Friday marks the 25th anniversary of both 9/11 and Kitty Donohoe’s folk song, “There Are No Words,” which pays tribute to the fallen heroes, family members, and friends we lost that day.
Donohoe, an Ann Arbor, Michigan, singer-songwriter, wrote the song in response to the day’s tragic events.
On the song, Donohoe sings, “In one single hour in one single day / We were changed forever, something taken away / And there is no fire that can melt this heavy stone / That can bring back the voices and the spirits of our own.”
“I think it’s the hope of every artist to create something that affects people in a strong way, and I’m honored that ‘There Are No Words’ has played a part in the healing process of our country for so many people,” wrote Donohoe on her website.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist embraces that intense emotional state on her full-length debut album.
“It was written about one relationship, and it’s very dynamic,” said Kelsey. (pronounced Kelsey period), aka Kelsey Detering.
“There are a lot of layers to it, and every relationship is kind of like mini relationships all in one. It was one epic encounter, and that’s why I felt the need to write this whole album about it.”
On LOVE HARD, Kelsey. explores the intimate cycles of a volatile relationship—love, heartbreak, and longing—and its trajectory across 16 tracks.
“It was more like my own therapy when this happened to me,” she said. “I had to communicate my feelings about all of this … and whatever was going on with it, a song would just come out.”
Featuring a detailed storyline, LOVE HARD is an immersive, multigenre release that lands somewhere in between a concept record and a double album.
“I wanted it to be a cohesive piece of art that you sit down and listen to, and you immerse yourself in,” Kelsey. said.
“It has those segues, instrumentals, and things to really keep you in there. It’s very much for the music lover, especially if you’re the kind of person who wants to put your headphones on and really immerse yourself in something.”
Kelsey. also plans to recreate that immersive experience live on August 21 during her album release show at The Arboretum in Saline.
“It’s going to be a cool format, and I want to play [the album] by side,” she said. “We’ll play a side, and then we’ll talk to the audience for a minute. Then, we’ll play the other side, and it’ll literally be like you’re listening to the record.”
I recently spoke with Kelsey. about her new album ahead of the show.
In 2023, Molly Kober went on the adventure of a lifetime.
The Dearborn, Michigan, singer-songwriter and her friend Trianna traveled to Australia on a whim the summer after their freshman year of college.
“We were not loving life; it was really difficult, and we needed something to look forward to,” Kober said. “We said, ‘Hey, we’ve got nothing to lose. Why don’t we do something we’ve always wanted to do and go to Australia?’ We were trying to think of the furthest possible place from home aside from going to the moon.”
The two friends ventured up and down Australia’s East Coast, visiting places like Sydney, Byron Bay, and Brisbane.
“We were there for a month,” Kober said. “It was the best decision I ever made. I had never left home before, so it was like being immersed in adulthood for the first time.”
A year later, that same trip fueled the inspiration for Kober’s debut single, “Booking That Flight.” The pop song explores reliving a memorable vacation and longing for that same sense of adventure.
Backed by cinematic instrumentation, Kober sings, “What a magical few hours that it was / My guiding hand around the city / Watch your step here, it’s not pretty / A prince among men bought a perfect stranger lunch / Swapping stories of our crushed dreams / Laughing hard until the tears streamed.”
“It truly was the best thing I ever did, and Australia is so beautiful,” said Kober, who graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2025.
“We were staying in hostels, so we got to meet people from all over the world who really impacted us. Being able to be around that many people from that many different places and to find common ground with them really shook me.”
I recently spoke with Kober about getting started in music and writing her debut single.
Jonathan Edwards. Photo taken from the University of Michigan’s website.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on the Ann Arbor District Library’s Pulpblog.
One Track Mind features a Washtenaw County-associated artist discussing a single song.
Standout Track: No. 5, “A Fiction for Today,” from Jonathan Edwards, an indie-folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Ypsilanti. His latest release, The Sparrow EP, examines the emotional struggles people experience internally—vulnerability, desperation, fragility, and helplessness—as they live in a rapidly changing society.
On “A Fiction for Today,” Edwards sings about seeking refuge from society’s growing political and social tensions and finding the strength to persevere. While the track explores living in an oppressive world, it also functions as a contemplative and hopeful sendoff for the EP.
“Lyrically, this is one of my favorites from the EP,” Edwards wrote. “The song is dedicated to those who are up against the wall and struggling in a world that is so heavily positioned against them. … The cards are stacked against so many, and disturbing decisions are being made every day to push people further and further down. I hope this song is taken as a letter of optimism and compassion for those who have little say in the circumstances they may find themselves in.”
Sammie Hershock recognizes diligent women whose valuable contributions often go unnoticed on “Gold Sticker.”
The Marshall, Michigan, singer-songwriter and pianist pays tribute to women who support family, friends, and community behind the scenes on her new indie-folk single.
“That’s really where the song came from, and originally when I wrote it, I was thinking about my mom,” said Hershock, who’s also a mother of three children. “It just put it all in perspective for me, and it came from realizing how much she actually did.”
On “Gold Sticker,” she sings, “But can she get a gold sticker / Can she get a prize / Or maybe a metal around her neck to reflect the light in her eyes / It took me long enough to see / That in the race of humanity / There is no winner / But can we get a gold sticker.”
“When I play this for people, I can’t even tell you how many people come up afterward and say, ‘I needed to hear that,’” Hershock said. “I almost always play that song, and at the end, I have free gold stickers.”
“When I started working with Chris DuPont, I already had amazing musicians on it, and the skeleton of the record was perfect,” said Hershock, whose new single will appear on her upcoming album, Wings. “I loved it, but I just knew that I wanted it to be filled out a little bit more.”
