When Riley Galloway gets up to sing at the weekly acoustic open stage at Yellow Bridge Brewing in Delmont, you’d never know that she’s been playing in public for only a few months.

The 16-year-old Irwin resident’s voice fills the space with the confidence of someone who has been performing much longer. And if her voice doesn’t get the crowd’s attention, there’s always her bright white guitar — and the fact that she’s playing it left-handed.

“This was the first open mic I did, and the first time I kind of crashed and burned,” Galloway said with a laugh. “I think I almost knocked the mic stand over. But everyone was very encouraging.”

Galloway was one of roughly a half-dozen younger singer-songwriters at the Yellow Bridge open stage, which started in June. But throughout the evening, a full three hours’ worth of performers of all ages and ability levels took the stage to sing original songs, classic rock, folk tunes, bluegrass and more.

It is just one of many open stages throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania that offer a few moments in the spotlight for aspiring songwriters, nervous teens looking to get a taste of public performance and longtime musicians looking to try out new material or just recapture the feeling of playing to an attentive crowd.

In Pittsburgh, the AcoustiCafe open stage will mark its 25th anniversary in 2024. The longtime open stage moved from the South Side’s Club Cafe to the Funhouse at Mr. Smalls in Millvale in 2016, and with the exception of the covid pandemic — when it quickly pivoted to host a weekly Zoom open stage — AcoustiCafe has continued uninterrupted since 1999.

“It’s always worked well because we’re on a Monday,” said Jesse Prentiss of Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, one of the organizers. “That seems to be a time when most regular gigging musicians aren’t busy, so we have a great mix of people who are absolute beginners and those who’ve been around the scene for a long time.”

The founding principle behind AcoustiCafe — and indeed behind many of the region’s open stages — is not just to provide a forum for local singer-songwriters to debut their material, but to build a community of like-minded artists.

Dave Stout, 40, of Penn Township hosts the Wednesday night open stage at Yellow Bridge Brewing in Delmont.

“There’s a lot of great talent in the area,” said Stout, who has been playing around the Pittsburgh area for the past two decades. “I’ve never seen as much talent locally as we’ve had in recent years.”

Stout can remember his first time performing, at an open stage at Scooby’s Pub in Greensburg.

“The door man looked at my ID and put a big frowny face on my hand because I wasn’t 21 yet,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t remember who the house band was, but they were extremely welcoming.”

Stout and others said a welcoming atmosphere is a hugely important part of running a successful open stage.

“At an open mic, everyone’s equal,” he said. “Everyone’s a little bit nervous. Experienced musicians are up there working on new material or trying out a cover they haven’t done before.”

Dan Speal, owner of Speal’s Tavern in New Alexandria and host of several monthly open stages, agreed.

“I remember one of our regulars, Tim Schmider, brought his son-in-law, who was singing around the house but didn’t play out,” Speal said. “He came here, played a few songs and initially said, ‘Well, you saw it, and that’s it, because I’m never getting up there again.’ But he kept coming back and now he’s out playing all over.”

Speal began holding an open stage about a decade ago, and that has expanded to include additional open stages that focus on blues rock, bluegrass and country music, as well as an “Uncovered” open stage where participants must play original music.

Nicole Belli of Lower Burrell can recall being nervous about her first open stage despite growing up in a musical family with her father, Larry, who is well-known as a Pittsburgh-area jazz guitarist.

“My first open stage was at Moondog’s (in Blawnox), and I started getting into the scene,” said Belli, 52. “We also ended up going to the open stage that the (former) Bloomfield Bridge Tavern had on Tuesdays.”

Belli was also a frequent performer at the Thursday open stage hosted by the Blind Pig Saloon in New Kensington. These days, she is one of its regular hosts.

“The people there were just so encouraging,” she said. “You’re nervous, you don’t know if people are going to like you, but you get up and play and you just keep going from there.”

Martin Bour, 45, of Murrysville recently began hosting an open bluegrass jam at the Red Barn Winery just outside Delmont in Salem . Bluegrass jams are generally structured a little differently from an open stage. They are more of a picking circle where everyone takes a turn calling songs and the entire group plays along while trading “breaks,” the short solos between verses.

“I grew up in a musical household,” Bour said. “And I just never put my guitar down.”

Bour was invited to a bluegrass jam in Latrobe about a decade ago and said the bluegrass community really appealed to him.

“It’s been a great learning experience,” he said. “I like connecting local pickers, giving exposure to the bluegrass community in our area and just getting people together with an opportunity to come out and exercise their musical skills.”

Speal said he’s the most pleased to see the success of performers who got their first taste of live performance at his open stages.

“You have all these wineries and breweries opening up, and a lot of the people who are playing live music at those places started here,” he said. “I didn’t want this to be a destination. We wanted it to be a springboard, and it’s worked out beautifully.”