MusicNT and Alice Springs Folk Club bring you a Songwriting Masterclass and a Two-Part Songwriting Workshop with VINCENT CROSS – currently touring Australia and playing at Top End Folk Festival (more artist info below).
***Tuesday 29th July – Songwriting MASTERCLASS: Writing the Songs of Our Ancestors (90 mins)***
Take a journey into the song writing process for Vincent Cross' last album "The Life & Times of James “The Rooster" Corcoran. This workshop explores the important of interpolations in folk music which is how songwriters incorporate pre-existing melodies or lyrics into a new composition to create something new and unique. This can be a powerful tool for songwriters writing genre-based songs. This will include a performance of several songs.
Free entry by registration at this link – limited places:
https://wkf.ms/4f2stAn
***Wednesday 30th and 31st of July – Songwriting WORKSHOP Parts 1 and 2 over two evenings***
30th: Part One (90 mins)
Take a guided tour through the forest of genres, melodies, lyrics and moods with masterful and eclectic songwriter Vincent Cross. This first chapter will unpack various song writing approaches, tools and methodologies. Vincent will challenge and inspire your process, and set you a task to share in Part Two
31st: Part Two (90 mins)
Take a guided tour through the forest of genres, melodies, lyrics and moods with masterful and eclectic songwriter Vincent Cross. This second chapter will focus on participants sharing and reflecting on their process.
Free entry by registration at this link – limited places:
https://wkf.ms/40jHJCR
ABOUT THE ARTIST
https://vincentcross.org/
Vincent Cross is a singer-songwriter, essayist, and educator whose music bridges continents and generations. Born in Ireland and raised in Australia, he now calls New York City home—a melting pot that fuels his unique blend of traditional Irish folk and American bluegrass, infused with the contemporary singer-songwriter spirit.
Over the past two decades, Cross has released four acclaimed full-length albums. His debut, Home Away from Home (2008), introduced listeners to his warm reinterpretations of traditional bluegrass melodies & commentary, while subsequent releases—A Town Called Normal (2013) and Old Songs for Modern Folk (2016)—cemented his reputation for innovative song writing. His 2020 album, The Life & Times of James “The Rooster” Corcoran, is a musical biopic exploring the legend of a distant Irish relative and notorious 1840s gangland figure who led a colony of Irish families in Manhattan.
Now, Cross returns with a new album, A Place Where Songs Come to Live and his soon to be released single, “In the Eyes of My Father”— is a deeply intimate, soul-stirring reflection on his father’s immigration to Australia in the 1970s and his own experience as an immigrant in New York City. Inspired by a glowing review that praised his “narrative powers” and his “ability to cast a vivid portrait of a man he never knew, a place he’s never been,” this new collection of songs is built around the idea of places he has been and people he has met.
" …speaks to folk's narrative powers and Cross's special powers as a songwriter, his ability to cast a vivid portrait of a man he never knew, a place he's never been." — POPMATTERS
“…I heard a crystal clear voice that took me back to when I was being introduced to mountain music groups, and families in Appalachia. It was a pleasure to hear such beauty coming out of Vincent Cross.” —ODETTA .
“Brings a modern sensibility to songs that lie deep in our musical genes” — COUNTRY MUSIC STANDARD
“He uses musical and lyrical tropes that have been transmitted across generations to create new songs addressing contemporary issues”— ART MENIUS, WCOM.
Also check out other Music events in Alice Springs, Workshops in Alice Springs, Arts events in Alice Springs.
