Scituate, Braintree restaurants to host Nashville songwriters showcase

SCITUATE – Country music songwriters who have penned lyrics for some of Nashville's biggest stars will showcase their talents at the annual Rivershed Songwriters Festival, which will return to Scituate and Braintree after a two-year hiatus on the weekend of Sept. 23.

Restaurateur Kara Tondorf, who lived in Nashville before opening her four restaurants, reached out to songwriting connections to organize the event and bring artists to her restaurants.

The Rivershed locations in Scituate and Braintree will host the festival, which will bring seven songwriters from Nashville who have written songs for renowned artists like Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean and Keith Urban, among others.

Tondorf started the Rivershed Songwriters Festival after the Martha’s Vineyard Songwriters Festival was discontinued.

“It’s a really magical event,” said Tondorf.

She held a one-day event in 2018 that she said was really popular.

"It took off; people were blown away," Tondorf said. "It spread like wildfire."

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All songs will be performed in a Nashville-style, “in-the-round format.” Tondorf explained that each singer will perform a song and then rotate to the next singer onstage.

“It keeps you very much on your toes,” Tondorf said.

Tondorf is a writer herself and  talked about the work that takes place behind the scenes to put out major hits. In 2007, Tondorf made the decision to go to Nashville to pursue music and work on songwriting before moving back to the South Shore to open restaurants.

"I was at a crossroads in my life," she said.

The artists that have been selected for the songwriters festival are world-class writers, Tondorf said. The seven Nashville songwriters are Johnny Bulford, Heidi Raye, Kylie Sackley, Roxie Dean, Lance Carpenter and Chris Loocke. The rising stars are April Cushman, Haley Chic and Willie Shaw.

The three-day series will start Friday, Sept. 23 at a private beach house in Scituate. The event starts at 7 p.m. and includes appetizers, a raw bar and an opportunity to meet the songwriters. Tickets are $125.

The second event will be held at the Rivershed in Scituate, 17 New Driftway. The show starts at 7 p.m. and tickets are $55. The final event will be a songwriter’s brunch at the Rivershed in Braintree, 35 Commercial St., from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and tickets  cost $55.

For tickets and more information, visit therivershed.com.

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Reach Joel Barnes at jbarnes@patriotledger.com. 

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: The Rivershed Songwriters Festival returns to Scituate and Braintree