Harvey Adams was in a cover band in high school that turned into a songwriting band that played heavy metal music.
Playing solo acoustic music, though, has always been where his heart is.
A couple of years ago, Forrest Turner got serious about writing his own songs and has mixed some of those in with cover songs at gigs in the area.
Ever since then, he has spent more time working on original music.
Franny Woodall began songwriting when she was 18, going from worship songs to secular songs. That later turned into a profession, where she played gigs and included her originals and a lot of cover songs from her heroes growing up.
She discovered a love of creating her own music and being able to share it.
On Thursday night, the Songwriters Showcase was all about spotlighting these three local songwriters in a listening room environment at the Jackson County Visitor Center in Seymour.
It was presented by Crossroads Entertainment Inc., the nonprofit entity that organizes the Crossroads Acoustic Fest at various venues in downtown Seymour, including the visitor center.
A fourth local songwriter, Justyn Underwood, was supposed to perform Thursday night, but he learned earlier in the day that he had to quarantine for COVID-19 reasons, so another local songwriter and the event’s organizer, Joe Persinger, filled in.
For Adams and Turner, this type of event was a new experience.
“A friend used to have guitar night where we would drink beer and sit around a table and take turns playing songs. That was cover tunes. It was really great, good practice and really fun, but we just played to the people that came into his garage,” Adams said. “(The Songwriters Showcase) is strictly just songs you’ve written. To me, that’s the only reason I actually came.”
He wanted to play original music and hear other people’s songs.
“When I go to a bar or I go to a club and somebody is playing, I don’t want to hear what’s on the radio,” Adams said. “I want to hear what they say, find something new. That how I’ve always been.”
Having the opportunity to just play songs he wrote meant a lot to Turner, too.
“It’s cool because it kind of throws a little twist in things because I’m used to doing so many covers than originals,” he said. “It really makes me concentrate on making the song better and really focusing on that song.”
He said he appreciates Persinger for asking him to be a part of the showcase.
“I’ve never done anything like it, and I’ve been looking forward to it for a while. It went by too fast,” he said, smiling. “I see a lot of guys that I look up to musically on YouTube doing this back when they were really a nobody, so it’s kind of an inspiration to see ‘OK, well, they were there once, too. Why couldn’t I?’ That’s why I feel very privileged to do stuff like that because it’s a confidence thing, too.”
Woodall was part of a similar show in 2018 that was organized by the Crossroads Music Team at Southern Indiana Center for the Arts in Seymour.
“(Thursday’s) show was another breakthrough for me because of my shyness and stage fright, which was a big deal to overcome many years ago when I started playing in front of people,” she said. “But since COVID and life in general getting in the way, performing in a listening room setting helps me realize I can still do it. It boosted my confidence.”
She said she’s thankful she was invited to participate again and appreciates the encouragement from Persinger and Shawn Busby, who also is involved with Crossroads Entertainment Inc.
“We had the great, responsive audience, as well,” Woodall said. “It was a great audience, and it was awesome being included with these talented musicians.”
Adams, who grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and moved to Seymour when he was in middle school, said he wrote poetry in middle school and high school and then started learning chords so he could sing stories.
His heavy metal band, Tod, was part of the Warped Tour that played at Deer Creek Music Center in Noblesville in the early 2000s. It also played at Indianapolis festivals and other events during a 10-year stint.
During that time, he also played solo acoustic music.
“I discovered bands or people, like Cat Stevens and Harry Chapin and Jim Croce. Those are all my heroes. They always told great stories, and they all had that nasally voice, which my voice is kind of nasally,” he said.
Songwriting has benefited Adams, especially after having a real bad panic attack several years ago.
“A lot of my songs are sad, and they have a sad overtone. I find happiness in sad songs. They make me feel better and calm me down,” he said. “I always thought I was just writing a song, but it turns out I’m actually writing about my life. I want people to listen to the song and hear their story. I hope that my song isn’t making you feel sadder but making you feel comfortable knowing that somebody else feels that way. Music is just an outlet, too.”
Turner, a Medora native, said he played his first gig in 2017 before getting away from performing for a while.
Once he started hanging out with Cody Ikerd of Bedford, they wrote songs together, and Turner began listening to independent artists.
“That really inspired me to try to turn my stories, like growing up in southern Jackson County out in the middle of nowhere and my stories and stuff with my buddies and hunting and fishing and just growing up around there, into songs,” he said. “I’m still trying to do it.”
Whether he is going through a difficult situation or feeling emotional, Turner said he will write a song about it.
“I spend a lot of time in the woods in the fall hunting, sitting in the woods by myself and getting a lot of time to think,” he said. “I’ll sit in my tree stand and write down lyrics. I’ve got lyrics in my phone that just need to be converted out into a song. I get a lot out of it. It’s a way to express myself.”
Woodall is from Princeton, Kentucky, and moved to Jennings County in 1980.
She said she was involved in music at church and wrote worship songs and was a worship leader. Around 1996, she started writing secular songs and going to songwriter workshops.
“I played coffeehouses in Louisville and Indy, bookstores, open mics in the tri-state area in the beginning,” she said.
Once music became her profession, she was featured as an opening act for notable artists such as Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Nickel Creek and others. She also performed in a songwriter showcase at the Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tennessee.
Woodall’s musical background comes from her parents’ love of music. Her father, Clarence Woodall, is a retired band director who at 96 still plays the saxophone in bands.
“He is from the big band era, and between him, my older siblings with multiple albums and the genes I inherited, I discovered my love of creating my own music and being able to share — some with no lyrics, but most of them do have lyrics,” she said. “It is a creative experience and art form, and I feel like something is missing if I am not actively involved in it.”
Crossroads Entertainment Inc. hopes to bring back Crossroads Acoustic Fest this year after it was conducted in 2018 and 2019 and canceled the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That event and other events like it, we just try to bring great original music to Seymour,” Busby said. “A lot of times, that’s artists from wherever — Nashville or Virginia or wherever they might be from. But we also like to take opportunities to shine a spotlight on some of our local musicians, some of our local talent.”