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Judy Salamacha

Showcasing Music Promoter

JudySalamacha300DPIBy Judy Salamacha

“Where words fail, music speaks,” author Hans Christian Andersen said. But who speaks for the artists? How many musicians would fail to find an audience to hear their music if it weren’t for the music promoter?
The Central Coast is fortunate to have exceptional talent living or on tour in our county. Meet Steve Key, one of several passionate, music aficionados, who introduces us to songwriters and musicians we might never discover without a promoter’s efforts to bring us the music.
Recently, Key and wife Bonnie Nelson celebrated their fifth year of producing the “Songwriters at Play” concert series. Key has spent a lifetime discovering he’s a songwriter and musician who enjoys promoting fellow acoustic musicians. The “showcase” is his preferred musical production.
A showcase will have three or four talented artists playing several sets of original works or covers with the support of a decent sound system, at a venue where the audience is there specifically to listen to the music. It often teams emerging local talent with fan-followed veterans.
Many Songwriters at Play performances are free, but, Key said with a smile, “I’m aggressive with the tip jar.” The musicians get the tips and sell their CDs.

Pictured from left are: Cliff Stepp, Steve Key and Bonnie Nelson at Sculpterra Winery celebrating the 5th Anniversary of Songwriters at Play. Photo by Judy Salamacha
Pictured from left are: Cliff Stepp, Steve Key and Bonnie Nelson at Sculpterra Winery celebrating the 5th Anniversary of Songwriters at Play. Photo by Judy Salamacha

Key’s lifetime career experience taught him to book talent with loyal followers. As producer, Key markets the show, MCs, controls sound and website podcasting. And he’ll often work in a set of his own music. Marketing includes a 5-year history of hosting and interviewing musicians on “Showcase Highlights” produced by Cliff Stepp and aired Mondays and Fridays on KRUSH 92.5 FM.
Music is in Key’s DNA. Before following his sister and parents to the Central Coast, his musical journey took him to Northern California, Portland, Ore., Greenwich Village, N.Y., Nashville and beyond. In San Francisco, his day job was writing for community newspapers. At night he’d play his guitar and sing original songs and covers at various nightclubs.
In Portland he discovered a comfortable network of musicians but he found his muse in the Big Apple. He discovered folk music was still alive in Greenwich Village and wrote, played and toured from Maine to the Carolinas.
Someone in his Greenwich Village network was first to record one of his songs. Kathy Mattea picked up another, which triggered a move to Nashville where his writing style became “a little bit country.” He was honored to play several times at the famed, Blue Bird Café, which invites songwriters and up-and-coming country stars to jam.
In Nashville he re-discovered the difference between an open mic amateur and the musician. The amateur shows up and wins the chance to sing by putting their name in a hat. The musician is asked back and rewarded with an invitation to play the Speakeasy Musicians Cooperative. Recognized talent is invited to play one set or maybe three. And once you pass that talent test, you become a Showcase featured artist, he said, especially if you can bring your own audience.
“I wrote a lot of songs, got a lot of contracts but never made it to the next level scoring hits,” said Key.
Eight years ago he decided to join his family on the Central Coast and started putting shows together. He met and married Bonnie and re-invented his own career playing his music and showcasing local talent.
“I broke into the music market here [San Luis Obispo] booking music at Linnaea’s Café,” Key said. “I wanted to branch out and produce showcase and tribute shows so created Songwriters at Play. My goal is to give respect to local acoustic artists and find appreciative audiences for touring artists.”
His schedule is as lively as his live music presentations at venues all around SLO County and Santa Barbara. In Paso Robles, Sunday afternoons mean concerts at Sculpterra Winery and he’s at D’Anbino Cellars the second Friday of the month.
Monday evenings the shows are at Bang the Drum Brewery in San Luis Obispo. Thursdays belong to Pismo Beach’s Shell Café. His next show in Santa Barbara is a tribute show to Townes Van Zandt at SOhO on March 24.
U2 front man, Bono said, “Music can change the world because it can change people.” Many thanks to all the SLO music promoters. Our world needs the music!

Former Bay News publisher, Judy Salamacha, is an author, freelance writer and was the 2013 Citizen of the Year. She and husband Bob live in Morro Bay. Her Then & Now column appears regularly in Tolosa Press.

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