Guitarists and good friends Sean Mencher and Hugh Bowden will come together Friday night for a casual evening of music and storytelling at Cadenza in Freeport.

Mencher and Bowden play many different styles of music, and the Cadenza audience will get a taste at 7 p.m. Friday, May 22.

In a review in The Bollard of Mencher’s latest album, Chris Busby wrote that Mencher is one of the finest guitarists ever to call Maine home. That album has a title that gets right to the point: “Sean Mencher Plays Guitar.” It consists of 16 solo guitar-picking instrumental tracks, most of them written by some of Mencher’s musical idols, including Merle Haggard, Merle Travis, Hank Williams and Chet Atkins. Mencher loves country and rockabilly, so its no surprise that those genres are represented on the CD, but a few of the songs, notably “America the Beautiful” and “Someone to Watch Over Me,” give him the opportunity to show a different side of his talent.

Bowden draws from a musical library that includes American standards, folk and country songs, and more than 100 of his own compositions. As a youth in rural Maine, Bowden taught himself to play the guitar after becoming captivated by the music of legendary guitarist Chet Atkins. Bowden, who now lives in Ellsworth, has performed widely throughout Maine and beyond for several decades, both as a solo fingerstyle guitarist and singer and as a member of several small musical groups, in various styles of music.

“I play music primarily for the joy and comfort it always brings to me,” he said in a prepared release. “And I feel doubly blessed in those occasional moments when my music can evoke those same feelings of joy and comfort in the hearts of others.”

Tickets are $20 online and $30 at the door. Visit cadenzafreeport.com for more information and ticket link. Cadenza is located at 5 Depot St., Freeport.

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