The Acoustic Guitar Project
One guitar. One week. One song.
The Acoustic Guitar Project is a global music platform—and concert series—that inspires musicians to write and record a song in one week on the same guitar.
The project originated in New York City and has spread around the world. Projects are underway in more than 50 cities, from Amsterdam to Asheville, Havana to Hanoi, Minneapolis to Moscow, and São Paulo to...Syracuse.
The project began in Syracuse in 2014, curated by Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, with a guitar handmade in Maryland by Minor Bird Musical Instruments.
To date, 55 songs have been written on the Syracuse project guitar.
➢ Listen to all the songs on the Acoustic Guitar Project website.
➢ Listen to a sampling of project songs (some in their original project recordings, some in new versions) on Spotify.
Syracuse Acoustic Guitar Project 2023
Join us for our tenth annual concert!
November 17, 2023, hosted by the Folkus Project
Featuring
Chris Merkley
Tiesha McNeal
Ryan Burdick
Alison Mullan-Stout
Loren Barrigar
Project songwriters
The 2020 project showcased next-generation songwriters—all in their teens to early 20s.
Watch the closing concert, streamed live from Subcat Studios. Thanks to concert sponsor Ish Guitars. Project photos of Ella Drotar, Emalee Herrington, and Nate Glyn are by Tom Honan.
2019
Mark Wahl
Jess Novak
Catherine Cadley
Leo Crandall
Phil Grajko
2018
Andrew VanNorstrand
Peg Newell
Liam Alone
Steve Winston
Todd Hobin
2017
John McConnell
Jane Zell
Mark Hoffmann
Andrew Ruddy and Monique Ritter
Stephen Douglas Wolfe
2016
Gina Holsopple
Jon Peterson
Mike Powell
Donna Colton and Sam Patterelli
Bob Halligan Jr.
2015
Eddie Zacholl
Kim Monroe and Chris Eves
Jeff Jones
Joe Driscoll
Donna Dennihy
2014
Gary Frenay
Arty Lenin
John Cadley
Ashley Cox
Dana “Short Order” Cooke
Colin Aberdeen
Colleen Kattau
Tim Burns
Wendy Ramsay
Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
In memory of Jack O. Bocchino
Jack O. Bocchino, the legendary supporter of the Central New York music scene who passed away in March 2020, was a major contributor to the Acoustic Guitar Project in Syracuse (learn more about Jack here). Jack photographed all the songwriters for the first six years of the project, as collected in this video. The soundtrack is “Twenty One Rounds” by Mike Powell, written for the project in 2016.
Till I’m Alone with You
I released my project song as a single in 2020. More about the song.
Only One
I wrote this song in 2022 when the Syracuse project reached the milestone of 50 songs, and I perform it here on the project guitar.