Writers in the Round

Join three of Ottawa’s finest songwriters for an unforgettable Nashville-style in-the-round show with Charles Cleyn, Lynne Hanson and Emma Lamontagne.  The night is guaranteed to entertain as the three songwriters swap stories and songs.

Charles Cleyn is a Canadian singer songwriter and producer. In 2018, he left a corporate tech job and moved to Berlin to pursue music full-time. Since then, he's been writing, recording, and performing all over Europe and Canada, releasing 4 EP's, picking up a Berlin Music Video Award, and being listed in the top 10 for one of Nashville’s biggest songwriting contests. Charles' songwriting draws people in with relatable lyrics of optimism, confidence, and personal struggle which many people connect with right away because of his relaxed stage presence. Charles has documented most of his process from leaving the tech world to pursue music and through this has built a large following on YouTube with over 200,000 subscribers.

Too tough for folk and too blues-influenced for country, Lynne Hanson’s brand of porch music with a little red dirt can turn on a dime from a sunshine, blue sky ballad to a full on thunderstorm of gritty Americana swamp from one song to the next. Her hard-living music has garnered her the nickname “Canada’s own Queen of Americana,” and she has an uncanny way of connecting with her audience with an authenticity that is as entertaining as it is disarming. And while her deep, bluesy croon has drawn comparisons to Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch, it’s the poetry of her lyrics that really sets her apart.

Emma Lamontagne is a folk-pop singer, songwriter, and producer known for her emotionally honest lyrics and off-the-cuff stage banter. With over 1 million streams across her catalog—including nearly 500K on her breakout single “I Don’t Sleep”—she’s now releasing her most personal work yet: a FACTOR, OAC, and City of Ottawa-funded EP rolling out through 2025. Her latest single “Monster-In-Law” dropped in March and has already surpassed 6,000 streams. Emma has opened for Forest Blakk, sung with Donovan Woods, and continues to carve out a space where storytelling and humour meet heartfelt songwriting.