New Iowa City festival hopes to bring songwriting more into the spotlight

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - The Englert Theatre will host the inaugural Iowa City Songwriters Festival this Thursday through Saturday.

The festival will include shows at locations like the Englert, the Black Angel and the James Theater, along with workshops, panels and a conference.

The team is hoping the festival will put songwriting into the spotlight in a city that has long valued writing as a craft.

“More recently, we’ve seen a lot of the songwriting happening at a more underground level,” said Englert executive director John Schickedanz. “We’re really hoping to emphasize that really special relationship that Iowa City has with songwriters.“

One of those songwriters is David Zollo, an Iowa City local who has performed and recorded for years with other Iowa musicians like Greg Brown, Bo Ramsey and Dave Moore.

Moore will be performing in the festival and participating in the conference on Saturday at the Iowa Conservatory.

“I could look around and see all these guys doing really great stuff, without the benefit of label support, that were just working regionally,“ said Zollo. ”Playing as well as anybody I would see anywhere around the country."

Amidst the growth of the songwriting scene in Eastern Iowa, Zollo started a record label in 1994 called Trailer Records, which later closed in the late 2000s. The label put out collaborative records with area musicians and built a community with a “family atmosphere,” according to Zollo.

“In the 90s and 2000s, even the late 80s, Iowa City was considered a singer/songwriter town, a roots music town,” said Zollo. “But it is less so that way. By [the Englert team, specifically Brian Johannesen] doing that, and trying to shine a light on the songwriters here, I think we will rekindle that.”

The Englert team has been in talks with the University of Iowa about creating a songwriting program, even amidst cuts to some writing programs caused by changes to federal funding.

“Those conversations have been, I think, productive. They’re pretty cursory at this point,” said Schickedanz. “But the university has been open to those conversations and exploring ways that the arts can be expanded.“

Zollo said the festival will mean more visibility and empowerment for the existing community and younger voices.

“Young people have to have that to be able to say, you know, you have to be able to look to somebody and say ‘this is a vocation, this is something I could do,’” said Zollo.