Building community through Song City
TROY—Scott Womer recalled how Song City was once hard to find as we walked through Monument Square. In the beginning, it felt like a speakeasy—a secret gathering on the second floor of The Ruck on 3rd Street. But it was never meant to be a secret, he said.
After outgrowing that space, the showcase moved to The Waiting Room. Though the venue technically has a 3rd Street address, guests are directed to enter through Franklin Alley. That shift came with its own set of complications. Locals often associate the alley with the now-shuttered social club of the same name. while visitors from outside the Collar City may misidentify it as Franklin Street.
Its metal doors, adorned by Song City show posters, can be found between River and 3rd streets.
Despite those challenges, the series has grown into an intimate listening experience that offers audiences rare access to the creative minds of the region’s most compelling songwriters. Since its launch nearly three years ago, its stage has featured award-winning artists and others who’ve gone on to pursue careers beyond the 518.
Womer launched Song City with a simple goal—to support local musicians and create a space where artists could connect through their songwriting. Three seasons in, the Troy-based showcase has evolved into something larger, reshaping how both artists and audiences think about the creative process behind the music.
“Our main emphasis is to get behind the local musicians, support them, educate them, give them opportunities,” Womer said.
“And then secondly would be to continue to really just proclaim to the general public how great we have it here, how many amazing musicians we have, how many great songwriters we have,” Womer added.
Womer, a musician himself, spent time in Nashville during the 1990s. It was there he first experienced the songwriter’s round format at the Bluebird Cafe, where artists performed in a circle and explained the stories behind their songs. “They are known as really the main place to see artists in a song circle,” he said. “The songwriter’s perspective and not just, you know, the listener’s perspective.”
When Womer moved back to the Capital Region, he wanted to build something similar—but more open in scope. He had noticed that the Bluebird Cafe limited its lineup to certain types of songwriters and genres, which eventually began to feel creatively restrictive.
“I was finding myself getting bored,” he said. “I didn’t want that to happen.”
Song City’s approach is genre-agnostic. Past shows have featured folk artists, rappers, jazz musicians, and avant-garde performers. Each night places the artists in the middle of the room, surrounded by the audience, performing in a stripped-down, acoustic format that encourages vulnerability and improvisation. Womer said the setup has helped both performers and listeners redefine what a songwriter is.
“My definition of songwriter began to kind of explode during that first season,” he said. “I would realize like, well, you know, this is a hip hop artist. Are they a songwriter? OK, this is a jazz artist. There’s no lyrics. Are they a songwriter? And the obvious answer is yes to all these questions.”
The space has also pushed performers to reimagine how they present their music. During one recent show, local hip-hop artist Shai the Messenger surprised Womer during sound check by bringing in steel drums. “He said, ‘You know what, I grew up playing steel drums. My grandfather played steel drums. He taught me from a kid … but I thought, well, maybe this would be interesting to kind of, you know, make it kind of different,’” Womer said. “It’s one of my favorite moments in Song City history.”
Womer has also built complementary programs, including a monthly songwriting workshop called Open Floor and an annual retreat known as IC, where ten artists spend several days collaborating in a lodge on Lake George. Some of the songs written during these sessions have gone on to be recorded and released. Sawyer Fredericks’ “Funeral Parking Only,” for instance, began as a prompt Womer gave the group.
Song City’s third season will conclude Tuesday, May 13, with a lineup that includes Reese Fulmer, Dust Bowl Faeries, Eric-Jon Tasker, and Delaney Hafner of The Belle Curves. Womer said he often brings back artists from earlier seasons so that newer audiences have a chance to see them live.
“There’s part of that audience that’s always kind of shifting,” he said. “So they might have seen someone two seasons ago and they may have missed someone. And heard about it and wish that they’d been there.”
The showcase will once again be held at The Waiting Room, where Womer said the atmosphere is “incredibly warm, incredibly intimate.” He encourages artists to share not just their best-known material but songs still in progress—works they haven’t played in public before.
“I always encourage the artists to not only play … songs that the crowd would love to hear in this kind of setting, but to use that as a chance to be risky,” he said.
Song City’s season three finale takes place Tuesday, May 13, at 7:30 p.m. at The Waiting Room in Troy. Access it through Franklin Alley from River Street. Food will be available from O’Malley’s Oven, and tickets will be sold in advance and at the door. For more information, visit songcitytroy.com.
