True Stories turned into songs -- and portraits that sing

Award Winning 'Echoes' is more than a performance, more than an exhibition—it is a living, evolving work of art. At its heart are Song Portraits: original songs created from in-depth conversations with community members whose lives—funny, tender, defiant, searching—become music. Alongside the songs are Keith Torgan’s Oilish digital portraits, which capture not only likeness but essence. Together, they form a cabaret-style installation where image and song speak to one another, inviting audiences to see and hear people they might otherwise pass by.

This work shines a light on the extraordinary in the ordinary—on bass players obsessed with motorbikes, bakers who carry the soul of a village, survivors who find faith, and seekers who discover that home was what they were searching for all along. The stories are intimate and local, yet they resonate far beyond one county’s borders, offering reflections on identity, belonging, resilience, and the quiet power of everyday lives across rural America and beyond.