There was a first-place tie for the 2009 Adult Division (photo left): Ian Fitzgerald from Somerville and Conor Sheehan from County Clare, Ireland. The first place winner in the Youth Division (photo right) is Molly Pinto Madigan from Peabody. (photos by Jake Jacobson)

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The finalists for the 2009 Boston Folk Festival Songwriting Contest have been chosen! It was an extremely tough year for judging, in part because there were nearly 350 entries.

There are five finalists in the adult category and five finalists in the youth category. These ten finalists will be performing their songs for an audience at Lipke Auditorium in the Science Building at UMass Boston on Saturday evening, September 12, 2009, beginning at 6:00 pm.

The guest judges for the finals competition, Cindy Bullens and Jeff Black will be there to choose the winners, and Cindy and Jeff will also be performing. The winners will be performing the next day on the Lipke Stage of the Boston Folk Festival. Proceeds from the songwriting contest help support the Folk Festival, so our deepest thanks to all the participants.

You can purchase tickets to the Songwriting Finals Competition here now. More details on each Finalist soon.

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Songwriting Contest Adult Finalists

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Ellen DeGenova, Cambridge, MA - "Gram"

Lisa Doyle, Somerville, MA - "No One Knows"

Stuart Ferguson, Acton, MA - "God's Plan"

Ian Fitzgerald, Somerville, MA - "Lillian"

Conor Sheehan, County Clare, Ireland - "Beautifully White"

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Songwriting Contest Youth Finalists

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Leah Guanipa, Whitinsville, MA - "Mockingbird"

Alasdair MacKenzie, Belmont, MA - "Peace on Earth"

Molly Pinto Madigan, Peabody, MA - "I'm Bound Away"

Hayley Reardon, Marblehead, MA - "You Save Me"

Casey Sullivan, Saugus, MA - "Beside You"

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More Information about the Adult Finalists

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	Ellen DeGenova	Ellen DeGenova, Cambridge, MA - Song Title: "Gram" - Ellen DeGenova grew up on the Revere-Everett line (just outside of Boston). What she discovered as a teenager still holds true today; songwriting makes her happy. Currently, she is making her first CD to be released in 2010. She’s also working on getting 50 originals written, recorded and uploaded to her website by the time she turns 50 i.e. 50 x 50. She performs locally and wouldn’t get mad if famous people wanted to cover her songs.
	Lisa Doyle	Lisa Doyle, Somerville, MA - "No One Knows" - Lisa Doyle has been writing and performing songs on the guitar since she was 15. She is a community activist, often singing at rallies for peace and social justice. She works in the Boston area asa music therapist for the mentally ill using songwriting as a form of emotional expression for some of her clients. Her fist CD titled “Smoke & Mirrors” was produced by Mark Doyle on the indie label Near Miss. She is currently working on a new CD titled “Hearing Voices.” Her website is myspace.com/lisadoylelive
	Stuart Ferguson	Stuart Ferguson, Acton, MA - "God's Plan" - Stuart Ferguson is an exciting voice on Boston's thriving acoustic music scene. The Newton, MA native grew up in a musical family as a piano player and studied flute throughout his high school years. During college he left the realm of classical music to pick up the guitar and begin writing songs. By the late eighties Stuart was immersed in the Boston/Cambridge open mic scene, from which emerged a new crop of literate songwriters including Patty Griffin, Ellis Paul, Dar Williams, Martin Sexton, Jim Infantino, Jonatha Brooke, and Vance Gilbert. With influences as varied as Lou Reed, Joe Strummer, Woody Guthrie, Gram Parsons, and Luka Bloom, Stuart’s tenor voice displays broad emotion moving through a lyric to deliver songs that are stories and poems of personal struggle, both his own and those of the people who populate the landscape of his experience. Stuart has one self-released CD titled “Shackles & Ties” and is working on a new album to be released in 2010. Stuart has been featured at a number of New England venues including Club Passim, The Nameless Coffeehouse, The Center for Arts in Natick (TCAN), Perks Coffeehouse, The Java Room, Naked City Coffeehouse, Jitters Coffeehouse, and Mocha Maya’s. He has played around the country from Bellingham, WA to Morgantown, WV and has shared the stage with Ellis Paul, Dar Williams, Flynn, Vance Gilbert, Don White, Jim Infantino, Jon Svetkey, Peter Mulvey, Lori Diamond, and Geoff Bartley. "Stuart Ferguson writes songs that capture your imagination, and sings them in a voice that is addictive to the ears." -- Ellis Paul. "Stuart tells stories that have the ring of an unadmitted truth. His voice is clear and haunting, his delivery is honest and unflinching. Unlike the all-too-common introverted songwriter Stuart's songs tell the hard stories many of us know, but few give voice to. A troubadour has a specific job to do -- and Stuart knows how to do that job." -- Jim Infantino. Contact: stuart@stuartferguson.net
	Ian Fitzgerald	Ian Fitzgerald, Somerville, MA - "Lillian" - Ian began writing at age four when he reportedly conquered the word "cat." Sixteen years later, he wrote his first song, though the results were not, relatively speaking, quite as impressive. Things have gotten better since then, and Ian has performed his songs throughout the northeast at venues such as Club Passim's Campfire Festivals; Stone Soup; and the Emerging Artist Showcase at the 2008 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. Of Ian's songwriting, no less an authority than Vance Gilbert actually said : "He can obviously construct a lyric better than I ever could." Of course, he could have gone on and said: "Ian captures breaths from the mouths of angels and pieces them gently together into the words and phrases that not even those heavenly creatures would dare speak," but he absolutely did not say that, and for good reason. Regardless, Ian has self-released three albums of his own songs since 2004 and is celebrating this autumn the release of his fourth album, Empty Like The Lion Den, on independent label Dirt Floor Records.
	Conor Sheehan	Conor Sheehan, County Clare, Ireland - "Beautifully White"- It’s never too late to become what you should have been. Conor spent most of his working life in a very demanding International aviation company. But, all the time never stopped thinking about music and song writing. “I wrote my first song at about 10 years of age”. He is very well known as a performer and songwriter in the Limerick and Clare area of Ireland. Founder member of the Limerick Association of Songwriters and Composers, He is now fully devoted to writing and performing.

