Songwriters bring their craft to East Brunswick Public Library
Kim Yarson, left, and Jo Wymer perform at the library.
A jog in the woods. A spouse’s business trip. A colorful expression on a decorative plate.
These are some of the seemingly innocuous subjects that inspired three Central Jersey singer-songwriters to write new songs. They played those songs -- and many more -- on Thursday night at the East Brunswick Public Library.
“I love songwriting and songwriters,” said musician Kim Yarson, who performed with colleagues Joe Iantosca and Jo Wymer. “I’m here to perform and help out other songwriters. That’s why I put this program together.”
Each of the three performed in turn for several rounds, and before each number they briefly explained the experiences that led to the song’s creation. Yarson, for example, wrote one song after a jog in the woods.
“I’ve learned it’s important to take my cell phone with me so I can sing into my answering machine when I get an idea,” she said.
She’s also the author of the song inspired by the plate -- containing the refrain “make a bridge and get over it,” she said it’s about “whiners.”
Joe Iantosca, Kim Yarson and Jo Wymer in front of the audience.
Wymer, who had a bluesy sound, said tragedy motivated some of her songwriting -- the death of both her parents on the same day, or a car accident that left her injured in the hospital.
“I always wind up sad and sappy. I don’t know why,” she said.
When her spouse was sent on a business trip to Las Vegas -- and she couldn’t go -- she wrote a song about that separation.
Wymer displayed an impressive musical range, playing guitar, harmonica and piano.
“I don’t think it’s fair that you sound like a whole band,” Iantosca said to her jokingly.
Iantosca, meanwhile, played songs about a childhood friend, a mid-life crisis and the value of music as something to “fall back on.” He said he’d recently played the latter song for a chart-topping singer who’s considering recording it.
About 30 people came to watch the songwriters in action. You can watch videos of their performances below.
Jo Wymer
Joe Iantosca
Kim Yarson (partial song)
Kim Yarson 7:26 pm on July 9, 2010 Permalink |
Facebook me my friend so I can have this article uploaded there. Thanks for the great article. I love it.
Steve Reed 8:47 pm on July 9, 2010 Permalink |
Hi Kim! Thanks for the great show! Sorry I only recorded part of your song — my camera ran out of memory. You should be able to post this to Facebook easily, either using the Facebook button at the bottom of the post or by copying the URL and pasting it onto your Facebook page. Hope this works!