Dewey Beach Music Conference set Sept. 24-26

Vikki Walls, the creative force behind the Dewey Beach Music Conference, said she has one piece of advice for the few dozen bands attending this year’s event.

If a band is smart, she said during a Sept. 11 interview, they’ll attend a every educational panel possible, memorize faces and names, and network.

“Band networking is massive,” she said, explaining that networking in this conference can lead to opportunities.

Walls spent more than a decade as a booking agent and then as a band manager in Pennsylvania before settling into her role within the Highway One company. She books acts for the company’s Dewey venues, runs the Dewey Beach Popfest in the spring and played a key role in the country music festival Delaware Junction in August.

Walls said she knew she always wanted to be in the music industry.

“I didn’t want to manage, but I wanted to help,” she said.

Fourteen years in, the music talent attending the Sept. 24 – 26 conference is as strong as it’s ever been. Walls said the first few years, a lot of the talent came from the Pennsylvania area because that was what she was familiar with.

“I hadn’t been introduced to the area yet,” she said, laughing as she thought back to the early days. “The talent has gotten better.”

There are still bands from Pennsylvania, but now acts from states up and down the East Coast are represented, including South Carolina, New York, Maryland, Washington D.C., Delaware, Massachusetts, Tennessee and New Jersey.

“If they’re doing this conference, they’re serious,” said Walls.

There will be some nationally-recognizable acts at the conference including Baltimore-based Ballyhoo, North Carolina-based Rainey Qualley, Kentucky-based Sundy Best, South Carolina-based Noah Guthrie and Alabama-based Aaron Parker.

Rehoboth's Lower Case Blues and Lewes' Sara Ann Garrison are taking part in the conference and performing Saturday, Sept. 26. Lower Case Blues performs at the Bottle & Cork at 11 p.m. Garrison will be performing twice; first, at the Rusty Rudder at 3:30 p.m.; second, at Jimmy's Grille at 9 p.m.

Walls said one of the things that sets the Dewey conference apart is the food. These bands are schlepping from venue to venue, she said, and aren’t making a lot of money.

“Bands are poor, and we make sure they get at least one good meal a day,” she said. “The musicians are treated like VIPs here.”

Walls credits Michael Baunach, conference art liaison, with making the event possible.

There’s a lot of work organizing an event like this, said Walls – getting the acts, industry professionals for the panels, and trade show participants.

“Without Michael, this thing would not be happening,” she said.

Walls said the town of Dewey attracts acts because it is a great place for the visiting musicians. She said all the venues are within walking distance of each other, and the town’s businesses do a great job of catering to the musically-inclined crowd.

“Dewey is such a beautiful town,” she said.

Music performances are free and open to the public. For more information on the conference, including a full list of musicians and performance schedules, go to deweybeachfest.com/dbmc.