Neighbors, visitors, salesmen, milkmen, postal workers, children and adults in decades past shared the large and small elements of their lives with one another in a common venue — the front porch.

Being of an age to remember those long-ago gatherings among the rocking chairs, family dogs and glasses of lemonade, Ken Nogan, of Jefferson Township, decided to write a song about the camaraderie, joys and heartbreaks that occurred on those porches.

Nogan, a musician and songwriter, submitted the song, “Room Without Walls,” to the Pittsburgh chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association International when the chapter asked members to submit a song for the association’s international songwriting competition.

Members of the Pittsburgh chapter voted on their favorite song among those submitted, and “Room Without Walls” received the most votes.

“It’s nice when your family says “I like that song,” but when other songwriters say ‘We’ll pick that song to represent us,’ it’s different,” Nogan said. “It was a very positive experience.”

In writing “Room Without Walls,” Nogan hearkened back to his childhood in a neighborhood in the shadow of Kennywood Park.

He said the front porch was the place where connections were made and challenges shared, or where folks just enjoyed one another’s company.

“All of us kids hung out there,” Nogan said. “The adults in the neighborhood would come and go and everyone would visit.

“It was the room outside the home, if you will.”

Nogan wanted to capture that feeling of togetherness that permeated front porches of yore, whether friends or strangers stopped for a visit.

“Today, we don’t really have that opportunity to gather,” he said. “Since I do have grandchildren, I wanted to remind myself and my family that when we were gathering with our grandchildren, they were listening.”

Nogan hopes the song reminds those of a certain age of the cozy feeling among those gathered to visit on a front porch in years gone by.

“It was an easy place for people to hang out and stay for a while,” he said.

“Room Without Walls” tells the tale of Nogan stopping on a woman’s front porch on the way home from school “to learn what Mamie knew.”

The porch, the song explains, served as a window to the thoughts and feelings of Mamie and those who stopped there, both young and old.

He sent the song to the Nashville headquarters of the songwriters association, as did the winners of the 149 other chapters in the association.

“Everyone in the songwriting community knows you’re never done learning, so this was a great opportunity for me,” Nogan said.

While “Room Without Walls” did not make the top 10 in the international competition, it did garner him an opportunity to play it on a front porch during the 14th annual Westhaven Porchfest in September in Westhaven, Tenn., Nogan said.

He said 30 homeowners in Westhaven offer up their front porches during the festival for music or activities.

Nogan will play “Room Without Walls” on one of those porches. The festival also includes smaller concerts in various parks in Westhaven, plus a large concert on Sept. 21.

Nogan had no musical training as a child during what he describes as an impoverished childhood in Pittsburgh.

When he got to high school, he wanted to join a band, like every other boy in the mid 1970s.

“I got into a band, and they had every instrument covered, but they didn’t have anyone to sing,” Nogan said.

Unlike most high school bands, his high school band, “Ascension,” played all original songs and not covers of popular rock hits of the time.

“They told me to write lyrics and I didn’t think twice about it,” Nogan said.

He said the guitar player wrote the music and Nogan wrote lyrics, but he learned to play guitar during his time in the band, which was from 1976 to 1978.

“I had one of the guys teach me how to play,” Nogan said.

When high school ended, he packed up his six-string acoustic guitar and headed to Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he continued to write songs in between studying and taking tests.

The first song Nogan wrote was “I Used to Live in a Hole in Homeville,” which detailed the rundown building his family inhabited in Pittsburgh as he was growing up.

After earning his degree in safety sciences, Nogan continued to write songs as he worked in the safety profession for an insurance company.

When he married his wife, Jody, in 1981, Nogan sang the original song “I Do” at the couple’s wedding.

Nogan writes about a song a month these days, and produces videos for about half those songs at Castle Music Academy, a studio in Bellevue.

He wrote “New York to Nashville” as an homage to the freedom and opportunities enjoyed in the U.S., as anyone can fly to New York City, then to Nashville, in the same day, if they so choose.

“It’s a feel-good song about our country,” Nogan said.

He also wrote “Summertime in Vermont” about his son and daughter-in-law’s wedding.

“It was a gift to them for their wedding, and it is still the most played on my streaming sites to this day,” Nogan said.

Mark Sciaruto, owner of Castle Music Academy, appreciates Nogan’s songwriting ability, and is not surprised “Room Without Walls” was selected for the songwriting competition.

“That song is incredibly immersive,” Sciaruto said. “When you listen to it, the way he describes the scene, right down to the ridges on the glass, you can’t think of anything else but being on the porch.

“It’s a nostalgic, comforting song. It just makes you feel safe.”

He said in addition to being an introspective and observant songwriter, Nogan is one of his favorite clients.

“Every time he comes to the studio, he brings me a sandwich from Sheetz,” Sciaruto said. “He’s a dream client.”

Nogan has recorded two albums, and has six or seven singles, all available on the top streaming sites.

His videos are available for viewing on youtube.com.