creekbed carter Hogan- festival workshop descriptions

First Lines: A collaborative songwriting workshop

First taught at 2025 Blue Skies Festival, Clarendon, ON

A song’s first line can draw us in or spit us out. It can introduce us to a character we’ll love forever, show us how to ask hard questions, build new worlds, challenge kings, and honor the past. It can make us laugh, make us cry, turn us into fans forever – or, it can fail to keep us from hitting “Skip” and moving on to something else.

In this generative songwriting workshop, we’ll look at some of our favorite songs’ first lines, examine what makes a great opener, participate in generative songwriting exercises, and work together as a group to follow a first line’s lead. You’ll leave class with a brand new song – and a brand new way to experience the music you love.

Making a Cover Your Own: A composing workshop

What makes a great cover? Is the original always “better,” or can a revamp introduce us to new elements of a classic? Why would anyone spend time working on a cover of someone else’s song – and how can you perform a version that feels true to you, even though you didn’t write it? Join trans folksinger Creekbed Carter Hogan – known for their covers of old union songs, country classics, and Christian Rock hits – as we explore how turning our favorite songs into our own unique versions can connect us to new audiences, make us stronger musicians, and inspire us to discover who we really are.

Hold The Line: A labor songwriting workshop

“Revolutionary music must go to the people, speak to the people, change the people.”

 – Fred Ho, composer, baritone saxophonist, and member of the Black Panthers

Labor movements and music have always gone hand-in-hand, and for good reason: whether we’re on the picket line or in each other’s kitchens, music keeps us in the fight, together. We are currently in the middle of the great labor movement of our times – so why not learn how to write the music to match? Join Creekbed Carter Hogan, member of the Twin Cities United Performers and amateur labor historian, as we examine the radical musicians, activists, and workers who paved the way, and what makes their music continue to move mountains. You’ll leave class with the beginnings of your own labor/union song, a bunch of new comrades, and one hell of a playlist.