Caren Armstrong brings her long-running series Celebrating Songwriters back to the Freight for an evening of original songs with Keith Greeninger, Steve Meckfessel, and Caren herself. The first set features each artist playing individually. The second set features the artists playing in the round, Nashville style, a format that often inspires spontaneous collaboration.

Caren’s music draws from folk, country, blues, jazz, traditional, and pop, a mix of influences that Caren blends into something all her own. Here’s how Grammy winner Steve Seskin describes her work: “Songs about real life sung with passion and precision.” Born in Texas, raised in Southern California, and now based in Oakland, Caren has recorded 4 albums, including her latest, Everything. She won top honors at the Emerging Songwriter Showcase at the Napa Valley Music Festival and at the 15th Annual Songwriting Competition at the Tucson Folk Festival. San Francisco public radio station KALW named her one of the top 10 artists of the decade in 2010. Her songs are dangerously honest and wickedly funny, and they have a sneaky way of working themselves into your heart.

A third generation native of Northern California, Keith Greeninger got his first guitar at age 13 and wrote his first song that night, using the same chords as “Tom Dooley.” Since then, he’s gone on to win KFOG’s Best of the Bay music award as part of the group City Folk in 1995, the Kerrville New Folk Songwriters Award and the Napa Valley Song Writers Showcase in 1997, the Rocky Mountains Folk Festival Showcase in 2001, and the Telluride Troubadour National Songwriting Competition in 2005. His most recent album is Make It Rain, recorded with Dayan Kai.

Alameda’s Steve Meckfessel joined his first band, Size Five, when he was in junior high in Sacramento. As a student at UC Santa Cruz, he formed Stone Soup, a vintage rock and roll cover band. When he recorded his first solo effort, Twice, in 2004, he brought in the founder of his junior high band, Peter Andrews, to play on the album. The title song was used on the long-running television show, JAG. Steve’s latest album is Under Beautiful Skies, which the website Minor 7th praised for its “plainspoken wisdom” and “ironies we can believe in,” calling the music “lovely” and “moving.” Steve has co-written songs with, among others, Barbara Higbie, Keith Greeninger, and Bob Hahn.

Visit Caren Armstrong's website

Visit Keith Greeninger's website

Visit Steve Meckfessel's website