By Lisa Locke

The Somerville News Poetry and Music Series, March 4th at 3 p.m. at the Porter Square Books store will feature local singer/songwriter Jim Wells performing his original music.

Wells has been writing songs for approximately seven years.  ‚ÄúI started not long after I started playing guitar,‚Äù he said.  ‚ÄúI never gravitated towards playing other peoples‚Äô songs as much as towards putting poetry to music. I‚Äôve been writing poetry since I was old enough to write.‚Äù

Songwriting, Wells said, was initially a private outlet. When he first performed his music for an audience in the summer of 2002, it was out of necessity. 

“I went to Cambridge, England for six weeks to study abroad, expecting some student loans to be deposited into my account,” Wells said. “By the time I found out I wasn’t going to get them, I was broke and needed enough money to get back to London to pick up my plane ticket home. Somewhere I got the idea to start busking in the street.”

While earning enough in spare change to pay for his bus ticket, he also had his first taste of the transformative experience of an audience responding to his work.

‚ÄúAbout a week before I came home, a man sat down beside me to listen,‚Äù said Wells. ‚ÄúAfter I had played every song I knew, he reached into his pocket, took out a five pound note, put it in my guitar case, and said, ‚Äòit is nice to hear songs played with a passion.‚Äô  Before that, I was very shy, and kept my head down when I played.

After that, I played with more confidence and started engaging the audience. That‚Äôs how I got addicted to performing.‚Äù  Since that time, Wells has been performing his original songs at local open mics such as those at the Burren Pub, the Cantab Lounge, the Lizard Lounge, the Real Bar, and Roggie‚Äôs.  He turned a cross-country road trip into an open mic tour in the summer of 2004.

Wells said his greatest musical influences have been the songwriters he has met here in the Boston area.  ‚ÄúThere are so many local people writing great songs. When they listen to something I wrote and say, ‚ÄòI really like that line,‚Äô or ‚Äòthat‚Äôs a great idea,‚Äô it‚Äôs that encouragement that keeps me writing,‚Äù he said.

“Everyone here seems to go out of their way to help,” Wells said. “People will play on each others’ CDs and go out of their way to promote each other. It is not a competition in Boston. There’s a great sense of collaboration in this city that just amazes me.”

Originally from Gansevoort, NY, Wells moved to the Boston area in 2000 to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in English at Northeastern University. Since that time, he has primarily lived in Somerville, trying out Teele Square, Sullivan Square, Winter Hill, and Union Square. 

Wells currently lives in Malden, but said he misses Somerville and hopes to return as soon as possible.  ‚ÄúThe happiest times of my life in Boston were back when I lived in Teele Square,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúEvery time I have to move I look there first.‚Äù