On Wednesday, March 26, four well-known local musicians will take the stage at the Little Art Theatre to perform a songwriters’ round — a turn-based performance of songs and stories that highlight the intergenerational experiences of the four women. Shown here are three of the four musicians: Kyleen Downes, Sharon Lane and Rhue Buddendeck. Not pictured is Dawn Cooksey, though Downes has her seat saved. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Little Art to host intergenerational songwriters’ round
- Published: March 24, 2025
Clamorous coffee shops or blaring bars may not always be the best venues for singer-songwriters to really bare their hearts on stage. Clinking glasses, the din of conversation and hissing espresso machines tend to drown out a soulful lyric or a subtle strum of the guitar.
Solving this problem, a quieter and more intimate stage in Yellow Springs will host four well-known local musicians next week.
Sharon Lane, Kyleen Downes, Dawn Cooksey and Rhue Buddendeck will perform an intergenerational musical showcase at the Little Art Theatre on Wednesday, March 26 — just a few days before the end of Women’s History Month.
The set will take the form of a “songwriters’ round” — a performance wherein each of the four women will take turns playing tunes and sharing the stories behind them. With ages ranging from mid-twenties to mid-seventies, the musicians should be familiar faces to many in Yellow Springs.
Lane, the eldest of the group, has been a mainstay in the area’s music scene for nearly six decades. Her first-ever live performance was at Antioch College in 1964 when, as a 14-year-old, she hitchhiked from Dayton to play a set of Woody Gutherie songs. Now behind a piano, Lane and her musical counterpart, Danny Sauers, will soon mark their three-year anniversary of hosting weekly performances at Trail Town Brewing.
The Dayton-based Downes has been playing guitar for just shy of 30 years. Under her belt are two full-length albums, an EP and a couple singles. Since 2018, she’s hosted the open mic night at Peach’s Grill, bringing together musicians of all stripes, genres and levels of experience.
A singer-songwriter since her college days in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Cooksey has spent her on-again, off-again musical career trying to make good on her childhood aspirations: sing out like Patti Smith and Stevie Nicks. A longtime Yellow Springer, Cooksey has played in India, Austin and all throughout the village.
Buddendeck, the youngest, picked up a guitar at 15, with the encouragement of her stepfather, Bill Sikes, of Yellow Springs-based DOCTOR MEAT. She’s played a number of open mics both near and far from the village, and according to her, draws a good deal of songwriting inspiration from her struggles with mental health.
“Strong feelings make for strong lyrics and songs,” Buddendeck told the News in a recent interview, sitting with two of the other performers in the Little Art.
“Bad love affairs do, too,” Lane chimed in with a laugh.
That’s the point of the songwriters’ round, Downes said: to give these women a comfortable and intimate venue to share these stories, their experiences, loves, losses and more.
“Rounds are a way for musicians to work collaboratively — a kind of space that can open up for storytelling and making bonds not just with each other, but also the listeners, too,” Downes said.
Later, in a separate interview, Cooksey added: “Women are old. Women are young. There’s not just one singular experience of being a woman. That’s why this will be so cool — it reflects the intersections and differences between us, and how people change over time.”
Playing with those of different ages is nothing new for Lane. As she put it, the “sacred act” of making art transcends generations and age gaps.
“If you can play and you’re a badass, then you’re who I want to be on a stage with — I don’t care if you’re 90 or 13,” Lane said. “But women? I love supporting women. Men have dominated music still to this day, and it was pretty rough coming up trying to be a female vocalist or player.”
Having made it through half a century of chauvinism to her present notoriety, Lane became a significant inspiration to Downes, Cooksey and Buddendeck.
“I’m just so excited to share a stage with her,” Cooksey said. “When I came to town in my late 20s, I remember thinking I wanted to be like her when I grew up. What’s funny is, I’m now probably the age she was then.”
In working with the Little Art’s theater manager, Caleab Wyant, to set up the songwriters’ round, Downes had this exact kind of temporal throughline in mind when she tapped the other three women to play.
“We’re playing in a theater, right? So, just like in a movie, there’s an arc — a timeline, a beginning and an end,” Downes said. “I think that plays into the whole idea of having people from four generations share their different — but still shared — experiences.”
“That’s right,” Lane said, looking at Buddendeck — who, by her own admission, is a little nervous for Wednesday’s performance. “We’re all supposed to pass the torch one day. So, go ahead. Do your thing. We’re not going to let you fall.”
The songwriters’ round at the Little Art Theatre — featuring Sharon Lane, Kyleen Downes, Dawn Cooksey and Rhue Buddendeck — will be Wednesday, March 26, with doors opening at 6:30. Admission is $20, and tickets can be purchased at the door or ahead of the performance at http://www.littleart.com.
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