You're Invited to The Nash News' 26th On The Verge Writer's Round

The Nash News will host its 26th writer's round with independent and up-and-coming artists this Thursday, June 1st from 6-9 p.m. in downtown Nashville at Assembly Food Hall in the Fifth and Broad complex.

Artists performing include Ava Claire, Brockwell Nason, Jaclyn Visser, Madison Wolfe, Dalton Lee, Blake Wooten, Carolyn Miller, Bella Dorian, and Troy Donohue. Get to know the artists and their music below.

Ava Claire

Ava Claire has been charming audiences all over Nashville since age 11 with her mix of soulful pop original music. Counting Jade Bird, Ed Sheeran, the Beatles, Phoebe Bridgers, and Jason Isbell as some of her current musical influences, Ava Claire has a strong command of her voice and tells her stories with truth and grit.

She played her first gig at the famous Bobby's Idle Hour on Music Row in 6th grade. Since then, she has continued to grow as a songwriter and artist, gracing stages all over Nashville.

She has spent the last few years honing her craft on not only the violin and guitar but also the piano and ukulele. She has written dozens of original songs and is committed to growing her body of work while strengthening her musicianship as a guitarist and vocalist. Ava Claire is an active member of the Nashville musical community serving on the Board for Tunes for Kidz, a local nonprofit that provides education and musical instruments to underserved communities in our area. She has said lending her time to teaching songwriting and guitar to these children has been a huge source of joy and growth as an artist and as a human. Her original music can be found on all streaming platforms.

Brockwell Nason

Brockwell Nason is a singer-songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee who has been writing and releasing music for the past three years. He graduated with a music degree at Middle Tennessee State University and has loved getting to apply what he learned in school as an artist. Writing songs, playing guitar and singing is something that he has always loved to do, and recording his recent music has finally made his life-long dream a reality. He believes that his music, an acoustic pop sound, reflects his personality as an outgoing and positive guy. He wants his music to be easy for people to listen to and relate to, as well as catchy enough to get stuck in someone’s head (in a good way of course).

Jaclyn Visser

Jaclyn Visser is a country artist from the Central Valley of California. Her unique voice, poignant lyrics, and storytelling melodies invite the listener to discover joy through life’s inevitable ups and downs.

Madison Wolfe

Madison Wolfe is a country singer/songwriter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin! She graduated from the Music Business program at Belmont University in 2020 and is now a certified vocal coach as well as pursuing her artist career.

Dalton Lee

My name is Dalton Lee, 27 years old, born and raised in a small town in Southwest Virginia. Spent most of my years after high school working in distribution centers and the sales industry, but always had a passion for playing and writing music. Decided to make the leap to move to Nashville to chase my dreams of being a singer/songwriter after the unfortunate news of my biggest music inspiration, my father, passing away while I was visiting Music City a couple of years ago. Enjoying this adventure one note, strum, and song at a time.

Blake Wooten

Grew up in a small town named Clayton about 20 minutes outside of Raleigh, NC. Going to college for baseball was always my goal growing up until I hurt my arm in my junior year of high school. Since I knew baseball wasn’t going to work out I picked up a guitar and started writing my own music. After high school, I enlisted in the United States Navy where I got to live overseas and travel to multiple countries. Local gigs, Talent shows, trying out for American Idol, and singing in my grandpa's church I just wanted to sing. Years later in 2021, I made the move to Nashville.

Carolyn Miller

A background in showbiz and an upbringing in the suburbs of Long Island, NY is not the typical recipe to breed a rising country star. A graduate of The Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music, Carolyn Miller has been performing professionally since the age of 8 in theatre, film, and TV, as well as voice-overs and commercials. Influenced by country music artists like Carrie Underwood and Faith Hill, along with pop icons Kelly Clarkson and Adele, Miller has used her big, powerful voice to create her own style that captures the true essence of country-pop. In just a few short years and despite a worldwide pandemic, Miller has not only headlined/sold out numerous shows around the northeast, but through her own hustle and grit has played some of the biggest festival stages as an independent artist (CCMF, Summerfest, Barefoot Country Music Fest, Farm Jam Festival) and opened for country superstars such as Sam Hunt, Lee Brice, Walker Hayes, Ashley McBryde, Chase Rice, Eli Young Band, and more. Additionally, she took the digital world by storm when her self-penned wedding song “When I Say I Do Today” went viral on TikTok, with over 3 million plays, and debuted on the iTunes Country charts at #3 and #4 in the USA, UK, and Australia

(#19 all-genre). Splitting residency between New York and Nashville, Miller has already begun to make a name for herself in Music City, being tapped "One to Watch" by the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and named a Next Up Now artist by CMT...all while redefining what it means to be "country."

Bella Dorian

Bella Dorian is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and recording artist from Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Bella attended the world-renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Contemporary Writing and Production. In 2017 Bella performed at Carnegie Hall as one of the winners for the American Protege vocal contest, where she won second prize in the Musical Theatre/Jazz category. Bella released her first EP "BOOM" in 2021, consisting of four original compositions that deftly draw on country and rock styles with just a touch of Bulgaria thrown in for good measure. Bella has been residing in Nashville, TN since 2021 and regularly performs all over town individually and in bands at writer's rounds, original gigs, and select Broadway cover gigs. She is in the process of co-producing and releasing her newest single "Mama (I'm Coming Home)."

Troy Donohue

Writer and performer Troy Donohue found his way to Nashville after working his way through the punk clubs of his native NJ. A prolific songwriter, he is releasing a series of singles this year including “Fanfare” (Jan) and “Can’t Stop the Heart” (Feb). As noted music critic Jim Testa wrote, “Spend a few hours at any guitar store and you'll see ten mooks walk in off the street and shred like Yngwie. Ask them to write a song as solid as [Troy’s] and you got another thing coming.” Follow Troy on Spotify, Instagram, and on his website at troydonohue.com.

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