07/25/2026
It's been nearly a month since Eastport a Rockin' 2026, and we’re still marveling at the stunning talent and supportive community spirit of the 40 bands who graced our stages this year.
One thing we appreciate most about our once-a-year festival:
These bands all work so hard to promote their original music, resulting in very busy schedules spread out over many venues, and while the support they show each other is a heartwarming part of our scene, they rarely get to see each other play, SO.....
When you bring 40 of these bands together all on one day, it's truly awesome that they all get to support each other in person AND sit in with each other!
We try to work the schedules of all 4 stages to best facilitate this prime collaboration, which makes it quite a puzzle, but it's SO very worthwhile when it works out!
Madisun Bailey & Michael McHenry Tribe playing back to back let them sit in with each other – Madisun had all kinds of cool musicianship going on during her set, and everyone wants to have Michael Mchenry sit in with them, so sharing a stage with that legend is always a bonus!
Troll Tribe and Kavoossi shared drummer Jay, kicking the Safe Harbor Second Street Stage off right.
It's *always* a good time when Sweet Leda & The Grilled Lincolns play back to back and have a chance to sit in with each other... and of course if you're lucky enough to have Larry Byrne playing keys with you, you're probably gonna have to share him with another band, so GLinx shared him with the Michael McHenry Tribe.
Topping everyone for band collaboration is always Andy Hall, AKA Slop (Spittin' Lyrics On Point), who sits in with as many bands as humanly possible across all of the stages.
I can't remember how many times Andy checked in with me re schedule updates so that he could best plan out his busy Eastport a Rockin' day. 😁
It worked out fantastically.
Victoria Renee Grier of Big Thicket crossed over from the Lawn Stage to the SailTime/Priddy Music Stage to play with Viands & Co., and Chase Segree and DOMN shared musicians with each other and several of the Priddy Music Academy bands.
This is just to name a few of the many fantastic musical collaborations featured at EPR this year.
And the support between bands goes beyond that. Love to see musicians shouting each other out, like Skribe letting us know that there wasn't actually a boat on the Lawn Stage until Luke Borchelt stepped up for his 3:50 set, when suddenly the stage turned into a boat, as that’s the kind of Chesapeake Bay cred that Luke Borchelt exudes🥹.
We were *super* excited this year to see the Kelly Bell Band performing as an 11-piece with their new tremendous horn section!! But alas! Mother Nature had other ideas as the strongest downpour combined with some flooding on Second Street right at 6:30 to make it impossible for the KBB to play. We felt *so* bad that all 11 of those world class musicians (plus crew) volunteered their time to come out here in the ginormous KBB van and weren't able to play (except for keyboard players Jon Paul Maurer and Kirk Myers who got to play with Pretty War & Sweet Leda).
But after the rain had cleared (sort of), it was super-sweet to see Kelly Bell standing in front of the Lawn Stage with a big ol' ice cream cone and a grin on his face enjoying the heck out of Skribe's set!
And yes... there was rain. The biggest difficulty of the day... but in the end, better than 100-degree weather, if you ask me. Still not ideal for an amplified live music event though, leading to some cuts and delays. All of the musicians (and sound techs!) were wonderfully flexible and accommodating through the delays, and we’re immensely grateful!! Animal Farm and Rickshaw Lizard, you guys are the best: thanks for working with us through delays!! MIGGS and Shelby Morgan, thank you so much for your flexibility in switching set times:
I was sad to have to switch things up so that the Ryan Keith Band and MIGGS were no longer back-to-back, but touched to see how much they enjoyed and supported each others sets, along with the supportive crowd.
Speaking of MIGGS and Animal Farm, we’re super-excited to welcome some new bands to the Eastport a Rockin' family this year!! We were thrilled to finally include ilyAIMY as they enchanted the crowd on our Horn Point Harbor Marina Stage. It was our absolute honor to welcome reggae legends Jah Works to close out our Second Street Stage in spectacular fashion. We were so happy to introduce folk powerhouse Lynn Hollyfield to our Lawn Stage... she's making moves in Annapolis, y'all: Lynn will also be making her debut at the Annapolis Songwriters Festival this September! Where she'll join John Haywood, who also graced our Lawn Stage for the first time this year. We've been lucky enough to have Jon Paul Maurer play our festival with the Kelly Bell Band several times, but so glad to include Jon's Pretty War band as well, to bring their Americana vibes to Second Street.
Very happy to include Shane McNulty (DJ Spice) all day on the Marina Stage this year! And Dj Folly--the reason we have DJs at EPR-- back with his world-class performance all day on Second Street.
Of course, we love most of all to welcome back veteran Eastport a Rockin' bands year after year. It's always lovely to have Sophia Hardesty bring her impressive Naptown Sings and Plays to our festival. Great to have Tim Kurtzberg back: talk about being flexible and helpful through delays: thanks Tim for being immediately ready to jump right in to your cool originals and help get our schedule back on track!
We're always so lucky to have Dean Rosenthal bring his Racket of whichever many pieces😁! The Priddy family has been such huge supporters of Eastport a Rockin' over the years, in every imaginable way!! Thanks Lee Priddy for bringing Priddy Music Academy Bands Mando Bando, Disclocated, The Undecided, Defcon, Q-Funk, Dagger, and the Premier Band, then rushing over to our Marina Stage to join our beloved Mac Priddy & Andrew Priddy as Honey Sol! It's been fantastic to have Leo & Cygnus back on the Lawn Stage: thanks for performing beautifully despite the rain! And our dear Eastport Oyster Boys carry on the ultimate tradition: the only band to have played all 29 times at Eastport a Rockin'!
This year MR VCR rocked out at the Marina Stage before handing it over to All You Need, who created more 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 than any torrential downpour could possibly quench!!
And ok, I've got to give those All You Need boys credit due: as you may know, we have a strict 8pm hard-cut for music at EPR. AYN timed out their last song to end at *exactly* 8pm, to a roaring crowd. What a finish!!
In recalling all these details from the day, we also want to emphasize how out-of-this-world incredible each and every set was:
**WORLD*CLASS*MUSIC**!!
We have boundless appreciation for the hundred-and-some musicians who volunteer their time and talent to give back to our musical community -- that's what Eastport a Rockin’ is all about.
Big thanks also to the talented photographers who came out to help commemorate the festival -- special thanks to to Ed Payne/ Neon Nobodies and Steve Satzberg/ Big.Red.Steve
Let's all go out and support these amazing bands we are lucky enough to know for the rest of the summer and in years ahead!!
Dear Eastport a Rockin’ bands: please post here about your upcoming events, and we’ll be glad to share ‘em! 🙏
