Trent Wagler ‘02, EMU alum and lead singer-songwriter for The Steel Wheels, highlighted a panel of four local musical talents who performed at EMU’s MainStage Theater last Thursday, Feb. 13. Wagler was joined to his left by Devon Sproule, a folk and indie rock singer-songwriter based in Charlottesville, VA. On his right were Maria Clymer ‘00 and Christopher Kurtz ‘00, a pair from the Shenandoah Valley who together form the Americana duo Clymer & Kurtz.
Perched on wooden barstools with guitars in hand, Wagler, Sproule, and Clymer & Kurtz took turns introducing and performing four selections of their new music. Diverse tunes and lyrics, laughs, and stories filled Main Stage Theater for 90 minutes. The evening wrapped up with a short Q&A and a sing-along, and the artists stuck around to talk after the event.
The event, termed “Songwriters in the Round,” was co-sponsored by EMU’s Music Department and The Composer Collective, a new student club that organizes music events and causal “jam sessions” on campus. Junior Silas Clymer, co-president of the club, said last week’s event was in the works for several months.
“It was intimate and special,” Clymer said after the event. “I loved the music, and I thought all of them had profound things to say… I think my favorite part is that a lot of what they played was stuff they had not played for anybody else before, a lot of it was unreleased music.”
Clymer & Kurtz, a married couple of 17 years, started the night’s music with “Simple Things,” a piece from their debut EP published in November. The song reminds its listeners to take in and appreciate the smaller things in life; the “simple things, simple pleasures; too complex to measure.”
Bread in the toaster, tea on a coaster
Like it black, no cream
Music in the air you breathe
The mystery of steam
Their second song was inspired by the Japanese term shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing.” Maria Clymer described it as “soaking up nature.” Psychology Today calls forest bathing “making contact with and taking in the atmosphere of the forest.” The pines near their home inspired Maria to write this song. “Spread my arms and take it in, lying low, flying high,” Clymer & Kurtz harmonized. After the audience applauded, Sproule leaned into her microphone: “That was epic…ly gorgeous.”
Next from the duo: a country song. “Ever since we met a couple decades ago, I’ve been trying to cure him of country music,” Clymer said.
“Here’s a country song,” Christopher said to the laughing audience.
“It’s about acceptance,” Maria added.
Last, Clymer & Kurtz sang another piece from their EP called “Little Boy Gone,” written for their youngest child in anticipation of him going to college years down the road.
When introducing himself and his first song, Trent Wagler described his song selection for the night as “fresh, fresh songs out of the song oven.” And before his final song: “You may not ever hear songs like these after tonight.”
Wagler, who graduated from EMU in 2002 and now leads The Steel Wheels, sang three songs with an acoustic guitar and a fourth with a fretless banjo. He used the time he had to speak about the impacts of music as much as he used the time to sing.
Wagler loves to change the instruments he uses when writing songs because, he said, “it helps get out of your own pattern. It helps you to find new things that you otherwise wouldn’t.” Encouraging the audience to pick up a pen and write, Wagler reflected on a book he read for a class at EMU 20 years ago that helped teach him the impact of filling a page with words every morning. He said he wishes song-writing was like doing yoga, or going on a walk. “Everyone can write songs and make art,” Wagler said. “We’re just in different places.”
Gauging the energy level late in the event, Wagler checked in: “You guys doing OK? Is this vaguely what you had in mind?”
Lyrically, Wagler’s music ranged from introspection, to losing his cigarettes in Memphis, to a humorous song about wanting to discover the dark secrets hidden in his lover’s basement. The latter, Wagler described as “kind of a love song, I guess.”
Are there details I’m missing in you?
Please let me see inside your basement …
You’ve got a very clean bathroom, and the bedroom, we know our way around… It’s time to see the secrets in your basement
“It’s a Valentine’s Day song,” Wagler laughed at the song’s end.
Devon Sproule describes her music as “North American music with weirdo roots.” The Charlottesville-based singersongwriter brought a dynamic voice, imagination, goofiness, and lots of stories to Songwriters in the Round. She introduced herself with a tale from when she was on tour. Driving with her husband, she was listening to submissions to a student song competition, of which she was a judge, when she burst out at the lyrics: “A puppy’s ears smell like grandma’s chicken soup.”
After her first piece, Sproule took off her cardigan, looked herself up and down, and giggled into the mic: “I didn’t think these mismatched clothes would make an appearance… let me just pull my socks up.” The socks: cotton-candy stripes. The shirt: black, with red, white and pink flowers. The pants: dark blue jeans with white polka dots. And brown shoes.
After her second song, Sproule looked over to Clymer & Kurtz and asked, “Are y’all a couple?”
“Yeah,” Kurtz responded.
“I didn’t wanna assume,” Sproule said. “Happy Valentine’s eve.”
One of Sproule’s four songs was written from the perspective of her three-yearold daughter, whose passion in life is the movie “Frozen.”
Give me the Elsa braid, you know how I like it
Where’s my blue dress?
I’ve gotta have my leggings, where’s my snowflake shirt
Sproule’s last song was a dedication to her friend Gabe, who passed away last May.
Hey Gabe, we would’ve loved you
Hey Gabe, even if we’d seen all of you
After a short Q&A at the end, Wagler taught the audience a tune and lyrics to sing along to. Students, administration, faculty, and other community members joined the Steel Wheels star in song:
You don’t have to be alone,
You don’t have to be alone
You don’t have to be alone, anymore
As the weather gets warmer this semester, keep an eye out for another big outdoor event to be hosted by The Composer Collective. “Last fall, the twist was the piano painting; this one might have some other surprise involved,” Clymer hinted.
