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Four local songwriters filled the Tiffany Gallery at the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington with original music, personal stories and plenty of humor on Jan. 23, 2026.
Hosted by Arlington musician Sarah Fridrich, the seated, Nashville-style showcase ran from 7 to 9 p.m. and featured Fridrich, Caleb Hacker, Louisa Hall and Jason Mendelson taking turns at the microphone in a listening-focused setting.
Fridrich, a member of the duo String Mamas, opened the round with bluesy, jazz-influenced songs performed on ukulele. She joked about leaving her less-portable piano at home, then coaxed a surprisingly large sound from the smaller instrument.
The emotional high point of her set was a song about her mother leaving her at day care to work and how Fridrich came to understand that experience after becoming a mother herself. The performance brought tears from Fridrich and several audience members.
Fridrich previously performed at Iota, the Clarendon music club whose closure left a significant gap in Arlington’s live-music scene.
Alexandria-born singer-songwriter Caleb Hacker followed with a mix of indie rock, R&B and folk. Accompanying himself on six-string guitar, he performed the catchy love song “Dazzler” and “Everything,” which included the lyric: “I might not dance like Michael, might not even play like Prince, but if there is one thing you taught me it’s that I could be my own blueprint.”
Fridrich told him she wished she had written the line.
Hacker also performed “Day by Day,” an optimistic song he described as a message of solidarity with people who are struggling, including Palestinians, ICE victims and queer children. Hacker works as an artist-in-residence at the Inova Schar Cancer Institute.
Louisa Hall of Reston, a member of the musical comedy duo Griefcat, shifted the evening toward audience participation and satire. She invited the crowd to sing along with “My Bidet” and continued with “Barista Boyfriend” and the politically edged “Revolution! (Poop at Work).”
Hall joked that a recent performance of the latter song at a retirement community would probably ensure she was not invited back.
Strasburg resident Jason Mendelson closed out the group. Known for writing 91 “Metro Stop” songs covering nearly every station in the region, he began with “New Carrollton.”
His later selections included “Send a Medic,” “So Late It’s Tomorrow” and “Modern Day Cassandra,” which he characterized as either an ode or a eulogy to journalism. His acoustic interludes showcased his command of his Martin guitar.
The gallery’s Tiffany windows framed the performances as a packed crowd gathered on a cold evening. Hot chocolate and cider were available for guests who brought mugs from home, adding to the community atmosphere surrounding the four-songwriters-in-the-round format.