ACMA Songwriters on the Plaza March 10

The Lee County Library has joined with The ACMA (Americana Community Music Association), to offer free acoustic concerts of all original music. Concerts take place in the amphitheater, which is located on South Cornog Plaza. Bring a chair or a blanket, shows will be moved indoors depending on weather.
The ACMA is a Fort Myers based not for profit that promotes local artists who perform their own original songs. Come hear great original music and the stories behind the songs in an intimate songwriters showcase.
The next Songwriters on the Plaza will be Tuesday, March 10 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and feature Carlene Thissen, Karen Cohen and Carolyn Stanley.
Carlene Thissen is a singer/songwriter from Naples, where she performs at various interesting venues, including a recent Cattle Drive in Immokalee. Her voice is reminiscent of Joan Baez and Bonnie Raitt, depending on what she’s singing, and her songs range from ballads to boot-stomping country rock. Carlene’s songs are frequently featured on Women Of Substance Radio.
Carolyn Stanley is usually heard in Fort Myers backing up singer songwriters Mary Dahl or David Stanley, singing harmony and playing guitar, banjo or charango. Carolyn sings and picks roots music, country blues, and originals by singer songwriters she knows. Carolyn began singing as a child. Her family always sang on long trips in the car with songs of the Weavers being some of their favorites. She feels blessed to have inherited her father’s talent to pick out harmony parts easily. As a teenager she began learning to finger pick the guitar from her older brother who was playing Mississippi John Hurt and Dave Van Ronk tunes.
Karen Cohen got her start playing the guitar in the late 60s, learning to fingerpick the folk songs of Joan Baez, Odetta, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Crosby Stills & Nash ..to name a few. In more recent years, Karen worked on arrangements for Country Style Blues like Memphis Minnie and some old Delta Blues Slide Guitar. During these first Guitar Revival years, she was affectionately penned “The Acoustic Queen” at open mics and jam circles around the Punta Gorda, and Englewood communities.
For more about the local ACMA, visit www.americanacma.org