In my first venture back out onto the scene since Sunday’s Musikfest finale, I found myself back on familiar ground, as I headed down to SteelStacks for Billy Bauer’s weekly open mic on Thursday night.

I got the relaxing atmosphere I was looking for; one where I could sit outside with an Oktoberfest (even though it’s a tad too early for it, in my opinion) and listen to a sampling of the region’s up-and-coming singer-songwriters. After Bauer played an opening rendition of Dave Matthews’ “Ants Marching” (in preparation for his tribute show at SteelStacks this Saturday), young acoustic duo MoJo stepped in as the featured artist. It wasn’t my first time seeing this pair, comprised of Miranda Hoehn and John Stempa III, and I can tell you that they seem to have been hard at work on their craft. Hoehn’s powerful voice in particular has only gotten stronger, and it would appear that these two are poised to make a mark in the coming years.

That wasn’t all. I also got to hear from such artists as Kara Hartzell, Anthony Pasciuti of January Noon, Richie Ares (theLionhearted), young acoustic rock prodigy Jay-T, and more. Not bad for a chilled-out Thursday evening.