BANGOR – Singer and guitarist Julie Beutel, a native of Detroit, Mich., will perform a benefit concert for PICA at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, at the Bangor Unitarian Universalist Church, 120 Park St.

Beutel is described as having a voice that seems to come from her soul. In concert she performs music from Central America – she lived in Nicaragua during the war, working for Witness for Peace – songs from popular performers such as Lucinda and Dar Williams and songs from the peace movement.

Beutel is not afraid to address painful or awkward issues in her music, concert organizers said. She tells true stories that come from her life as a single mother of two boys, a music teacher in Detroit’s inner city, and a woman who spent time with Americans who were held captive by the Contras for two days. She cracks jokes and laughs at herself. She makes audiences smile and think.

Beutel has sung in jails, nursing homes, schools, soup kitchens, parties, concerts, bars, churches, coffeehouses, radio stations, trains, subway stations, anti-war demonstrations and in front of the U.S. Embassy in Managua.

The concert will benefit PICA’s “reality tour” which will send 18 people from Maine organizations to El Salvador.

Child care will be provided during the concert. Tickets are available at the Briar Patch Bookstore and from PICA. Call 947-4203 for more information.