Pictured: Local rock band Oxidation will headline the January 20 Songwriter Showcase at the Music Compound Sarasota location. Courtesy of Music Compound.

Visit the Music Compound this Friday night to witness a free exciting live show from some of Sarasota’s best homegrown musicians. The local music school, which has branches in both Sarasota and Bradenton, is hosting a Songwriter Showcase – celebrating the original music of the students in their various programs.

“It’s an event that we host annually. We not only try to expose our students to a variety of different genres, but we want to encourage them to be individual artists,” says Jenny Townsend, owner of Music Compound. “Part of inspiring them to be their own artist are our songwriting courses and summer camps, which encourage them to write their own songs. Even our kids in classes at ages four, five and six write their own songs.”

Headlining the event – which will consist of six to seven individual artists along with a youth and an adult band – is Oxidation, an alternative rock band that was conceived initially at Music Compound when current Riverview High School students Caleb Adcock, vocals, and Michael Hackney, lead guitar, were a part of Music Compound’s Band Program.

“Oxidation was formed out of a youth band at Music Compound called The Intellectuals. They’ve started booking their own gigs, doing all of their own management and promotional work – using a lot of those skills they learned from being in our Band Program for two to two and a half years,” says Townsend. “The Band Program is made up of individual students and bands. We also host a concert every single month which features students of all different genres and ages and is a way for them to showcase all the skills they’ve learned in their private lessons or programs. Depending on what type of program they’re in will determine the performance – we have opera singers, rock groups, and country artists – it’s a wide variety of genres. This month’s theme, however, is specific for singer-songwriters.”

Friday, January 20, 6 p.m. at Music Compound SRQ , 1751 Cattlemen Rd., Sarasota, 941-379-9100.

Pictured: Local rock band Oxidation will headline the January 20 Songwriter Showcase at the Music Compound Sarasota location. Courtesy of Music Compound.

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