Smoked Country Jam Bluegrass announces the winners of the 2024, 16th Annual Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest (PHSC).
“2024 Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest”
Smoked Country Jam Bluegrass announces the winners of the 2024,
16th Annual Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest (PHSC).
This year’s winners are:
First Place: Christopher Carithers, Williamsport, PA
“Peddlers Grave”
Second Place Tie: Greg Buragino, Fogelsville, PA
“Men of Steel”
Second Place Tie: Christopher Carithers , Williamsport, PA
“The Prince of Pennsylvania”
Third Place: Brenden Michael Smith, Scranton, PA
“Stone Quarry Story”
2024 Inaugural Craig “Bubba” Bowman Memorial Award
Elaina Packer
Central Mountain High School Class of 2024.
Songs can be heard on the Facebook page: “PA Heritage Songwriters”.
For the second time, the three judge, double blind panel has scored First and Second Place to the same songwriter, Christopher Carithers of Williamsport, PA. And, for the first time we have a tie for Second Place with both Carithers and Greg Buragino of Fogelsville, PA, each scoring 254 out of a possible 300 points. Rebecca Titchner of Ridgeway, PA fell one point short of a tie for Third place for the entry “A Miners Song”.
Entries were received from songwriters from a broad swath of PA from East Stroudsburg to Pittsburgh as well as Ohio and New Jersey. Coal mining and trains were prominent themes in 2024.
Winners are invited to perform their work at the Smoked Country Jam Bluegrass Festival, June 20th – 22nd, at the Quiet Oaks Campground, Cross Fork, PA. Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriters perform on the main stage at 4 pm Saturday kicking off the final evening of great music.
2024 Top Finishers
In “Peddler’s Grave”, Christopher Carithers employs the first known murder victim in Schuylkill Country (1797). From Christopher; “Peddler’s Grave was an old haunted spot we used to hike to as kids in the coal region. In this song I imagine the Peddler’s Grave story as the “original sin” of coal country history”. In the song, Christopher uses an evolving chorus to carry the listener on the journey.
The final chorus:
“Oh peddler, oh peddler, why don’t quit your roaming?
And no more haunt this lonely mountain so far from your home?
Release these old coaltowns, boarded up now and cold?
Lay down by the waterside and wander here no more.”
In “Men of Steel:, Greg Buragino, tied for second place, reminds us how Pennsylvania-made steel, from Pittsburgh to the Lehigh Valley built America from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Empire State Building. Greg has had a long career in the steel industry and draws from that knowledge and experience in the song. In a departure from the norm, “Men of Steel” is performed on piano rather than guitar. The song pays homage to the laborers that made the steel.
The Chorus:
“Pennsylvania men of steel, immigrants they are.
the Irish, Poles, Mexicans, Italians came so far.
Didn’t know the language, riches they were told,
the alchemists had fooled them,
they made steel instead of gold.”
Christopher Carithers’ “The Prince of Pennsylvania” celebrates the famous Pennsylvania moonshiner Prince Farrington. The song uses a hook line structure to keep the listener wrapped in the theme. From the song:
“Pennsylvania moonshine- it’s clear as rain.
And I make the best shine in North PA.
They call me the prince- Robin Hood on the farm.
Best doggone liquor from a copper worm.
Limestone water, Tiadaghton hills-
By the Susquehanna I set my stills.
They call me the prince- Robin Hood on the farm.
Best doggone liquor from a copper worm.”
The 2024 third slot, “Stone Quarry Story”, by Brenden Michael Smith holds true to his self-stated motto “write what you know” paired with “three chords and the truth” with just a splash of “a country boy can survive” attitude”. The song tells the story of toiling in a quarry that just happened to pay off. The song key modulates from verse to verse.
Special congratulations to Elaina Packer, Central Mountain High School Class of 2024 as the recipient of the inaugural Craig “Bubba” Bowman Memorial Award. This award will be presented annually to a graduating senior demonstrating promise in songwriting, folk, or related roots related musical genre.
About PHSC:
The Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriting Contest (PHSC) was launched in 2008 to celebrate the State of Pennsylvania, its people, its places, and its history in song. It is a non-profit event intended to provide a venue for amateur songwriters to display their talent and artistry while fostering appreciation for, and study of Pennsylvania’s Heritage. The contest was created, in part, to become a funding source for the Craig “Bubba” Bowman Memorial Award. Bubba was a celebrated PA regional musical performer who lost his life in a car crash in 2006. The award was initially funded in 2024 in part, through a private donation.
The contest welcomes amateur songwriters of any genre to submit songs having a PA theme or reference. The top three finalists are invited to perform their entry on the Main Stage at the Smoked Country Jam Bluegrass Festival and are awarded cash prizes and full festival passes.
In 2023, the event released Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriters Volume 1, a fifteen track compilation of winning songs from the first five years of the contest which can be purchased at the Smokked Country Jam Bluegrass Festival. As the event progresses, additional recordings will be compiled and produced for fundraising and a Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriters tour of performances in schools, community centers, public libraries, and venues will be organized. To achieve these goals, the event welcomes sponsorship from individuals, civic organizations, and Pennsylvania Heritage branded businesses and corporations. In 2024, Pennsylvania Heritage Songwriters will become a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
The Smoked Country Jam Bluegrass Festival takes place each June at the Quiet Oaks Campground on a picturesque mountain top near Cross Fork, PA (just inside the Clinton County line).
For more information, Contest Rules, and Entry form visit:
The Smoked Country Jam Website:
Songs from this year’s winning songs can be heard on Facebook: Search PA Heritage Songwriters.
