JAX SongStage returns with an exceptional gathering of writers whose songs have traveled through rock clubs, listening rooms, recording studios, television, film, honky-tonks and stages around the world.

This is what JAX SongStage was created for.

Not simply to hear the song — but to discover where it came from, what inspired it, what changed along the way, and what it means to the person who wrote it.

Hosted by Kayla Kraemer, this edition brings together Kelly Fitzgerald, Michelle Mangione, Marty Axelrod and David Serby for an intimate evening of original music, conversation and the stories behind the songs.

Kelly Fitzgerald has spent a lifetime doing the work.

A soulful singer-songwriter whose music moves naturally between folk, blues and rock, Kelly has performed more than 200 nights a year, toured throughout the U.S., Europe and Mexico, entertained American and NATO troops overseas, and shared stages with artists including John Hiatt, Cheap Trick, Eddie Money, The Gin Blossoms and John Oates. Her recordings have been produced by Grammy-winning producer Jack Douglas, and her songs have found their way into television and film, including The Young and the Restless, MTV and Hallmark productions.

But the résumé only tells part of the story. Kelly's songs feel lived in — equal parts strength, vulnerability, humor and hard-earned perspective.

Michelle Mangione hears songs a little differently — perhaps because she began as a drummer.

A singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Michelle built a distinctive style around acoustic guitar, percussion and the rhythmic instincts of a lifelong drummer, sometimes literally playing guitar while operating her own pedal-driven “feet drums.” Her songwriting has led to collaborations with Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane and Exene Cervenka of X, while her work has appeared in radio, television and film. Her collaboration with Slick, “The Edge of Madness,” was recognized by Rolling Stone among its top singles.

Her songs come from observation and experience — personal, thoughtful and often unafraid to wander into subjects most writers leave alone.

Then there is Marty Axelrod — pianist, songwriter and one of those musicians whose fingerprints seem to turn up everywhere in the Southern California songwriter community.

His Party At My Cave project grew from the concert series he created during the pandemic into an ongoing home for his songwriting. His newest release, Songs for a Winter Evening, strips the process down to its essentials: Marty, a rebuilt Steinway, his voice and his songs. Every song on the 2026 collection was written by Marty and performed solo on piano and vocal.

He is also an accomplished collaborator and session player whose work has crossed Americana, folk, pop and country — but at SongStage, we get to meet the writer at the piano.

David Serby brings yet another world into the room.

Born in North Hollywood and steeped equally in West Coast rock and the country records of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, Serby eventually left the frustrations of screenwriting behind and discovered that songs gave him something film could not: an immediate connection with an audience.

That screenwriter's instinct never left his music.

David writes vivid characters, flawed people, funny people, people looking for love, escape or one more chance before last call. His new 2026 album Broken Heart in a Honky Tonk brings Bakersfield country into the present with sharp dialogue, humor, heartbreak and serious storytelling craft. He has appeared at Stagecoach twice and shared stages with artists including Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Neko Case, Wanda Jackson and Robert Earl Keen.

Put these four writers together and you don't get four versions of the same thing.

You get blues, rock, acoustic folk, piano-driven songwriting, rhythmic experimentation, Americana and California honky-tonk — connected by the thing that matters most: the song.

And at JAX SongStage, the song is only the beginning.

You'll hear the music.
You'll meet the writers.
And you'll discover the stories that made the songs worth writing in the first place.