Arts-Entertainment
The second annual Livingston Songwriter Festival will take place in downtown Livingston on Friday, October 3rd and Saturday, October 4th.
The established festival has taken place in Red Lodge and Cody for several years and offers attendees a chance to meet the writers behind the songs in rounds and listen to the songwriters tell the story of the song and perform very familiar songs in a stripped-down way. While the Hit Songwriters will take the stage in two venues during the evenings of Oct 3rd and 4th, the Rising Star Songwriters will be performing throughout the afternoon at four locations, with special interviews scheduled at Perk on Park and Tru North Friday and Saturday morning.
“For many people, listening to the Rising Star writers is the highpoint of their experience, “said Mike Booth. “We are proud to bring Livingston an amazingly talented group of writers from Montana, Tennessee, Texas, Colorado and West Virginia. You’ll discover some new favorites, I promise.” To help festival attendees plan the shows they want to attend, here is an introduction to the featured Rising Star songwriters:
Anthony Garcia – Anthony Garcia is a songwriter, guitarist, and classically trained pianist based in Austin, Texas. His musical style has most accurately been described as “cinematic Americana,” a genre that interweaves songwriting with expanding, quasi-orchestral sections. Versatile is the best word to describe his live performance.
Garcia often switches between genres within a set and sometimes switches between instruments within a single song. A lover of rock, blues, classical piano, and Spanish guitar, and a fan of soulful vocals and old standards, Garcia’s musicianship and eclectic song choices always keep the audience enraptured and inspired.
Bo DePeña - Every so often, one encounters a musician who headlong confronts the vast expanses and open roads of America to get his music out to the people. Bo DePeña is such a musician. With over 175 shows played in 2019, Bo has put some serious miles under his belt. From Texas to Colorado to South Dakota to Montana, his music can be heard at bars, breweries, rodeos, and honkytonks. Over the last few years, Bo has shared stages with artists such as William Clark Green, Chris Knight, Dale Watson, William Michael Morgan, Ned LeDoux, and Colter Wall.
Growing up in Laredo, TX, Bo first picked up a guitar at the age of seven. Today, Bo is known for high-energy Americana/Country with thoughtful and relatable lyrics.
JPlank (Jeff Plankenhorn) - Jeff Plankenhorn is a world-class songwriter and had been an accompanist to the stars and first-call session musician in Texas (Joe Ely, Ruthie Foster, Ray Wylie Hubbard, etc.) for 16 years when he decided to go solo with his critically acclaimed SoulSlide album (featuring performances by Ruthie Foster, Malford Milligan, Rami Jaffe (Foo Fighters, The Wallflowers), and The Resentments, with co-writes from Bret Dennen, Gary Nicholson, and Miles Zuniga (Fastball). He’s a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist who designed his own signature lap-steel “The Plank” that gained him an Austin Music Award in 2017.
Marcedes Carroll - Marcedes Carroll is a Southwestern Montana musician. With guitar in tow she bends Americana melodies to her stylistic storytelling. From a young age singing lullabies to her brothers cradled in the Rocky Mountains, to her adult years telling stories in dimly lit bars, Marcedes Carroll has found her voice best behind a guitar. It’s no secret that hard work and tenacity will get you far, especially in the music industry.
Chris Haddox - Chris Haddox is a Logan, West Virginia born and raised songwriter/singer/multi-instrumentalist who is now based or of Morgantown, West Virginia. He writes and sings his voluminous collection of songs about (to quote him) “religion, firearms, courthouse squares, goats on trampolines, shoes, fiddles, and hurricanes”—whatever catches his eye. He deftly combines humor, sarcasm, and blunt honesty to create songs that are accessible and relatable to a wide variety of audiences.
This stellar musician is also a community leader who has directed Habitat for Humanity and worked to preserve old neighborhoods, a WVU professor of sustainable design, and an amateur musicologist who researches musicians from the southern coalfields of West Virginia.
Carin Mari - Inspired by the mountains of Colorado where she was born and raised, she is a songwriter from the heart who is passionate about sharing her stories and playing her unique brand of music. In 2001, Country music quickly became her passion when friend and mentor, Michael Martin Murphey, suggested Carin learn “I Want to be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart.” After nineteen years of continued dedication, her talents as a guitarist/singer/songwriter have won her numerous awards, including 2009 Entertainer and Songwriter of the year from the NACMA, Female Vocalist and Female Entertainer of the year for South Plains College, and eight Colorado Country Music Awards.
Carin graduated from South Plains College in 2012 with a degree in Commercial Music, majoring in voice and guitar. In August of 2014, she graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in Mass Communication, Leadership, and English. While still pursuing her own career, Carin is also thrilled to be the lead guitar player in, Michael Martin Murphey’s, Rio Grande Band.
Imogen Clark - For Nashville-based Australian singer-songwriter Imogen Clark, music is many things – a weapon, a medicine, a superpower. As someone who has battled anxiety her whole life, music is the secret sauce that transforms her into the globetrotting belter of deeply emotional anthems, a swaggering live performer who proudly wears her deepest emotions with bracing vulnerability.
Today, she stands as a testament to the power of transcending one’s familiar boundaries, a journey fueled by her roots and an unwavering ambition that has taken her from the teenager who honed her chops playing Western Sydney bars to global stages from the US to Europe.
