The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will premiere new music by students and songwriters from the community during the 31st Songwriters Showcase with special guest artists Darci Carlson and Bonnie Montgomery. 

The free program starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall of the UA Little Rock Fine Arts Building.

The event is organized by composer in residence Robert Boury. Featured local composers and songwriters include Sarah Hastings, Ella Schee, Michael Heavner, John Lee Roberts, and Christopher Loper.

Charles Law, UA Little Rock Percussion Ensemble director, will play Robert Boury’s “Golden Apples of the Sun” on vibraphone, celebrating Boury’s 35th year of teaching at UA Little Rock.

Darci Carlson was nominated for Outlaw Female at the Ameripolitan Music Awards in 2015, 2016, and again in 2017. She has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with such national acts as Shooter Jennings, The Supersuckers, Bob Wayne and The Outlaw Carnies, Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers, and Dale Watson.

A multi-faceted artist, Arkansas native Bonnie Montgomery has an artistic vision that transcends classification and genre. A classically trained singer whose southern roots run deep, Montgomery has taken her raucous, high-art spin on golden-era country/western music through the U.S. and Europe.

Montgomery’s composition of the modern folk opera, “Billy Blythe,” about the childhood of Bill Clinton, earned the attention of publications such as The New Yorker, The Economist, The Huffington Post, and the London Daily Telegraph. Performance company Opera Ithaca premiered the production in April 2016.

Parking will be available in Lot 8 behind the UA Little Rock Fine Arts Building.

For more information, contact Boury at 501.772.5618 or rxboury@ualr.edu.