to put five different artists and personalities on one stage.
This defining production from Brown is a culmination of years crafting a place in the Asbury Park music scene.
The 37-year-old spent the first 10 years of his childhood on Emory Street before the family moved to Ocean Township. He returned to the city in 2010 after obtaining a master’s degree in history from Fordham University in the Bronx and spending a couple years teaching high school math in Queens.
Like so many young local musicians, he balanced bartending, and most recently a management role at Asbury Festhalle & Biergarten, with cutting out his folk-punk niche.
Brown, who often plays sets with his father, has played all the notable venues, including The Saint, Stone Pony, Wonder Bar, Biergarten, Porta, House of Independents, Langosta Lounge, APYC, Anchor’s Bend, etc.
For more about the Let’s Get Folked Up: Songwriters in the Round, click here. Tickets are $10 at the door, which open at 6 p.m.
[Photo courtesy of Mike McLaughlin]
—————————————————————————————————–
Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The Asbury Park Sun is affiliated with the triCityNews newspaper.