Jackson Emmer - Jackson Emmer is an award-winning songwriter and folksinger from Santa Cruz, California. His 5th solo record, “Battle Hymn of the Early Riser” was out in June of 2025. The album explores themes of family, parenthood, broken dreams, and steady bonds.
Emmer has performed at the Bluebird Cafe, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and Club Passim. He has taught for Acoustic Guitar Magazine, Swallow Hill Music, and many other music camps. Bluegrass legend Tim O’Brien said this about Emmer’s latest, “I chuckled, I sang along, and a few tears came. It’s personal, universal, fresh, and hopeful. And there’s steel guitar. Were you looking for more?”
Wil Maring - Over twenty-five years and several well-used Toyota Siennas later, Wil Maring is still wearing out the Michelins, bringing her original folk/bluegrass/pop/roots music with warmth and humor to fans and friends from coast to coast. She still calls the road her home, even though her “stuff” lives in a 19th-century log farmhouse in the hills of Southern Illinois, and it is from those rural roots and all that life in the rearview mirror, that her music has grown. She has performed on the Grand Ole Opry and NPRs Whaddya Know program, in addition to touring extensively in Europe and Japan.
She began her career singing and playing several instruments as a solo act in college coffeehouses, then graduating to Bluegrass and Americana bands in the US, Japan, and then Germany. Wil juggles her music career with her other career as a professional artist, after having earned a BA in fine art, and an MA in Museum Studies. She brings her paints and canvas to locations all over the US, and “kills two birds with one stone,” playing concerts, and painting, and bringing home new plein air paintings to add to her gallery.
Audrey Hall - Born in Brazil and rooted in the rugged terrain of the American West, visual artist Audrey Hall ventured out of the confines of two and three-dimensional work to create music under the pseudonym, Harlow Willis.
Through simple, direct melodies, Harlow writes of courage, loss, and reinvention, drawing inspiration from vast, untamed western landscapes. Her style is as dark and powerful as the frontier’s night skies, weaving raw emotion into stark, unembellished storytelling. Despite her relatively short time as a performing musician, Audrey has already shared the stage with an impressive array of talent, including Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum songwriter Sean Douglas, world-renowned guitar virtuoso Joe Robinson, Black Lab frontman Paul Durham, and critically acclaimed country-blues poet Jeffrey Foucault.
Martin Gilmore - With a diverse and extensive repertoire, Martin Gilmore’s soulful voice navigates a wide range of sounds with traditional and original songs. His easy-going style explores the depths of folk music with authentic reproductions, creative reimaginations, and unique original songs. His robust vocals, and impressive guitar work combine to bring color to new and old songs alike. Martin’s 2021 release The Martin Gilmore Trio featured the talents of mandolinist Nick Amodeo and bassist Ian Haegele, who play regularly with Martin. The record also features Tim O’Brien, Courtney Hartman, and Mollie O’Brien. The Martin Gilmore trio have played all over the United States and Ireland and were one of the official showcase groups at the International Bluegrass Music Associations World of Bluegrass conference in 2021.
Martin has opened for groups such as The Infamous Stringdusters, Stephen Stills, Judy Collins, amongst others. He has toured all over the world as a solo act, as well as with the Martin Gilmore Trio, and his Bluegrass band Long Road Home.
Paige King Johnson – In a quiet North Carolina town 22 miles south of Raleigh, as a young 9-year-old girl, Paige King Johnson spent her days imitating the styles of Loretta, Patsy, Waylon, and Merle. Having a grandpa as her biggest fan also meant receiving the gift of her first guitar – a baby Taylor – and enrolling in lessons. After her grandpa passed, the bright-eyed dreamer carried on his memory by taking her newfound discovery to local fairs, festivals, and any other stage she was allowed to stand on. Upon starting school at Belmont University for Music Business, Johnson honed in on the magic that had heavily influenced her as a child: the art of storytelling thru songwriting.
The famous Bluebird Café was just one of many writers’ circuits around Nashville that provided a safe space for Johnson to meet other writers, try out new tunes, and get feedback. In return, Johnson began captivating audiences with her down-home stage presence, cut straight to the bone stories and raw country voice, reminiscent of the classic country era. Johnson has a passion for giving young songwriters a place to share their talents. A five-time Carolina Country Music Awards Winner for Female Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year, Country Emerging New Artist, Songwriter of the Year, and Tour of the Year, Johnson’s devoted homegrown fan base continues to expand farther than just her backyard.
Mike Blakely - As a singer/songwriter, Mike Blakely has released 14 solo albums, performed all over the U.S. and has made 16 tours to Europe. His songs have been recorded by Alan Jackson, Gary P. Nunn, Red Steagall, Flaco Jimenez and Raul Malo, Walt Wilkins & The Mystiqueros, John Arthur Martinez, Randy Brown, Geronimo Trevino III and Johnny Rodriguez, Johnny Bush, Jon Chandler, Bill Barwick and others.
The Livingston Songwriter Festival is a production of the Rocky Mountain Songwriter Festivals, Inc. (RMSF). The RMSWF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated music education in local communities. Since its inception the Rocky Mountain Songwriter Festivals have gifted more than $130,000 to fulfill this mission.
Performance venues include The Livingston Depot Center, The Attic, Perk on Park, Livingston Center for Art and Culture, Katabatic Brewing, Engine Room, and Tru North. For more information on the festival or to purchase tickets, please go to www.livingstonsongwriterfestival.org.