Mark Bryan of Hootie and the Blowfish fame performed at T-Bones Records and spoke with attendees of South City Records’ new event, Songwriter’s Social.

Many local performers and songwriters were invited to attend Songwriter’s Social. The social also featured local musicians Jeremiah Stricklin of Oh, Jeremiah, Jana Bounds, Drew Young, Josh Sullivan and Elizabeth Shows. While all performances were acoustic, audiences were treated to various genres of music such as folk, soul and pop.

“Our goal is to seek out hidden talent and get it out for the community and the world to hear,” said Associate for the Public Relations Department of South City Records, Shanning Newell. “We aim to make Hattiesburg a city with a recognizable and influential music scene.”

Fellow musician and entertainment industry management professor Drew Young introduced Bryan to the excited crowd.

“I asked Drew if I could come and explore the music industry program here at Southern Miss and then he said, ‘Sure, come on and do it. And if you do, do you want to do the Songwriter’s show?,’ and I said of course, let’s do it,” Bryan said.

The Songwriter’s Social not only provided Hattiesburg residents with a famous face and a variety of local talent, but it also gave residents a taste of what inspires musicians to create their works of art.

Musical artist Jeremiah Stricklin said he adds his own unique twist to real-life situations when writing a song.

“If I can surprise myself, it’s always going to be awesome. That’s typically what I do, and it happens a lot. I’ll say something really goofy and then be like, ‘that’s goofy enough to be in one of my songs,’ and I think that’s awesome,” Stricklin said.

The event helped display the high amount of talent and creativity that’s brewing in Hattiesburg. Each act got the chance to perform and answer questions from the audience.

Throughout the show, performers, writers and entertainment industry students mingled over food and coffee while meeting new friends. The main theme of the night was to meet the right people and open up opportunities for up-and-coming musicians and writers. Bryan advises beginning performers to play as much as possible.

“The more you play, the better you get, and the more you play, the more people get to see you play. So you grow your fan base that way,” Bryan said. Bryan also advised writers to write down their thoughts in a journal before writing a song.

“Write five pages about how you feel about something before you try to write a song about it,” Bryan added.

Songwriter’s Social was an event for all genres of musical performers and fans. The concert was put on by South City Records, a student-run record label at The University Of Southern Mississippi.