Specialties
The Mainstay, founded in 1997, is a non-profit live music venue dedicated to presenting a calendar of high quality, year-round live music events in a listening room setting. We are perfectly situated to draw our audience from our neighbors along the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and our growing list of friends inside the circumference around Baltimore, Annapolis, Washington D.C., Wilmington, and Philadelphia. Visit our upcoming concert calendar at mainstayrockhall.org. We are acclaimed as “the home of Musical Magic.”
With live music presentations every week the Mainstay does its best to satisfy the diverse tastes of our loyal audiences with bluegrass, folk music, blues, Boogie Woogie, Gospel, Celtic, soul music, classical music, and world music. The Mainstay is particularly renowned for its reputation for jazz excellence dating back to our earliest concerts with jazz great Charlie Byrd and continuing to the present day with acclaimed jazz figures from all along the Eastern seaboard.
History
Established in 1997.
The Mainstay opened its doors in a 100 year old Rock Hall building on Nov 13, 1997. Outfitted with 120 mismatched chairs, Founding Director Tom McHugh's sound system, a few cast off theatre lights, the building came to life. Now, some 800 plus concerts later, and celebrating 19 years of success, The Mainstay is a fixture on Rock Hall's old time Main Street. Recently transitioning it's first change of leadership, The Mainstay is now led by Director Rory Trainor.
The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is a 501(c)3, nonprofit dedicated to the arts, serving Rock Hall and the surrounding region. We are dedicated to presenting local, regional, national and international talent, at a reasonable price, in an almost perfect acoustic setting. You really can't have a bad seat in this room.
Meet the Manager: Rory T.
Rory Trainor is the Mainstay's Executive Director starting in January of 2016. He took over the position from Founding Director Tom McHugh. Rory comes from Milwaukee where he was the Managing Director of Alverno Presents, the contemporary performing arts series of Alverno College. Rory, originally from Cape Cod, studied theatre at Marquette University and remained in Milwaukee at Alverno until moving to the Eastern Shore to lead The Mainstay forward.