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For 71-year-old Big Island resident Kurt Kessler, getting his music on the radio came down to finding the right mentor.
The retired home builder attended his first Hawai‘i Songwriting Festival last year in Kona, bringing two unpolished songs and an open mind. He quickly learned if you wanted help fine-tuning a song, the person to meet was Jason Blume.
Kessler had never heard of Blume, the longtime BMI Songwriter Workshop teacher and now a Kaua‘i resident who has been a mentor at songwriting festivals in Hawai‘i for more than 20 years.
But with Blume’s guidance, Kessler’s “I Can See My Lord a Comin’,” aired on the Christian Radio Network for the first time on Easter Sunday and has since gained airplay on Effect Radio‘s network of 65 stations across the United States, including 90.3 FM in Hawai‘i.
“I just sat there and wept,” Kessler said.
On Friday and Saturday, Blume and other renowned songwriters, producers and performers from Hawai‘i and the mainland will be participating at the Kaua‘i Songwriters Music Festival. It takes place at the Hilton Garden Inn at Wailua Bay with two days of workshops followed by a concert Saturday night that is open to the public.
Blume has been helping songwriters since the genesis of the first Kaua‘i Music Festival 22 years ago, when it was brought to the Kaua‘i Beach Resort in Līhu‘e. At the time, the teaching festival with performances was a pioneering event in the state.
That original festival moved to the Big Island in 2015 and seven years later was renamed the “Hawai‘i Songwriting Festival.” But the nonprofit Arts Kaua‘i created a new songwriters festival on the Garden Isle in its place. This will be the fourth year of the Kaua‘i Songwriters Music Festival.
The two events typically occur weeks apart in the summertime. While the Big Island festival is more focused on “sync” licensing — placing music in film and television — Kaua‘i’s event centers around songwriting for personal expression or recording projects, according to Blume.
At this year’s festival, Blume will present workshops on writing effective lyrics and melodies, including analysis of popular songs. He also will lead daily song circles where attendees can share original material and receive feedback.
“You don’t need any knowledge of music or know how to play an instrument to write wonderful melodies,” he said. “If you can hum them into your phone, you can write them.”
But Blume said words have more power when they’re connected to music.
“As incredible as the lyric is for something like John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ — imagine if that were simply a poem,” he said. “It wouldn’t be part of all our hearts. It wouldn’t be the soundtrack of our lives.”
Blume knows what it takes to connect. He has earned multiple No. 1 song placements, including a recent hit on the Spotify Dance Charts in Europe for co-writing “Nothing Is Impossible” by Nicki French.
His song “Come Back” debuted in 2021 as the first single from Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award-winning band Crossing Rain. He also has written songs for a wide variety of artists, including Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and the Oak Ridge Boys.
But his success took time. Blume spent 16 years writing professionally before landing his first hit, crediting his persistence to a quote from Kenny Loggins: “Luck smells a lot like sweat.”
Blume helped Kessler achieve his dream, first by providing positive feedback.
“Jason told me, ‘That song is perfect!’” Kessler recalled. “I thought my heart was going to blow up. I didn’t know I was a good songwriter.”
Blume also contacted Nashville producer Jason Garner to professionally record Kessler’s debut track. The result was a polished version performed by studio musicians. Kessler broke into tears when he first heard it.
“I just prayed about it,” Kessler said. “Said, ‘Lord, guide the song and any other song you bring me and show me what to do.’ I was a little shocked, but happy they started playing it.”
Kessler now has two songs in rotation on the Christian Radio Network, with the addition of “Jesus Saves.”
Two days of workshops are offered for $80, which includes a ticket to the public concert on May 17. Concert-only tickets are $35. The workshop and concert tickets can be purchased online via Zeffy at https://www.zeffy.com/ticketing/kauai-songwriters-music-festival–2025.
This is the fourth songwriters festival put on by Arts Kauaʻi with the support of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, the County of Kauaʻi and the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.
*Times and performers subject to change