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More Information about the Youth Finalists

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	Leah Guanipa	Leah Guanipa, Whitinsville, MA - "Mockingbird" - Leah Guanipa has been playing guitar and writing her own songs for four years. She was born into a family of artists, her father being a writer and her mother a designer. She has two sisters with her being the middle child. From an early age she took an interest in writing poetry. It wasn't until she began to play the guitar that her creativity in writing was able to flourish from within lines of her songs. She has recently recorded her first demo CD, Seven Small Fish, in 2009. She hopes to continue to write songs, record more albums, and inspire others through her music. Leah now resides in the town of Whitinsville, MA. If you wish to contact her, she can be reached through e-mail at leahchimos@yahoo.com.
	Alasdair MacKenzie	Alasdair MacKenzie, Belmont, MA - "Peace on Earth" - Alasdair MacKenzie has always been drawn to music. He has been writing and recording songs since he was five years old.  Alasdair formed a band two years ago. With this band he has made two albums of original music. Alasdair plays many instruments—including drums, keyboards, guitar, and bass—on the recordings.  Alasdair arranged the vocals and instruments for both albums, and produced both of them.  "Peace on Earth," the song that earned him a place as a finalist in the Boston Folk Festival's song-writing contest, was written by Alasdair in 2008 and released on the second album.
	Molly Pinto Madigan	Molly Pinto Madigan, Peabody, MA - "I'm Bound Away" - Music has been a big part of Molly Pinto Madigan's life from a very young age. In addition to being a classically trained pianist, Molly also sings, and plays an array of musical instruments including guitar, banjo, bodhran, and pennywhistle. While she performs solo as a singer/songwriter, she is also currently the lead singer of the bluegrass band Jaded Mandolin. She has performed with several choruses, including the Family Folk Chorale, and Revels. Molly has a keen interest in world music, folklore, and the interaction between music and culture. You can hear the influence of traditional folk music and ballad singing in her song "I'm Bound Away." This fall she will be attending Salem State College as a music major.
	Hayley Reardon	Hayley Reardon, Marblehead, MA - "You Save Me" - When Hayley Reardon learned to play the guitar in the summer of 2008 it unleashed a cascade of beautifully constructed and delicately phrased songs, many of which have that extremely rare ability to emotionally impact a room full of people between the ages of nine and ninety. This bright-eyed middle school student from Marblehead, Massachusetts is making a lot of people stand up and take notice. www.myspace.com/hayleyreardonmusic.
	Casey Sullivan	Casey Sullivan, Saugus, MA - "Beside You" - "Not only does she have talent, she's got a good heart." - Casey's grandmother. And she is a credible source. Casey has been writing music since her preteen years. She has played in many different venues, from living rooms to coffeehouses to nightclubs. She has opened for the Pousette-Dart Band and had the honor of sharing the stage with blues legend James Montgomery. She is finishing up her first full-length album and is hoping to release it this fall. She is entering her freshman year at Berklee College of Music, where she hopes to make a career out of what she loves. When not playing music, Casey enjoys large fields, riding horses, Stephen Colbert, Oklahoma, and referring to herself in the third person. www.myspace.com/caseysullivanmusic

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