Boston's Musicians Are Finding Creative Ways To Support Their Community During The Coronavirus Crisis

The Dropkick Murphys At House Of Blues Boston — Fans went wild when the band played their Irish-themed punk anthems, reminding us that at the heart of tradition is a meaningful experience, and there are few things more beloved to Boston than when the Dropkick’s return for the annual shows.

Senior Digital Producer, Equity and Justice unit. Feedback? Questions? Story ideas? Reach out to Meghan at meghan_smith@wgbh.org.

April 16, 2020

Updated August 09, 2023

With tours canceled and venues closed due to the coronavirus crisis, there's no doubt that it's a difficult time for the music industry. But that hasn't stopped local musicians from finding ways to come together and show their support. Here are some of the ways Boston's creative community has been responding:

It's not St. Patrick's Day in Boston without the Dropkick Murphys' annual run of sold-out shows at the House of Blues. This year, the show did go on, in a special way. They were "streaming up from Boston" with their live performance, keeping the party and tradition alive for more than one and a half million people.

Province 44, Boston's home for underground house and techno music, launched its Isolation Sessions, presenting a live musical performance every day at 1pm EST. The artists are going live from places all over the world like Madrid, Marrakech, São Paulo, and rooftops in Boston. The sessions encourage donations to be made to the World Health Organization, as well as the artist's chosen charity, like AHMED's choice of Amis des Écoles, providing food to Moroccan families.

The Boston Music Awards and Redefined recently launched #thisis617, a $10,000 artist fund that provides financial aid, plus complimentary studio time, and event opportunities for local artists who have been impacted by COVID-19.

Local singer-songwriter Will Dailey launched his Isolation Tour and is live streaming performances from his home. The goal is to raise money for local music venues that have had to cancel shows, including Great Scott in Allston, The Burren in Somerville, and Club Passim in Cambridge. To date, Dailey has raised $18,000 for venue workers who have lost their jobs.

SLUDGE has taken the Allston basement/living room concert scene online for a series of live streams to benefit local relief funds. On March 29, Night Moth and Noble Beast went live on a private YouTube stream and raised money for the Boston Center for the Arts Relief Fund. On April 19, Edge Petal Burn and The Water Cycle will play on Instagram to benefit the Brigham And Women's Hospital disease respond fund.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra can't host in-person concerts, but they've collaborated with 99.5 WCRB Classical Radio to broadcast virtual performances every evening at 8pm. Some of the performances coming from Symphony Hall this week include Gerstein Premiere's Adès's Piano Concerto and A Brahms Masterpiece, with Vadim Gluzman.

Buffalo Tom frontman Bill Janovitz has been hosting weekly virtual happy hours, mixing cocktails and singing tunes from his basement while raising funds for local music venues and healthcare organizations. To date, he's raised money for Partners in Health, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, and SweetRelief.org, which supports musicians and music industry workers.

Allston Pudding teamed up with local record label Disposable America to live stream a concert on Twitch, featuring local acts like Me in Capris, Lilith, and Horse Jumper of Love.

Club Passim launched the Passim Emergency Artist Relief (PEAR) Fund to help artists that have lost work due to COVID-19. To date, they have raised more than $75,000 to support local musicians. Passim also started the Keep Your Distance virtual music festival to raise awareness, asking artists to make a video of a song about hope or perseverance, and post it while encouraging donations to the PEAR Fund.

Alumni from the Berklee College of Music founded the Stay at Home Festival, and have already hosted two weekend-long virtual gatherings featuring an international lineup of Scottish and Norwegian fiddle music, American old-time, flamenco, bluegrass, and more. The goal is to raise money and morale for musicians that have lost their livelihoods.

Last week, the Berklee Popular Music Institute launched an at-home series that features students performing live on Instagram every Wednesday evening. Without traditional music festivals to gain professional experience, the digital series helps the students develop valuable promotional, management, and event planning skills, as the music industry changes.

Local PR firm Nickerson launched the weekly webinar series Lunch With Lisa to engage with creative people making an impact. One of their first webinars featured local country/R&B artists Louie Bello, and participants were encouraged to donate money to Bello's fund, which supports local musicians and Boston-native artists who are making their way in Nashville.

Red Sox organist Josh Kantor is not letting baseball's cancellation stop him from sharing his music. He's playing live every day from his home and taking song requests from fans while encouraging donations to local food banks.

Classical group A Far Cry created a concert series on Facebook to entertain kids with fun classical music. Each concert focuses on a different aspect of classical music, like bass, violin, or viola.

Above The Basement launched #TogetherAtHome, featuring intimate live performances from local artists like Anjimile, Honeysuckle, Oompa, and Ripe.

The band Guster is selling t-shirts with lyrics from their song "Come Downstairs And Say Hello." Portions from the proceeds will go to Direct Relief, which is supplying American healthcare organizations with needed equipment.

Youth development center ZUMIX launched Sing a Song Send a Song campaign. It encourages people to dedicate a song to someone they're missing right now, record themselves singing the song, and challenge more people to do the same. So far, the challenge has raised over $3,000 to support the East Boston-based nonprofit.

Every weekday at 10am, guitarist Matt Heaton is live streaming performances for kids, which he usually does around town at playgroups, schools, and libraries. He takes song requests in the chat, and takes breaks from music for storytime, on his Facebook page.

Manifest Boston started a series to live stream workshops from creative people in Boston. Last week, Walter Sickert & The Army Of Broken Toys hosted a songwriting workshop. Manifest Boston also created a weekly Spotify playlist: Music To Manifest To to share musical inspiration.