By Brian Shovelton

Mark Cutler’s community songwriting workshops transform shared experience into collective sound.

For decades, Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame inductee Mark Cutler has been a relentless musical force. He has worked with The Raindogs, collaborated with the likes of Iggy Pop and Harry Dean Stanton, toured with Bob Dylan, Warren Zevon, and Don Henley, and recorded with The Schemers, The Men of Great Courage, and The Tiny String Band. Cultler continues to record and play live, but in recent years he has taken on the role of the leader of an altruistic songwriting workshop, The Same Thing Project. It is a community songwriting program, open to “musicians, artists, students, teachers, retired folks, neurodiverse, differently-abled, blue- and white-collar workers,” who participate every week to collaboratively write songs. You don’t have to play an instrument or have any musical knowledge to be a participant. The Same Thing Project has been established to be a safe space where a sense of community and participation is encouraged. It’s all about people connecting with each other and enhancing their innate creativity.

The Same Thing Project is peripatetic, moving from community centers, schools and adult care facilities. Now Cutler is taking a variation on the project, called Community Songwriting for Mental Health, and is touring it around college campuses. Coordinated with the National Museum of Mental Health Project (NMMHP), the enterprise is about assisting today’s college students with the mental health challenges that they are facing on campuses.

The Same Thing Project gathers each Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. at Outsider Collective. 1005 Main Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860. All are welcome to join in the free songwriting sessions.

I asked Cutler about how The Same Thing Project started and what were its biggest challenges.

Arts Fuse: When and how did the idea for the Same Thing Project come to you?

Cutler: I came up with the idea about 11 or 12 years ago. I had just quit my day job to concentrate on music when film director Jim Wolpaw contacted me about doing the soundtrack for his documentary about The Ladd School, titled “Best Judgment: Ladd School Lessons.” I immediately agreed to the project. He then asked me if I would be interested in collaborating with folks who have developmental disabilities, and I was all in even more. The experience exposed me to the culture of people with developmental disabilities. It had a profound effect on me in the most positive way possible. I felt that if I could be affected this way, then other folks would be as well.

AF: How long has the project been running?

Cutler: The Same Thing Project has been running for over ten years now.

AF: What challenges do you face in keeping the project going?

Cutler: Like most programs that reach out to the community, funding is the hardest task.

AF: What types of people come to take part in the project?

Cutler: This program attracts people from all walks of life. There is a wide range of folks. People with disabilities, retired folks, young people, artists, white-collar and blue-collar workers, and people who lean to the left or to the right all participate. And all types of people are always welcome.

Musician and leader of The Same Thing Project, Mark Cutler. Photo: courtesy of the artist.

AF: What is the most challenging part of the project?

Cutler: Besides fundraising, getting the opening line of a song can be challenging, but if you have 30 people in a room, someone will have an idea. I guess one of the most difficult things is trying to incorporate everyone’s ideas into a song.

AF: What is the most rewarding aspect of the project?

Cutler: Creating the song and seeing how everyone is uplifted at the end of a session.

AF: Tell me a little bit about the process of songwriting with a group.

Cutler: Unlike traditional songwriting practices, we begin with lyrics. I open each session with a question: “What are we?” Those who have participated before know the answer, and we all respond, “We’re songwriters.” From there, I ask what people have been up to or what’s been on their minds. A conversation unfolds, and sometimes a pithy statement emerges—that becomes our starting point. After a few lines take shape, a sense of cadence or meter begins to surface.

Next, I ask participants to call out letters—A, B, C, D, E, G—and we build from there. One person offers a letter, then another, and after a few more, we arrive at a chord progression. It’s a bit like consulting the I Ching or rolling dice. A surprising amount of creative progress can come from that process.

AF: Tell me about the project’s recordings.

Cutler: Every couple of years we release a recording. I then take the song we record for Facebook Live and record a scratch version at my home studio. After that, I bring my portable recording device to a session and have the participants sing on it.

AF: What would you like to see for the future of the project?

Cutler: I would like for the Same Thing Project to expand to other areas of the country.

Participants in a session of The Same Thing Project. Photo: courtesy of the artist

AF: What forms would expansion take?

Cutler: I see us gathering with other organizations and helping to create a more positive atmosphere for the little corners of the world that we inhabit.

AF: How can people become involved either as participants or patrons?

Cutler: Go to our website (thesamethingproject.com) and check our schedule. We have dozens of free workshops that are open to people of all walks of life. You just have to show up. We gladly accept donations. We are not a nonprofit. Basically, it’s a small DIY organization. You can Venmo us at @same-thing-project or hit the website’s donation link.

AF: How does this compare to your other musical endeavors?

Cutler: This has  been the most satisfying and uplifting project I’ve ever been a part of. Absolutely everyone who has taken part has felt the positive effects from these workshops.

Brian Shovelton is an award-winning singer-songwriter and author currently working on his eighth book. He resides in Manchester, CT, with his fiancé.