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Music to Save the Bay

The Annapolis Maritime Museum founded the Chesapeake Music Institute (CMI) in 2004 to gather, preserve and present music about the Bay to encourage stewardship of the Bay. “After all, any place worth singing about is a place worth preserving,” notes Museum Director Jeff Holland. This program constitutes a major portion of the Museum’s outreach efforts.

The CMI’s mission is to research and document traditional songs about the Bay as well as to encourage contemporary musical artists to create a whole new body of work inspired by the Bay. CMI has produced a CD album entitled Thomas Point Light: a compendium of music inspired by the Chesapeake Bay and the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. More than 1,000 copies have been sold. The album comprises songs that have appeared on individual artists’ CDs (each artist donated the use of the recordings) as well as original pieces, including the three-part Thomas Point Suite, composed by Randy Neilson. The artists featured on the album have performed at the Museum’s summer concert series.

CMI's initial project is a CD retrospective of existing recordings titled, Thomas Point Light, and features artists like Tom Wisner, Bob Zentz, Janie Meneely, Them Eastport Oyster Boys, Caryl P. Weiss, Joe Thompson, Steve Keith, Tom McHugh and the Chesapeake Scenes. The many singer/songwriters involved with the project donated the use of their original tracks on the album.

Proceeds will be used for future concerts, workshops, research and promoting artists like these dedicated to celebrating the Chesapeake Bay in music and song. To order a CD, go the the CD Baby website and order online. You can even listen before you place your order!