Morgantown – Sunday saw another round of West Virginia’s traveling singer – songwriter concert series, Songs & Stories as it made a stop at The Encore.

This author had more than a front row seat, I (Brendan Gallagher; Co-Founder of Born & Bred) performed at this show alongside of three other incredible talents, Emmy Of The Mountains, Grace Campbell, and Zach McCord. I’ve had a close up view of Songs & Stories as I’ve gotten to watch the founder, Andy Benson of A.M. Benson & The Stations take this from concept to actuality.

Benson spends time scouring for the right fit of talent and location to present a series that feels like it’s straight out of The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. Andy also acts as host and moderator of each series, delivering questions that allow the artists to talk about their process and how the songs came to be.

This show saw a pairing of rock and roll, with folk, and pop. The performers select four songs to perform and they each perform one song per round. Each round began with folk singer Emmy who sang each song with a passion that turned the crowd into an army of rebellious rabble rousers. I personally want a full fledged recording of her song Rte 7.

I had the daunting task of following her up each time. Rock & Roll with a full band is my bread and butter. I have them to fall back on and to add fuel to my fire when I take the stage. This offered me a challenge as I am not used to playing my songs with just me and an acoustic guitar. One of the unique things about Songs & Stories is that it affords you the opportunity to hear some songs done in a way that you haven’t heard yet.

Grace was in the third slot with her beautiful melodies and an incredible whistling talent that you have to hear. Even though she just released her album “Bloom” she went the route of playing some songs that haven’t been recorded yet and it served her well. The songs she sang were powerful and allowed her to shine as a songwriter.

Anchoring each round was singer-songwriter and producer McCord. Zach played a mix of songs he has written for other artists. It was awesome getting to hear him play two songs he co-wrote for Charles Wesley Godwin which included Jesse and Miner Imperfections. It’s always interesting when you get to hear the writer of a song perform a track that is traditionally performed by another artist. Zach also played his recently penned original that deals with the emotions of a recent loss to the NCWV community. This song left many in the crowd trying to hold it together.

And that’s the power of music. We, the performers, had the opportunity to bare our souls through music and take the audience on a journey with each of us. We at Born & Bred are proud to call Songs & Stories our friends and hope you’ll take the time to check them out when they are in your part of the state.