There’s a good reason why the group of Ann Arbor singer-songwriters known collectively as The Yellow Room Gang plans its annual local show in the early days of each new year.

“It’s really about the only time that all 8 of us are all together. We schedule this one far enough out and early enough so people aren’t booked,” explained member David Tamulevich.

This year’s show is on Saturday night at The Ark.

Besides Tamulevich, other Yellow Room Gang cohorts are “One Shining Moment” composer David Barrett, Detroit native / Great American Song Contest winner Jim Bizer, contemporary road warrior Annie Capps, Irish-American chanteuse Kitty Donohoe, four-time Detroit Music Award winner Jan Krist, Tamulevich’s musical partner Michael Hough and radio show host and musician Matt Watroba.

The Yellow Room part of the name refers to the living area of Tamulevich’s house on Ann Arbor’s Old West Side. The musicians have been meeting there monthly for nearly 5 years to work the kinks out of new songs, brainstorm new ideas and offer a helpful critique of each other’s work. There are 2 YRG CDs in print and another one in the planning stages.

Obviously, the collaboration is working.

“There is really a chemistry between us that I think grows with time,” Tamulevich observed. “It really is like a little community now, a little family. We’ve worked together enough and we know each other well enough now that it just gets more and more fun.”

The program for The Ark show will probably rely more on spontaneity than planning, said Tamulevich.

“The performance has a life of its own, and when we’re together it’s such an interactive thing with the audience. I think it’s thrilling for all of us, the not knowing and the responding,” he explained. “The person ahead of you may take a 180-degree turn and I have to be right in the moment to take where this person has gone and take (the music) to the next level when it is my turn. That’s the creative thing, that’s just so thrilling.”

Tamulevich did say audience favorite “Ours Is A Simple Faith” will most likely be included, along with at least one new song he wrote over the holidays. “We’ve been doing ‘Happy New Day’ that Jim Bizer wrote, and ‘Honey, Sugar, Baby Mine,’ which is an Annie Capps song, and ‘Do What You Love,’ which is a Kitty Donohoe song. Matt’s got a song, ‘How Will I Leave’ — we tend to do those, they’ve become kind of standards but we’re always trying something new.” Listen to the Annie and Rod Capps version of ‘Honey, Sugar, Baby Mine.’

Like Tamulevich, Capps is not sure which of her songs will be on the bill.

“‘Honey, Sugar, Baby’ — the Gang does such a great job on that. I want to make sure I have at least one new song. Other than that, I like to wait and see what everybody else is doing and maybe be spontaneous and think ‘OK this one would fit nicely here.’ We like to bounce off of each other that way. Jan and Jim have a new project; their duets are perfect just the way they are. Kitty’s got so many songs we can sing on. And so do David and Michael. Matt’s got some new songs. We’re just all looking forward to being back together.”

She agreed the Yellow Room Gang’s workshops are invaluable, though not all of her songs go through the collective process.

“The idea of the Yellow Room Gang is not to go seeking approval, but to seek assistance with something you are struggling with. In most of the cases … I struggled painfully on my own for a while. (The songs) didn’t even have a chance to get to the Yellow Room Gang.”

She said being a part of the group has made her think differently about songwriting.

“In some ways, it’s like they’re all in my head when I’m critiquing myself, when I’m editing. … I’ve become a much more critical editor of my own songs in the process and I think that’s made them better, but it’s also made me less likely to finish a song real fast. Some of the older songs might have come spilling out and I said ‘That’s good, that’s done.’ Now, when I look back, I think I wish I’d had the gang around to critique that one.”

PREVIEW The Yellow Room Gang Who: David Barrett, Jim Bizer, Annie Capps, Kitty Donohoe, Jan Krist, Michael Hough, David Tamulevich and Matt Watroba. What: Original tunes in the folk-acoustic vein, many of which grow out of the members’ Ann Arbor-based monthly musical brainstorming and critique sessions. Where: The Ark, 316 South Main Street, Ann Arbor. When: 8 p.m. Saturday, January 16. How much: $15 Info: The Ark web site, Yellow Room Gang web site or 734-761-1451.

Roger LeLievre is a freelance writer who covers music for AnnArbor.com.