Seattle singer/songwriter Wes Weddell built a regional following with his 2001 efforts to chronicle the stories of area residents in song, a project that earned him the inaugural Mary Gates Venture Fellowship and lives on in his "My Northwest Home" CD.

2006's "Songs to Get You From Here to There" reached further, earning a spot as one of Performing Songwriter Magazine's Top-12 DIY releases in June of 2007. Featured on the album is "Carry On," winner of the 2006 Tumbleweed Songwriting Contest...