Mike Green intentionally wrote a song about blind spots.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan, singer-songwriter wanted to explore that concept while working on new material for what would become his second album, Blind Spot.
“I hardly ever do that,” Green said. “Usually, I play with ideas, and it starts to coalesce into something. But then, I have to really craft it. Sometimes, the song ends up being very different from how I started, so I try to follow the creative muse.”
That creative muse led Green to the song, “Blind Spot,” which acknowledges accepting and loving someone despite their flaws.
Backed by carefree electric guitar and organ, Green sings, “You have a blind spot when it comes to all my faults, maybe you don’t just care / I’ve made enough mistakes to fill a goddamn vault, you gotta be aware / So if it’s true, you love me, too, well, that just prove the same thing’s wrong with you.”
“I had a version of the song with a whole verse about Trump,” he said. “And then I had a love song version. I brought it into the songwriting group, and they said the other one is funny, but doing it as a love song, it has more legs to it.”
“Blind Spot” soon became the title track for Green’s new folk album, which features 13 tracks about identifying and understanding different gaps in life.
“A lot of writers will say truth doesn’t have to be factual truth; it has to have emotional resonance,” Green said. “There are a lot of love songs, and I write about [experiencing] joy and depression, paying attention, and [recognizing] the resilience coming through all of that.”
Green easily conveys those truths and emotions through anecdotal lyrics, warm vocals, and earnest instrumentation.
“In a lot of ways, [my songs] start out autobiographical, but I don’t want to write in great graphic detail about my own life,” he said. “I have to draw on what I understand.”
I recently spoke with Green about the inspiration behind Blind Spot.
The Pinckney singer-songwriter burned CDs to sell at shows in Livingston County and the Metro Detroit area.
“Back then, they had those CD burners and CD labelers,” said Cogswell, who’s also a teacher and coach for Pinckney Community Schools. “I would print the paper out and then stick it on every single CD. That’s how it started, and I probably sold 1,000 overall.”
Two decades later, he’s decided to revisit the album and put it on streaming.
“The last couple of years, students of mine and my own kids said, ‘You should get this online,’” Cogswell said. “I emailed Darryl [Schmitz], the guy who recorded my album, and said, ‘Hey, do you still have the files for this?’” And he shared them with me. I got it on my Chromebook and then went on DistroKid. I sent them the files, signed the waivers—and then boom!—it was on [streaming] platforms.”
Putting Back Home on streaming has given the country-pop album a new lease on life. Now, his family, students, and fans don’t need a CD player to hear it.
“If anybody can do that, I should start doing that,” Cogswell said. “That’s why I went back and got the old album and put it out there.”
Featuring heartfelt lyrics and earnest acoustic instrumentation, Back Home is a snapshot of Cogswell’s life and relationships in the early 2000s across 16 tracks. It also reflects on the time he spent in Nashville.
“Back Home is a mix of autobiographical experiences and stories,” Cogswell said. “I would take a story that actually happened and create that. Being back home was a big part because I had moved back from Nashville. The song, ‘Your Favorite Song,’ the last one, that’s about being there.”
To learn more, I spoke with Cogswell about his background and the album.
The folk singer-songwriter shares that rawness and honesty with people during her live performances.
“When I get done with a set and someone tells me they cried, I think, ‘Yes, I have done it!’” said Kubat, who lives in Detroit’s NW Goldberg Neighborhood. “There are so few public spaces where that kind of release is encouraged, but I believe we so desperately need to have more shared healing opportunities.”
Luckily, that opportunity is right around the corner: Kubat is playing March 6 for “Friday Night Live,” an ongoing music series at the Detroit Institute of Arts that features local artists and other acts.
“The March 6 show will mostly be intimate and stripped back,” she said. “I want the words front and center for the audience, then for the melody to show up, then the supporting music, and finally resonance.”
Kubat’s show will feature new material and past favorites with several special guests.
I recently caught up with Kubat ahead of the show.
Rik Strange. Photo taken from Rik Strange’s Bandcamp page.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on the Ann Arbor District Library’s Pulpblog.
“One Track Mind” features a Washtenaw County artist or band discussing one song from their latest release.
Standout Track: No. 3, “West Park,” from Rik Strange, aka Erika Marlisa. The Ann Arbor singer-songwriter’s debut release, Angelclown, is a five-track EP that explores relationships. On “West Park,” Strange feels hopeful about a new partner and contemplates the direction of her life. At the time, she was living in a house on Huron [Street] that borders the park. Strange often took morning walks in West Park during the fall to process her fear and self-doubt. “This song was my attempt to instead lean into abundance, and yes, to attempt to approach a new love from that same place, instead of getting caught up in what it might become or what might go wrong. Ultimately, at the time, I wasn’t very good at that, and the relationship didn’t last, but that’s another song! That’s what I love about songwriting, the archival effect. Things change, but West Park preserves the whimsical feeling, place, and time—it’s nice there!”
Julianne Ankley understands the numbing effect of a breakup.
The Americana singer-songwriter explores that unexpected sensation and its lasting impact on her latest single, “Polar Train.”
“To me, the song is not so much about the pain of dating the wrong person,” said Ankley, who resides in Port Huron, Michigan. “It’s the aftermath ‘numb’ feeling that can follow post-breakup.”
Backed by bluesy electric guitar and driving instrumentation, she sings, “Those things you did turned me on / You cast your spell, now you’re up and gone / Leavin’ me chilled right to the bone / Didn’t realize that I’d soon be one.”
“At the time that I was writing this song, I was curious and drawn to this very attractive person who I thought might not be the best fit for me,” Ankley said. “It was about the inner struggle of knowing what might result if I let them pursue me.”
The Stratton Setlist 