Songwriters in the Round featuring: Beth DeSombre, Ric Allendorf and Erin Ash Sullivan

Songwriters in the Round featuring Beth DeSombre, Ric Allendorf, and Erin Ash Sullivan

Beth DeSombre - (pronunciation: de-SOM-bree) writes songs that are "smart and uplifting...focusing on the quiet meaning to be found in ordinary life" (Sing Out! Magazine), exploring issues from the personal to the political. Her music touches both mind and heart, with insights wrapped in melody and harmony that stay with you after the echoes of the last chorus have faded away.

Her 2017 EP, Resistance, reached #10 on the folk charts (with two top-10 songs). This EP, with songs written in response to the current political situation, is a fundraiser for the ACLU. Her 2016 CD, I Was Here, was produced by Sean Staples, and includes guest appearances by Tracy Grammer, Vance Gilbert, Laura Cortese, and other music luminaries. An award-winning writer in many formats, her most recent (eighth) book just published.

Ric Allendorf - As a native New Englander, Ric has invested over three decades in acoustic music, visual arts, and arts education. Since attending the Cape Cod Songwriters Retreat in 2014, his music pursuits have led to recognition as a finalist in three performing songwriter competitions (with a third place win in 2021) and the 2018 CT Folk Festival Emerging Artist finalists concert. Among his most noteworthy features are the Suzi Wollenberg Folk DJ Showcase at the 2021 NERFA Conference, Club Passim's 2018 and 2021 Campfire Festivals, the 2019 Providence Folk Festival and nearly a dozen Club Passim tributes nights including those for Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Ellis Paul, and Nanci Griffith. Other performance highlights include features at the Rose Garden Coffeehouse, the South Shore Folk Music Club, and the Spire Center of Performing Arts with opening sets for Archie Fisher, Abbie Gardner, Boxcar Lilies, Susan Cattaneo, and Ray Wylie Hubbard. Ric continues to actively perform and feature throughout New England.

Ric uses music as navigation, discovery, and anchoring. His songs are personal and intuitively familiar. Whether performing solo or in collaboration, Ric's playing style gravitates toward unique voicings, percussive frailing, and fingerpicking patterns that honor his influences: early folk & blues, singer-songwriters of the 80s and 90s, as well as Celtic, British and Canadian fingerstyle players.

Erin Ash Sullivan - Music was always a central part of Erin’s life, with piano and voice lessons from her grandmother, herself an accomplished musician and performer. Erin didn’t start playing guitar or writing music until she graduated from Amherst College and was living in New York City, where a miniscule elementary school teacher’s salary and an even more miniscule 9×12’ apartment made guitar playing suddenly seem like an appealing pastime. In New York, Erin reconnected with college friend Amy Speace, and together they founded the band Edith O. They performed regularly at New York City venues including the Bitter End and CBGB’s Gallery and released an album, Tattooed Queen, which garnered critical raves. It is possible that the band broke up when Erin—who was at the time a sleep-deprived mother of a six-week-old—forgot to show up at the Bitter End for the band’s record release show.

In subsequent years, marriage, children, and a career as a teacher, school administrator, and published author took center stage, but in 2018, Erin jumped back in the pool, and the warm welcome of the Boston-area open mic community encouraged her to return to composing music and performing.