Live music alive and well at Fruitland's Flannery's, thanks to Delmarvalous Americana Live
Billy Earl Amos and his wife, Linda, were in Easton watching a show at the Avalon Theatre. While talking to the couple next to them, they learned that the couple hosted concerts at their home on Kent Island.
Billy had been to house concerts before when he lived in Texas, but they weren’t as common here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
“It dawned on me that one of the reasons this doesn’t work is when an artist is on tour, and let’s say they’re coming from Texas. They’re trying to get as many places to play as close as possible because they’re headed for a New York market,” he said.
But cash flow is important for artists, especially ones not on the A-list. That’s where the house concerts come in. The small intimate venue allows the musicians coming in to perform and interact with the crowd while also leaving with a nice payday they wouldn’t normally get for a weekend.
Billy and Linda decided to join in with groups in Washington, D.C. and Queen Anne’s County to host these up-and-coming artists on tour.
“If they need to get put up for the night, we do that. If they need transportation, we do that. And then we bring them over here,” Amos said.
Here being Flannery’s Bayou and BBQ at 504 S Camden Ave in Fruitland, Maryland.
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Live music and great eats come together at Flannery's in Fruitland
They started hosting shows at Flannery’s back in September of 2023 and they plan to have eight or nine more shows this year.
When they started it took a few months for people to get acclimated to the style of music performance they were putting on at Flannery’s and to know about it.
“If you’re not advertising whether in a Daily Times or something that’s big that people see because we’re just basically Facebooking it and we’re trying to get local musicians to come support it hopefully,” Stewart Davis of Flannery’s said.
“It’s partly eating, and it’s partly being able to hear musicians that haven’t quite made it yet, but have a lot of talent,” Amos said.
The venue is the dining room and space is limited. Reservations are required for a table during the show. They ask that when people come to also order an appetizer or dinner and dessert.
It’s a suggested $25 donation for the artists, with all the proceeds raised going straight to them.
“Sometimes people give $20 or if there’s a whole table that comes together, they’ll pull together a couple hundred or something. We try to support them as well as them supporting us,” Davis said.
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No 'Free Bird' rule, but original music rules the day
Having the shows brings people down to Flannery’s and gets them to eat his Southern style food while hearing an eclectic style of music that haven’t typically heard on the Shore.
“People can see something other than just the cover bands and rock and roll bands, and country bands out there,” Davis said.
When it comes to the music that's played. its original music written by the artists.
“Although people will ask for covers. There’s no 'Free Bird' rule, but we try to discourage it,” Amos said.
Amos said that it can be a bit of a negative for local musicians since they must play covers when they play in Ocean City, stopping them from being able to write their own songs.
“They have the ability, and they have the desire but most of them don’t have the time because they’re constantly trying to get jobs, play the jobs, get new jobs, a little bit of a vicious circle,” he said.
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Delmarvalous Americana Live handles all the logistics
With the house concerts. the artists only have to show up and perform. Delmarvalous Americana Live handles the rest. That's the name of Amos' organization.
“We are the ones that are doing the promoting, so they have a chance to focus on their music and their location of where they’re going to be seen,” Amos said.
Since they joined in with the groups in Queen Anne’s County and Washington D.C. rather than artists needing to search for a gig, they go to each of the three sites, allowing them to pull in $1,500-2,000 for shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“Sometimes there are scheduling conflicts, but everybody’s been really easy to work with,” Amos said.
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Jam sessions can also develop on Delmarvalous Americana nights
It’s not just hosting traveling musicians and hopefully local ones too. On Friday nights Amos performs and welcomes anyone who wants to join him in a jam session.
Most recently a man from Crisfield was picking up an order and decided to pick up one of Amos' extra guitars and start playing for a while.
“Not a bad player at all, he can hit a lick on a guitar, just came in and sat down,” Amos said.
“All of us here have friends in the local music community and we’d like to have more of them here, especially for the jams,” he said.
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'Listening room etiquette' enforced once the shows start
When an artist is scheduled to come in to perform it’s typically from 6-9 p.m. with the first hour for people to have supper served by Flannery’s. From 7-9 p.m. the main show starts, and they ask for listening room etiquette to be followed during that time.
What is listening room etiquette? If you have to speak you whisper, and you abbreviate it the best you can.
“We put it out in the emails. It says talk all you want; make all the noise you want. We don’t give a damn but from seven to nine is listening room etiquette,” Amos said.
“It was a little difficult at first because people just weren’t used to it, but they’ve definitely fallen in line now. They’re quiet and they’re listening. These artists are worth listening to.”
Talented duo taking to stage this weekend at Flannery's
Artist’s worth listening to will be coming to Flannery’s on April 6 from 6-9 p.m. Angela Easterling and her partner Brandon Turner will be performing.
“Because of scheduling problems, she played about three or four months ago at the Kent Island house concert. But she couldn’t play here, she had other obligations,” Amos said.
She is doing another tour so she’s making her way over to Fruitland this time.
Her sixth album, “Witness,” was released in 2022. It was chosen by American Songwriter Magazine as a Top 24 Album of the Year and chosen as No. 6 in the Favorite Albums of the Year Reader’s Poll on Americana Highways.
Her fifth album, “Common Law Wife”, went all the way to No. 1 on the Roots Music Report Americana Country Airplay Chart, and remained in the top 5 on that chart for nearly two months, closing the year out as No. 12 on the top 100 albums.
She’s a four-Time Kerrville New Folk Finalist, Telluride Bluegrass Festival Troubadour Top 10 Finalist and Two-Time Wildflower Performing Songwriter Top 10 Finalist.
If you would like to check out her music, you can visit her website at www.angelaeasterling.com or her YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@angelaeasterlingmusic.
How to find show schedule, reserve a seat for shows
To stay up to date on upcoming shows you visit the Delmarvalous Americana Live website at delmarvalousamericanalive.com.
To reserve a table at Flannery’s for any show you can send an email to delmarvalousamericanalive@gmail.com or call Billy Earl at (469)-855-7680.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Live music on Flannery's menu, courtesy of Delmarvalous Americana Live
