It’s not often that songwriters get to talk about their creative process, or that the public is given a glimpse into what it’s like to translate inspiration into music.

780 Songwriters Circle provided a space for local artists to perform and share their different experiences with songwriting.

The first convening gathered Colin Halliburton of The Roseline, Jeff Stolz and Suzannah Johannes alongside an audience of around 50 people Wednesday evening in the auditorium of the Lawrence Public Library. The event was hosted by the library, Kansas Public Radio and Lawrence Music Alliance.

Library Director Brad Allen and host Chris Molla began with introductions and thank-yous before each artist performed one of their songs.

“We came up with this idea for the 780 Series to start bringing people to town and have conversations, and sometimes get lucky and hear some music,” Allen said. “This is like, 10 years in the making that we’re finally getting around to doing this.”

Halliburton and Stolz both agreed that their songwriting process feels, in Stolz’s words, “like a complete slog.” 

“I wish I had some kind of structure to it, but I’m still figuring it out,” Stolz said. “It still feels like a complete slog, you know, of finding a part that you kind of like, and then you kind of play it over and over, and then you forget about it for three months or whatever, and then you come back to it.”

Johannes — who took a break from songwriting but recently decided to start back up — said her approach to songwriting was slightly more methodical.

“I had to have a space to myself. I had to have time to myself. I kind of had to have everything clean, like I had to clean the house,” Johannes said. 

The artists alternated between conversations and playing. While Halliburton and Johannes stuck to their guitars, Stolz made use of the piano and filled the room with upbeat tunes, including a song with the lyrics, “I want to drive a limo.”

“I was just talking to my daughter about a limo or something, I can’t remember,” Stolz said. “It’s one of those things where you’re just, like, messing around instrumentally, and then all of a sudden, you know, stupid words, like ‘I want to drive a limo’ come out.”

Halliburton and Johannes delved more into how their personal lives influenced their music. Halliburton spoke about how he drew inspiration from political arguments he would have on vacation with his family.

“I realized, like, I’m probably not going to radicalize them over, like margaritas on the beach,” Halliburton said. “I had this vision of, like, me sort of having a few too many, and like standing up and sarcastically saying, like, ‘God bless bipartisan imperial violence.’ So, yeah, it kind of gives you a chance to say something that you wouldn’t necessarily get away with in another context.”

Johannes offered insight into the retrospective aspect of songwriting, and how experiences such as grief and heartbreak caused her to look at her own songs differently.

“Even though you’re singing the same notes and the same words, time after time, even that becomes kind of a journey, even though the song is done,” Johannes said. 

Audience members had the chance to ask questions at the end. Bryan Morfin, an audience member and local songwriter, appreciated the opportunity to hear other songwriters’ perspectives. 

“Music is super collaborative, so just getting to see how other people attack it is interesting,” Morfin said. “By having these events, it’s really awesome. You get to find out that, you know, there’s really talented people in your area, people that are really open to talking about their craft and maybe give you a couple pointers.”

780 Songwriters Circle is expected to be held quarterly, with upcoming events expected in June, September, and December. 

Hannah Loub (she/her), reporting intern with The Lawrence Times since January 2026, is a journalism and global and international studies major at the University of Kansas. She is currently the lead digital producer for KUJH and worked as a beat reporter for the University Daily Kansan. Read her work for the Times here.

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Logan Pierson (he/him), reporting intern with The Lawrence Times since December 2025, is a senior journalism and photography student at the University of Kansas. He previously contributed to the University Daily Kansan as a senior reporter and beat reporter.

Read his work for the Times here.

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