Frederick can be a city of contradictions. The Weinberg Center regularly attracts national artists, but there is no dedicated music venue where local music artists can perform. But this hasn’t stopped members of The Plate Scrapers, Time Columns, and SoulXChange from seeing opportunity and growth. 72 Hours asked Brett Kretzer of The Plate Scrapers, Kenny Eaton and Jordan Miller of Time Columns, and Neil Durr of SoulXChange how they feel about Frederick’s music scene.
“I would definitely say Frederick is a music town. I’ve played at probably 10 to 15 different venues in Frederick, met a lot of my musician buddies there, and have seen my heroes play there. New venues are popping up with owners that are passionate about music and the Weinberg is being used diversely. At least in the bluegrass/jam band scene, Frederick is definitely on the map as a must-play town.” — Brett Kretzer of The Plate Scrapers
“Frederick is definitely a music town! I’ve been playing in bands in Frederick since the early 2000s and it’s always been full of supportive, self-motivated musicians. I would say that the infrastructure of Frederick’s music community (venues, businesses that support live music, concert series, etc.) has improved pretty dramatically over the last five years especially. I think a lot of that has to do with people in positions of power at places like the Weinberg and the Frederick News-Post branching out, taking a risk and emboldening our music community through events like this showcase, compilation albums and video series like ‘Frederick One Take.’ I’m proud to call Frederick my hometown.” — Kenny Eaton of Time Columns
“Frederick is an art town and I would absolutely include music with that. I know plenty of people from elsewhere who spend a little time here and meet the people and immediately recognize the immense amount of creative talent cooking here. I’ve been playing music around here since 2004 and there have always been interesting bands and people making great stuff. Some of the people I grew up playing with or hanging out with have gone on to do huge things and a lot of that is thanks to the platform and desire for original content here in Frederick. The scene has changed forms drastically since then, with the loss of most all-ages venues and events like Music for Unit and FredRock, but it’s still very much alive. For a town that is nowhere close to the size of D.C. or Baltimore, I feel like we produce a ton of great music.” — Jordan Miller of Time Columns
“The kind of guy that I am, I look at the facts. The cut and dry facts. Having been here for so long, every Friday and Saturday, it is guaranteed that, just on Market Street alone, you’re going to have seven to 10 bands playing. Throughout the week, one point in time, as recent as last November, you had four or five open mics going on all on different nights throughout the week. So to me, the proof’s in the pudding. It’s as simple as that. It’s definitely a music town.” — Neil Durr of SoulXChange
