Welcome Back Wakefield

The now Nashville-based folk musician Mare Wakefield, along with her husband and musical collaborator Nomad, has had a pretty good year.

“We were finalists in two songwriting competitions at two pretty big high-profile folk festivals,” Wakefield tells EW.

But what really excited Wakefield was the opportunity to meet folk-music icon and personal hero Judy Collins at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in New York.

“Judy Collins was the headliner,” Wakefield gushes. “She was singing songs by Bob Dylan and songs by Joan Baez — it was like folk history.”

Wakefield’s 2014 release, Poet On the Moon, touches on recurring themes of travel and examinations of place. From “My Ohio,” Wakefield sings: “My Ohio, why oh why’d I ever go/ Life was sweet like ice cream as it’s melting slow.”

“We have a lot of sense of place in our lyrics,” Wakefield says. “We’ve thrown out this idea of doing a CD of different state songs. We have this song called ‘My Ohio,’ and one called ‘Texas,’ a song about Wyoming, a song about South Dakota. I need to get an Oregon song!” Wakefield says.

Despite being based in Nashville, long-time Eugene residents may remember when Wakefield called Eugene home.

“I love coming back to Eugene,” Wakefield says. “It still feels like coming home.”

She continues, “I really feel like I got my musical start as a singer-songwriter in Eugene. Eugene was the place were I felt comfortable and supported enough to start performing original songs.”

An Evening with Mare Wakefield begins 9:30 pm Friday, Sept. 25, at Sam Bond’s Garage; $10. 21-plus.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

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