Dec 11: The Singer-Songwriter’s Toolkit with Alice Howe & Freebo

Thursday, December 11, 2026

6:30pm – 8:30pm

Dusty Strings 3406 Fremont Ave N

Maximum Enrollment: 16

Registration & Refund Deadline: Tuesday, December 9, 2025

This workshop will give you specific tools and hints for your songwriting, arranging, and performing, all within the context of honoring your unique gifts and giving yourself permission to become the artist/musician you hope to become. In a world of judgment and criticism, we are filled with the voices of others telling us how to be. In this workshop, Freebo and Alice will help you to find your own voice, figuratively and literally. They will cover inspiration, sharing their methods on how to begin writing when the page seems blank, and song arrangement, shaping your song for recording and performance by defining the chorus, verse, bridge, and intro, and giving you simple alternative chords to make your song even more interesting. Finally, they will address essential elements of performance, including nerves, preparation, tools, timing, pace, and ultimately communication and communion with the audience. How do you relate to the audience You become one with them!

Skills Needed: Open to all levels!

What to Bring: If you want to share a verse and chorus of your song, bring your instrument! If you don’t want to share a song (or don’t have one), just bring yourself, or perhaps bring a notebook and writing implement if you want to take notes. 

Teachers: Alice Howe & Freebo have undeniable chemistry. Rock bass legend Freebo weaves his fretless stylings into Alice’s soulful, impeccably-tuned vocals for a harmony-driven performance showcasing two uniquely compelling songwriters. Best known for his ten years playing bass with Bonnie Raitt, Freebo has toured and recorded with some of the greatest artists of his generation, including John Mayall, Ringo Starr, Crosby Stills & Nash, Maria Muldaur, Joe Walsh, and Dr. John. For the past twenty-five years, he’s been writing, recording, and performing his own original music.

To hear Alice Howe sing is to be enraptured by the natural, unaffected beauty of her voice. There’s no artifice, no histrionics — just honest, authentic, emotionally resonant singing in the tradition of the roots music that shaped her. She recently had the honor of being named Best Female Artist at the International Acoustic Music Awards.

Freebo and Alice have been working as a duo since 2017, and he produced her latest record Circumstance, recorded at iconic FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Their latest album Alice Howe & Freebo Live is their first release as a duo, and it debuted as the #1 Most Played Album on the Folk Radio Charts. They have taught songwriting workshops and classes from coast to coast, and love sharing their passion for the craft with students of all skill levels!

*Most classes and workshops are geared towards late-teens and adults. Younger learners will benefit most starting with private lessons.

If you have any questions about group classes, or the school in general, don’t hesitate to contact us at (206) 634-1662 or music@dustystrings.com.