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MANSFIELD - Three accomplished singer-songwriters will go head-to-head Saturday in the finals of the Rose Garden Coffeehouse's annual performing songwriter competition, following a concert by Jake and Taylor Armerding.

Garrison Doles got his act together playing in saloons in his hometown of Miami where he spent afternoons hustling nine-ball at strip joint pool tables and nights picking out tunes on his battered Martin D-28 guitar.

Later he quit the bars and turned to drama as co-founder of the off-Broadway venue Theatre Downtown. A finalist twice in the South Florida Folk Festival song contest and winner of the contests at Suwannee Springfest and at the Gamble Rogers Folk Festival, he has three independent CDs to his credit.

Lynne Hanson of Ottawa, Canada has attracted critical praise since the release of her debut CD "Things I Miss" in late 2006. Her tune "River By My Side" won the 2006 Blues Award for the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals "Songs from the Heart" contest, while the title track was chosen as one of the best songs of 2006 by the Indie Acoustic Music Project.

Hanson was a recent Canada region finalist in the 2008 Mountain Stage New Song Contest, and is an official showcase artist at the 2008 FAR West Conference in Phoenix. Chris Elliott of Leverett is a performing singer whose latest CD, "Satellite, UFO, Jet Plane or Star," features 14 original songs about love, war, death, high school, food service jobs, heavy metal, America, and more. With both full-band and solo arrangements, the CD mixes new compositions with old favorites. It has received airplay on folk radio around the globe from New Zealand to Germany to Canada to Bowling Green, Ohio.

In 2002 Elliott co-wrote the song "Looking for your Heart" with Carl Cacho, who recorded it for his album "Spark" Elliott's song "Nothing Too Major" appears on the 1996 compilation CD "Show Up, Sign Up & Play," which also features Mary Gauthier, Jess Klein and Faith Soloway. "Rose for a Blue Jay" appears on the 2005 Boston's Best Singer-Songwriter Showcase CD.