One Sunday a month, people from all walks of life gather at a charming 1920s bungalow in Highland Park, towing coolers, chairs, blankets, and an open mind. Melodies from local musicians fill the air: stringed instruments, rap, bluegrass, hip hop, and rock alike. A diverse, multigenerational audience mingles, sipping favorite beverages while kids play freely around the unofficially blocked-off street. The music venue is warm, welcoming, and intimate, as it is the personal home of retired engineer and musician DeAnna Fields.
Welcome to a home concert, a growing movement and immersive experience bringing music back to its roots.
DeAnna’s longtime dream of hosting home concerts was the catalyst for purchasing her Lakeview Crescent home in 2017. “Music is my life. I wanted to expand that, bring people together, and give back to the community. To make that happen, I needed the right space.” She recalls the downtown city view, open floor plan, and perfect front porch as selling points.
DeAnna remembers seeing “Max Stern” tiled in the concrete in front of her house and thought, what a strong name. One day, while having lunch on her porch, a man stopped, got out of his SUV and introduced himself as Max Stern. DeAnna invited him and his wife in and listened as he shared stories from growing up in the house. His grandfather, also Max Stern, immigrated to the US and built the house in 1924. To the Stern family, the house felt like a true American Dream. DeAnna shared with Max her own dream of opening the home to the community for concerts and asked permission to use his grandfather's name. With his blessing, the Max Stern Lounge was born.
The vision became reality when DeAnna jumped at the chance to host after learning friend and fellow musician Rebecca Egeland was looking for a space to play a show. Envisioning a three-act show, Rebecca secured two additional bands, and with that, together, they hosted and produced the first Max Stern Lounge in March 2019.
They described that first show as a magical, immersive experience that drew the community together. Rebecca, who has now been the Show Curator for five years, describes home concerts as having a listening room vibe. “It gives local artists a platform. It allows the audience a chance to experience new sounds and genres,” she says. Without the fanfare that comes with large music productions, artists can be heard and create a shared journey with the audience. Neighbor and Max Stern regular Eve Parker echoed that sentiment, “It’s a different way to listen to music. You get to see the music being made and have direct, intimate interaction with artists and their creative process. I think musicians appreciate being heard.”
As Max Stern built momentum, Crawford and Christy Miller were knee-deep in renovations on their recently purchased historic home just off Highland Avenue. With a passion for the arts and local community, the Millers knew they wanted their home to be a gathering place, and it would take some serious work to make that happen. The house, built by Emmett O’Neal in the early 1900s, had seen many iterations and renovations, including functioning as an apartment complex. Christy shared, “We wanted to bring the house back to its original state and give it life – life to me means community. We wanted to fill the house with energy.”
Christy had experience offering home concerts when she lived in Atlanta, but much like DeAnna, meeting Rebecca [at a Max Stern Lounge show] brought the vision to life. The Millers hired Rebecca as Show Curator and launched Hotbox on Highland on a Thursday evening in April 2022.
Rebecca’s role as Show Curator includes every aspect of production, from marketing to sound and talent booking. She teamed up with local sound engineers Drew Romanowski (2019) and Barry Sykes (2021) to run sound for both shows and deepen the listening experience. Rebecca focuses on featuring local talent. “There are so many pockets of music communities within the city, which is really cool–I want to feature that,” she says. While Hotbox and Max Stern are curated by Rebecca and follow a similar three-artist structure, each has a unique footprint. The Millers describe Hotbox as the “emergence of community, art, and music. We’re creating an experience that puts people in a space to be receptive - opens up their world. Their spectrum.” The Millers plan to expand Hotbox in 2024 by inviting local food trucks and visual artists to display and sell their work at each show.
You might think having two home concert venues just blocks from each other would create competition, but it’s quite the opposite. Hosting and producing a home concert is not a business; it's clearly a labor of love, with door cover charges (around $10) going directly to the artists. For Rebecca, DeAnna, and the Millers, the intention is to offer novel experiences by opening and sharing the souls of their homes. One gets the impression these hosts would welcome you with open arms if you felt called to host your own concert!
If you find yourself intrigued by the idea and want to experience a home concert yourself, you can find upcoming events on Max Stern Lounge and Hotbox on Highland’s Instagram pages. We’ve also curated a shortlist of similar experiences around Birmingham.
Max Stern Lounge @maxsternlounge
Hotbox on Highland @hotboxonhighland
Patterson Loft Concert Series
The Hatch
The Shed Series
“We wanted to bring the house back to its original state and give it life – life to me means community. We wanted to fill the house with energy.”
They described that first show as a magical, immersive experience that drew the community together.
“We wanted to bring the house back to its original state and give it life."
