OWINGS, Md. — The Hollar Entertainment hosts the first-ever Route 4 Music Festival, which starts at 1 p.m. in the Listening Room at Friday’s Creek Winery in Owings, Maryland.
“Want a unique experience? Come to the Route 4 Music Festival,” Donna Sue Roberts said. “We have food trucks, oysters, and a day of amazing music.”
She said the local musicians will only be performing originals which is unlike the covers locals may see them regularly performing in popular bars and eateries.
“Southern Marylanders will love that there are so many different genres and styles of music to be seen at the Route 4 Festival,” musician Michael Ferro said. “Young and Old will enjoy this festival. It’s well planned and well thought out!”
Ferro said the food, drink, and an outside jam area for musicians while stage changes are being made is quite the production.
He said The Hollar Entertainment owner Donna Sue Roberts has been very supportive of his and other local artists’ music and has even turned me on to other musicians in her stable that I will be joining on stage at the festival.
“The folks in M.D. have been very accepting of me and my music. They have a great appreciation for good music,” Ferro said. “I’m very excited to be a part of it and flattered that Hollar Entertainment has asked me to be involved.”
Roberts said she respects and enjoys the grit of the real writers who write and live their songs — in this setting. She says the writers she brings to her stage look back to paint a picture with storytelling as to why they write their songs.
“Pre Covid I had about 20 listening sessions at Fridays Creek. I turned them upstairs into a Nashville-style listening room with an added stage, lights, sound, and ambiance,” she said. “Most songwriters I’ve brought may have some accolades, but my guests had never heard of them. Guests have taken a chance and fallen in love with the artists.”
MJ Brickey-Godfrey said she has seen legends play at The Hollar Entertainment’s Listening Room at Friday’s Creek Winery, such as the late Donna Summer’s singer-songwriter husband Bruce Sudano and legendary a Grammy award-winning producer, engineer, and performer, Larry Mitchell.
“The Listening Room at Friday’s Creek Winery has been a well-kept secret in Southern Maryland until now,” MJ Brickey-Godfrey said. “T.H.E. (The Hollar Entertainment) is extending a huge opportunity to Southern Marylanders by offering such a unique and intimate music experience.”
Godfrey is an E.D.M. and Americana singer-songwriter who recently had a global release, “No Rights To Breathe,” with Afghan youth Ahmad Forest who was left to fend for himself in Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrew in April 2021.
“I have always appreciated and respected songwriters. The way they can craft words together and pull up emotions. How we feel, think, and relate to each other,” Donna Sue Roberts said. “Typically, I bring in writers from all over the world. Southern Maryland is full of musicians, so I wanted to showcase them in the listening room, where a small group of people sit and truly listen.”
The Moran Tripp Band, a popular local band, chimed in about being a part of the festival.
“We mostly play around Annapolis, DC, and Baltimore, but we love playing in SoMD because we love the people,” Ryan Moran of The Moran Tripp Band said. The band is from Edgewater. “The folks coming to our shows in SoMD are family, and we wouldn’t do it without them.”
He said the Route 4 fest will be the party of the year!
“We’re bringing out all the stops to make it the most happening fall event.”
Roberts plans to hold the festival for many years to come.
“My audience members are true music lovers. They watch every move the musicians make and are passionate about the experience,” Roberts said. “Route 4 music festival is something that I see growing from this year’s 100 guests to thousands. It’s the perfect location for a singer-songwriter music festival from Dunkirk to Solomons.”
Tickets can be held as “will call” at the door by emailing TheHollarEntertainment@gmail.com or at Event Bright.