Great Lakes Songwriting Contest Winners Showcase 
 

 
The Great Lakes Songwriting Contest is the creation of a group of Southeast Michigan songwriters. The first contest was held in 2003.

This year 550 songs were submitted, mostly from Canada and the US, but a few from England, Ireland, Switzerland and Australia.

 

Trinity House Theatre is pleased to host a showcase of some of the winners. Watch our website for details on the performers.

Growing up on a large cattle farm and riding her horses in the rural thumb area of Michigan, Julianne was raised on country music. Her winning song is featured on her first solo CD, It Ain’t Over, and is the subject of a video directed by Stephen Clark from WXYZ-TV in Detroit.

“Whiskey on my Breath” was a winner in last year’s Great Lakes Songwriting Contest. Nominated three years running as Outstanding Country Vocalist for the Detroit Music Awards, Julianne’s songwriting has been recognized with a 2009 DMA nomination for Outstanding Country Songwriter as well. Julianne has opened for John Michael Montgomery at the DTE Music Theatre in Detroit, Victoria Banks at the famous Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, as well as Whitney Duncan, Phil Vassar, and the McClymonts.

During her five years as the lead singer of the Detroit country group REDHILL, Julianne helped the group garner numerous Detroit Music Award nominations, including the group winning the 2007 DMA for Outstanding Country Recording. She has shared the concert stage with over 50 national artists including Willie Nelson, Trisha Yearwood, Gretchen Wilson, Charlie Daniels, Clay Walker, Kelly Pickler, Eric Church, Rodney Akens, Joe Diffie, and Billy Ray Cyrus.

 
Dennis Donoho is a dentist at Washtenaw Dental Associates. This Ann Arbor-based singer/songwriter/dentist recently started writing songs again and performing as his schedule allows, after a twenty year hiatus. He originally wrote "Gifts Are Made For Giving," for his daughter's wedding. It was truly an expression of his love for her. He recently returned from a recording session in Nashville where he is currently working on his first album, Family Ties, which will include the winning song. Dennis has performed at The Ark in Ann Arbor, the Commodore in Nashville ,and regularly at Pine View Church in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Ralston Bowles’s father played the fiddle, guitar and banjo in the Appalachia hills before he moved to Gary, Indiana, to work the steel mills. Ralston's first professional job was at the age of 16 when he was asked to make up one of his story songs for a neighborhood party. 

After graduation he found himself playing in clubs and coffeehouses throughout the Midwest, making up songs about the people and places he visited. His songs have been performed and recorded by Caroline Aiken, Peter Mulvey, Amy Speace, Betty Soo and Rachael Davis. He has received awards from American Songwriter Magazine, NSAI/CMT, Unisong and the International Song Competition, among many others.  As a Kerrville New Folk finalist, he even found himself opening for such artists as Shawn Colvin, T-Bone Burnett and Arlo Guthrie.

His first recording, Carwreck Conversations, was produced with Marvin Etzoni  and earned him triple Jammy Awards locally and recognition as best musician in West Michigan by Grand Rapids magazine. It also led him to his first commercial release through Judy Collins’ Wildflower Records. He has become a bi-annual favorite at Boston's Club Passim.