RISA Songwriters in The Round at Paradise Cafe Friday May 15th 2015 8:00 - 10:30 PM. Free admission, all ages, dinner, beer and wine.

Join members of the Rhode Island Songwriters Association (RISA) for an in-the-round performance of original songs.

Tonight’s line-up: Molly Pinto Madigan Lenny Solomon, Tom Smith, with host Beth DeSombre
Songwriting prompt: Checkers (thanks to Amy Lauricella Mosley)

Hailed for her angelic voice and haunting compositions, Molly Pinto Madigan won first place in WUMB’s Boston Folk Festival Songwriting Contest and was named “Artist of the Year” at Salem State University, her alma mater. Since her debut as the lead singer for the teen bluegrass band Jaded Mandolin, Madigan has submerged herself in the dark, luscious world of ballads, drawn to their magic, and her original songs echo with the whisperings of the American and European traditional music.

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Lenny Solomon’s style has been compared to early Bob Dylan, Guy Clark, and Jerry Jeff Walker. Solomon began his career in the late 1960s. A fixture at the now defunct Idler Coffeehouse in Harvard Square, Cambridge, he regularly performed there on Friday nights for over eight years. The Idler was a training ground for songwriters such as Geoff Bartley, Paul Rishell, Spider John Koerner, and Ric Ocasek. Solomon has been at this business of words, emotions, stories, and music for a good four decades.

Tom Smith’s songs are in turns humorous, touching, thought provoking, and inspiring. Deeply rooted in the old-school folk tradition, his timeless stories are told with a voice that is honest and sincere with melodies that you will remember forever. In the words of noted singer/songwriter Barbara Kessler, “Tom Smith will make you laugh and cry (maybe even in the same song) – a very captivating songwriter and performer.”

Beth DeSombre sings new songs that spring from old traditions, telling the stories of people and places along life’s crooked highways. Sing Out! Magazine describes her songs as “smart and uplifting . . . focusing on the quiet meaning to be found in ordinary life.” Christine Lavin calls her songwriting “wonderful,” and the folk-pop duo The Kennedys laud her “catchy melodies and insightful lyrics.”