Sundance to host songwriters

SUNDANCE — For three years, Sundance has enjoyed intimate sessions with some of Nashville's greatest songwriters, thanks to a partnership with the music city's famed Bluebird Cafe.

In 2003, Sundance became the Western outpost for the Bluebird, a little restaurant in a strip mall where Garth Brooks and Kathy Mattea started their professional singing careers.

Sundance executive director Raymond T. Grant said he's looking forward to this year's season, which begins Thursday in Zoom in Park City, a venue Sundance added last year. Other performances will take place in Sundance's Owl Bar and the Sundance King's Stage.

"I'm happy to say we are going to be giving Utah another five weeks of intimate concerts from these songwriters," Grant said. "There is something about hearing these songwriters talk about their songs and how they came to be. And then they'll play them for the audience. It's a nice behind-the-scenes view."

The songwriters include many who have penned hits for Toby Keith, the late Chris LeDoux, Billy Dean, Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill, Kenny Rogers and Eddie Rabbitt, and they love coming back and playing Sundance venues.

"Sundance is a great venue," said Bluebird Sundance repeater Fred Knobloch, who not only has written for Hill and Yearwood but George Strait, Etta James and Ray Charles. "I've been out there twice before. The first time was in the summer, and the Owl Bar is a nice intimate place to play. I brought my kids and wife then, and we had a lot of things we could do — hiking and sightseeing. But it's a great place to find inspiration to write songs."

Inspiration comes in many different ways. "It may be a string of notes or an idea that pops into my head," said Knobloch, who cited everyone from Rogers & Hart, James Taylor, Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley as just a few of his influences. "I've been self-published for about eight years, and I pretty much do what I want."

Amy Kurland, owner of the original Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, said she is pleased that the partnership with Sundance has been a success. "We absolutely love what has been happening in Sundance," she said by phone from Nashville. "I would love to be out there 52 weeks of the year. Our songwriters have had wonderful experiences, and I've had to turn down the old-timers so the new ones can have a chance to play in Utah."