Songwriter Showcase presented by Jud Caswell

Our next songwriter showcase will feature Sara Trunzo, Seth Gallant, Ruth Hill and Jud Caswell

Sara Trunzo is a Maine-based independent singer-songwriter, community organizer, and creator and host of “Country & Northeastern” on WERU Community Radio. Lonesome Highway said her last record, Cabin Fever Dream, was “loaded with truly touching lyrics and provide[s] a glimpse of an unquestionably talented artist.” She has collaborated with songwriting legends Darrell Scott (Great Day to Be Alive; Long Time Gone; You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive) and Mary Gauthier (I Drink; Mercy Now). Adobe and Teardrops called “Taking My Power Back” her latest single “political country music at its finest” and it was featured by Gems on VHS. Trunzo has shared stages with the likes of Suzy Bogguss, Carlene Carter, and Malcolm Holcombe; and played venues such as The Bluebird, Rockwood Music Hall, Club Passim, and the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. She has been a Joseph A. Fiore fellow, a Music to Life juried artist, and has received honors from Maine Songwriters Association, International Acoustic Music Awards, New England Songwriting Competition, Tennessee Songwriters' Week, the Hazel Dickens Songwriting Competition, and the Women’s Freedom Song Contest. Her debut EP, Thanks Birdie, was released in 2017, followed by the LP, Dirigo Attitude (2019), which reached #22 on the Folk Alliance International chart. The lead single “Food and Medicine” reached #3 on the FAI chart and won 1st prize at 2018 Maine Songwriters Association contest. Her most recent release "Taking My Power Back,” produced by Rachael Moore (T Bone Burnett, Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Showtime's George & Tammy) came out as a single in Fall of 2023. As an organizer, she co-founded and led food security organizations Veggies For All and Waldo County Bounty, and has worked on energy democracy and social justice campaigns (Pine Tree Power, Maine Climate Action Now, etc.) in Maine.

Ruth Hill is the Grand Prize Winner of the 2017 Great American Song Contest! Her latest CD, Reunion of Broken Parts, was at the top of Folk DJ charts for the first 3 months of 2018.

Songwriter, singer, storyteller, Ruth Hill has roots that run deep in the hills of New England. One of 10 children, she started singing with her older brother and sister at community events when she was six years old. A musical storyteller, inspired by the gritty joy of growing up in a working-class family, and a wandering spirit that’s taken her to both poles of the globe, she writes about real people, her reflections on the sweetness and sorrow of the world around her. She accompanies herself expressively on guitar, but it’s when she opens her heart and sings from a place of depth and compassion that you are compelled to lean in closer.

Jud Caswell is an award-winning songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has been performing in his native state of Maine and beyond for more than 25 years. In 2006 he made a splash on the national scene, winning the legendary Kerrville New Folk competition. He’s had his songs taught at Berklee, recorded by Judy Collins, and named “#4 Song of the Decade” by New York’s WFUV. His record “Live at the Seagull Shop” was the number 1 album on the Folk Alliance International radio charts in March of 2020. Jud is currently releasing a series of albums of music that he recorded during the early months of the pandemic.

Seth Gallant is an Americana singer-songwriter based in Maine. USM Free press noted “his songwriting bears the unmistakable mark of hours spent with the classic American songwriters like Hank Williams or Steve Earle.” Gallant is currently writing a body of work around industrial towns of New England and his first released single “Summer of the Strike” was noted by Ear To The Ground Music as “a ballad for a generation and deserves to be widely heard”. It was also featured in March 2024 by Gems on VHS. His song “Company Town” was nominated as a Maine Songwriters Association song of the year 2023. Gallant has toured nationally both in bands and as a solo act, playing venues such as Club Passim in Boston, Higher Ground in Vermont, and the Skinny Dennis in NYC. Gallant has worked and collaborated with producer Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter, Lake Street Dive), musician/producer Benny Yurco (Grace Potter and the Nocturnals), Vermont musician Bow Thayer, as well as author Kerri Arsenault (Mill Town - NYTimes Editors Choice). As noted again by USM Free Press, “Gallant has paid respects to luminaries that preceded him, and builds from in his own vision, leaving him with the makings of a classic songwriter.”