Michigan Songwriter Showcase hosted by Steve Taylor and featuring Kora Feder, Ryan Racine and Janelle Haskell

Described by NPR as writing songs with “an emotional weight that can stop you in your tracks,” Kora Feder (rhymes with Peter) crafts lyrically dense, narrative-driven folk that pairs sharp observation with intimate vulnerability. Her music has amassed over 1.5 million streams. Some Kind of Truth, her second full-length album, was released in 2025. Americana Highways called it “a genuine early Joni Mitchell-type musical narrative…she has a sharp eye for detail & tackles subjects other songwriters seem to ignore.” Raised in Northern California’s folk scene by touring musician parents, Feder now lives in Detroit, where she continues to write, perform, and teach songwriting.

Ryan Racine is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist from southeast Michigan. Performing in bands for over 30 years, Ryan released his first solo album “Outsider’s Heart” in 2018. Sonically planted in the American Roots styles, His work is heavily rooted in traditional storytelling, often blending intimate personal reflections with deep dives into historical and fictional narratives.

After a decade in NYC touring the world as a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist with bandleaders such as Wynton Marsalis and Doc Severinsen, Janelle Haskell decided to make a complete switch to something she's always loved deeply: folk music. Gathering influence from the jazz-inspired harmonies of Joni Mitchell, the finger-picking workings of James Taylor, and other artists who've bridged that delicate gap between folk and jazz, Janelle's songs draw heavily upon her personal experiences in love and life, particularly navigating a path from the life of a busy city girl to one back at home in the Midwest with all the open space and sky she'd longed for during all those years away.

Steve Taylor graduated from Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music with a degree in Songwriting. After college, Steve returned home to Michigan and became a fixture in the Detroit music scene while earning a Master’s Degree in Music Theory from Wayne State University. Blending soulful music and intimate lyrics, Steve Taylor performs all over Michigan as a solo acoustic artist and with his band, The Steve Taylor Three. Their latest album “Temporary Heart” was released in 2024 all of their music is available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube, or wherever finer music is streamed. The band’s single, “Raining on Christmas”, won the Detroit Music Award for “Outstanding Country Recording” in 2023. “Temporary Heart” won the Michigan Music Award for Best American Album in 2025. In 2026 their Christmas album “Welcome to the Jingle” won “Best Americana Album” at the Michigan Music Awards and Steve was named “Songwriter of the Year”.

https://linktr.ee/stevetaylormusic