Local Songwriters

I started playing acoustic guitar after I heard a cassette of Dylan playing "Crash on the Levee" while working at an all night burger stand on Mackinac Island.   In a few years ( thanks, Rollie Tussing III), I was playing my first solo acoustic show.   I organzied several charity concerts and raised over $13,000 for local Michigan charities and met some of the finest Michigan musicians a guy could ever hope to know.  I started writing my own songs, and  I finaled in a couple of songwriting contests.     I still think writing a good song is a very tall order.     Shortly after, I started a band called "Eric Kelly and the Dirty Johns"  and I was totally hooked on writing songs.    We opened for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at a small festival in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and I quickly decided i should…