Now in its 24th year, the NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition is one of North America’s premier showcases of emerging performers and songwriters today. This crowd-sourced effort seeks to identify the truly exceptional artists within our communities and to work closely with them to develop their careers and introduce their music to a broader, international audience while building a supportive community of performers and songwriters across all genres of music and levels of skill.

But, as important as songwriting skills and stage presence is to this competition, it’s our panel of esteemed judges — all members of the music industry — who have to make the difficult decision: What musical act will take home the grand prize.

This year’s judges, for the finale event on Saturday, January 11, include:

China Langford —China Langford is an events promoter, musician, and arts administrator currently based in Old Fort, NC. She owns and runs the independent live music production company Lonesome Station, originally founded in San Francisco in 2019, and now operating at multiple venues in the Asheville area. She recently opened the small music venue Lonesome Station Old Fort at Seeker Coffee. She grew up in Black Mountain surrounded by singer-songwriters and immersed in the rich musical landscape of Western NC. Her solo music is released under the name China Smith. 

Claude Coleman Jr. — Best known as the drummer for the alternative rock group Ween. He has also worked with Eagles of Death Metal, Chocolate Genius, the Wooden Soldiers, Elysian Fields and 3 Input Woman, and has been a touring member of the Mike Dillon Band on multiple occasions. A multi-instrumentalist, Coleman is also the singer-songwriter for his own group Amandla. Since 2017, he has co-owned and actively managed SoundSpace@Rabbit’s, a music rehearsal and art studio facility inside of a 1947 Black-owned tourist court and soul food cafe’ known as Rabbit’s Motel, in the historically African American district of Southside, Asheville, North Carolina.

 Gar Ragland — Gar Ragland is a producer, musician, and president and co-founder of the NewSong Music Group. Ragland relocated to Boston to study composition and improvisation at the New England Conservatory with MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award winning pianist, composer and educator Ran Blake. It was there in 2001 that he started producing his fellow classmates’ demos and records, and co-founded NewSong Music. In 2005 Ragland moved to New York City, working out of his studio in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. In 2012, he relocated with his wife and three children to Asheville, NC, to take up residence at Echo Mountain Recording Studios; and in 2020 founded Citizen Vinyl, presenting sponsor of NewSong Music. Ragland is a voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammys), and formerly served for five years as the board chair of the Asheville Area Arts Council (ArtsAVL).