Award-Winning Folk Songwriter to Perform at Poway Library

Enjoy free, live music by local folk musician and songwriter Jeff Berkley, who will perform at the  from 2 to 3 p.m. on Saturday. He is playing as part of the San Diego County Library’s Acoustic Showcase Series.

“He’s a really great songwriter, guitarist and singer. Jeff just really knows how to entertain an audience,” Poway Branch Librarian and event coordinator Ross Moore said. “We have a lot of really great performers, but Jeff is one of those that just goes to the next level. He just grabs the audience from the beginning and never lets go.”

Berkley participated in the acoustic showcase series before. 

“With all the library shows that I’ve done, I’ve done two or three, they’ve all been really nice because it seems to be folks that don’t come out to the normal venues,” Berkley said. “It’s good way to get in front of people that you might not ever get to play in front of. They might not come out to the coffee houses, bars or theaters but they’ll come out to the libraries.”

Berkley said he does not follow a particular format when performing.

“I just kinda play for the audience I’m put in front of,” Berkley said. “I’ve learned over the years how to feel out the audience and choose songs of mine that I think will work. I try and perform for the crowd that I’m introduced to, so it’s a different show every night.”

Some original songs he will perform include Sink or Swim and High School Town, which is an award-winning song about his teen life in Vista. Berkley won the New Folk Songwriter Competition in Kerrville, Texas, in 1999 for this song. Other past winners of this award include Joel Rafael, Lyle Lovett, Jerry Jeff Walker and Hal Ketchum

He will also play songs about his daughter, such as I Ain’t Nothing and Dakota Sunrise.

“My songs are very much just about real life—just going through love or something with my kids or family. Sometimes it’s politics, but I don’t get real political ... Or traveling and getting out in the road, I have lots of road songs,” Berkley said.

Berkley is also part of a two-man band called Berkley Hart with Calman Hart. They recently independently re-released their first album, Wreck n Sow. This September, the band will perform a bluegrass show called O Berkley, Where Hart Thou? at the .

The series, funded by the local Friends of the Library, is a two-year local music program that grew out of a community partnership project as well as surveys from patrons. The series draws in about 50 people per show, but they have had audiences as large as 120 people. 

“We’ve always had a strong response,” Moore said. “People are very appreciative. I always hear comments about how people enjoy having such great performances at the library for free shows.”

• There will be a Best Damn Blues Jam at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 10, at the . This free event features the Gomez Blues Project. This event is a weekly blues jam session.

• The Poway Folk Circle will have a guest performance with Dane Terry at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15, at the .