As it has for more than a decade, Somerville Songwriter Sessions presents the finest acoustic singer-songwriters each month in an intimate, welcoming setting. Each concert features three songwriters each doing a solo set, and then trading songs in the round, allowing for stories, impromptu harmonies, jamming, and spontaneous inspiration. Each show, one of our five hosts – Rachel Marie, Terry Kitchen, Sam Bayer, Beth DeSombre, Jack Byrne – are joined by some of the best local and touring singer-songwriters on the scene.


September 13: Sam Bayer w/ Sam Newcomer and Jen Kearney

Cambridge-based smartass troubadour Sam Bayer is your literate, exuberant guide to an imaginary world where housewives win the Nobel Prize in physics, poker-playing children gamble over their bedtimes, and metaphorical elephants pirouette in the den, four and a half minutes at a time. His latest studio CD, Bad Apple, brings 11 gems from his universe to yours.


Originally from Boston, Jen Kearney has spent some time seasoning her particular style of original music. Her sound is truly an amalgamation of musical styles including Soul, R&B, Funk, Rock, and Latin. Kearney’s music and attention to lyrics have met critical acclaim nationally and internationally. Kearney recently released a full-length LP called “Gas Station Poet” that WBUR called “a very timely concept record” and chose it as one of their favorites of 2025 “. She has recorded and released six studio albums and an EP. She has done session work on many other projects. Kearney is a two time New England Music Award nominee for soul/r&b act of the year.
https://jenkearney.com/


Sam Newcomer is a singer-songwriter and children's musician based in Roslindale. He writes observational, heartfelt songs that dig into the everyday, pulling from influences like Carole King, Bill Withers, Josh Ritter, and Kasey Musgraves. Seeing Sam perform it's hard not to catch his passion and positive energy, and it's also not uncommon for him to tuck classic children's songs, Disney favorites, or sing-a-long pride anthems into his sets! He released his debut EP "Homecoming" in 2025.
https://www.samnewcomermusic.com/


October 11: Hosted by Terry Kitchen Ft. Jack Byrne and Jim Infantino

Called "one of New England's best songwriters" by The Boston Globe, Terry Kitchen has been performing on folk stages across the country since the 1990s, releasing a dozen albums filled with literate musical storytelling, supple guitar playing and distinctive, intimate vocals. His 2025 album We All Dream (with its title song reaching the top ten of the national Folk-DJ chart) offers a hard-won glimmer of hope just when we need it most. His songs have won the Mid-Atlantic and USA Song Contests and been runner-up in the John Lennon Song Contest, and have appeared in numerous films. In the 1980s he was the leader of the groundbreaking Boston band Loose Ties, whose experiences he recounts in his novel Next Big Thing, called "a great debut novel" by The San Francisco Book Review. "Terry Kitchen begins where Tom Waits and Elvis Costello merge and leave off."-Vance Gilbert


November 8: Rachel Marie

Rachel Marie (she/they) follows in a tradition of unapologetically forthright femme folksingers, with songs that hearken to "overstuffed lines of Tori Amos, philosophical turn of Indigo Girls, and lilting vocals like Joni Mitchell" (Victoria Farmer, The Christian Humanist Podcast). The social awareness of folk meets the introspection and healing of the singer-songwriter tradition, featuring the emotional catharsis and dynamic vocals of a Broadway show. With a songwriting approach as raw and honest as it's always been, Rachel Marie is making a return to live performance after an unintentional hibernation hiatus, ready to reconnect with a real live audience.


December 13: Beth DeSombre

Beth DeSombre 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 newest CD Holding the Threads (2024) is her most personal album to date, telling stories about family and crisis and trying to find hope in dark times. Her previous EP The Sea Beside Us (2023), tells stories of ships and the ocean. Her 2017 EP Resistance, which was written in response to the political situation after the 2016 election, is a fundraiser for the ACLU. An award-winning writer in many formats, she has published 8 books.