The sounds of acoustic guitar reverberated throughout The Thought Lot on Friday, Dec. 11 as each singer stepped forward to share their interpretations of life through music.

Folk music is known for the platform it provides to musicians who want to give audiences a very personal view of their lives. The touching lyrics sung, combined with the comforting sounds of guitar, banjo, mandolin and harmonica, brought a modest-sized audience face to face with the real-life experiences of the performers.

Shippensburg University student Tyler Michael Law opened the night with “Love Like That,” one of the many original songs he has written. Taking little time for personal anecdotes, Law slid from one song to the next, bobbing on stage and often singing with his eyes closed.

After a few upbeat songs and a little fretboard slapping, Law slowed things down with a more somber tune, “Sleep.”

The lyrics, “Sing me a song so that I may sleep,” and, “Cause I won’t be here much longer,” highlighted the struggles Law has faced in his own life.

“A lot of my newer music comes from a much more personal place,” Law said.

To close his set, Law ended with “Highway Born,” a song about a family’s challenges with marriage. For Law, 19, the song is not about a personal experience, but more of an attempt to mirror the work of his heroes, like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.

Going forward, Law hopes to expand his musical abilities and perform his music for more audiences.

“I don’t care if it’s five people or 5,000 people,” Law said, “I just want to share it.”

Jumping ahead about two generations, veteran singer/songwriter Matt Miskie of Cleona, Pennsylvania took his turn on The Thought Lot stage. Miskie has been performing for more than 40 years, and gets his inspiration from the stars of the '60s and '70s. Through his career, he has traveled mostly in Pennsylvania, but has gone as far as Charlotte, North Carolina and Rochester, New York for his music.

While many of Law’s songs were about young love, Miskie’s music highlighted different points in his life, from his childhood to raising a family.

“My sounds are formed by family, venture and this euphemism we call, ‘coming of age,’” Miskie said, before diving into his first original song, “African Daisies.”

Miskie’s soulful voice has a gruff edge to it that can make the listener really feel the message of the song. His lyrics are served with a generous helping of imagery and a large scoop of realism.

In “Pennsylvania Home” Miskie paints a picture of the keystone state’s summer scenes, singing, “A hundred million fireflies dance beneath your sky.” The imagery continued with a tribute to his childhood in, “Tree Swing,” where he sings, “Just an old hunk of clothesline dad tied way up there.” During “Tree Swing,” one audience member turned to another and whispered, “He sounds like Bob Dylan.”

Miskie’s acoustic guitar was joined by a harmonica in several of his songs, adding the feel of folk-rock to his performance. In a song about daydreaming in paradise, Miskie had the tendency to whisper the end of his lines, as if he was trying to entice the audience to listen closer, singing, “The years went by and so did I and now I’m 65.”

For Miskie, the journey to becoming a full-time musician started at a young age, when his mother would play piano for the family and teach the children to harmonize.

Traveling from venue to venue, Miskie is content with this peak in his career.

“I’m really happy doing what I do now,” Miskie said, “Making the big time is not an ambition.”

After the solo acts of Law and Miskie, The Honey Dewdrops stepped forward as the headliners of the night. The husband and wife duo of Kagey Parrish and Laura Wortman hail from Baltimore, Maryland, although they are originally from Virginia.

Sharing a mic, the duo went straight into their first song, with Wortman taking the lead. From the way the two share the spotlight, it was easy to see that they have been performing together for a long time. Holding their guitars opposite to each other, they often locked eyes during an especially sweet tune, harmonizing in every song. The two met in college in 2003 while they were playing in a rock band together, Parrish said.

The Honey Dewdrops take their inspiration from the land, relationships and experiences they have had in life. In “Same Old” the duo sang about the monotony of life, singing, “Every morning, same old sun comes up,” and, “Same old coffee, same old cup.” For this piece, Wortman switched out her guitar for a banjo. Later in the night, Parrish picked up his mandolin for a few tunes.

A cover of a Fred Eaglesmith song, “Katie,” elicited laughs from the audience when The Honey Dewdrops sang about a man killing his cheating partner and her lover. They also performed of cover of “River” by Joni Mitchell.

The duo switched back to singing their original songs with “One Kind Word” and “Horses.” The latter is to be featured on their new CD. As The Thought Lot’s Christmas tree glowed in the background, Wortman’s voice rang out with, “I’ve broken horses running through my head,” and, “But half-broken horses never fall asleep.”

The duo just finished a two-month long cross-country tour and they are looking forward to a little time back at home, where they can continue to write more songs.

“It’s kind of like a mysterious thing, what sticks in your head,” Parrish said of their songwriting.

The couple plans to continue playing their music for all who will listen, and they hope to make a life doing what they love — making music.

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