On a recent Saturday afternoon, Ann Maxwell gathers with neighbors and friends outside her Takoma Park home to watch something that’s become a bit of a rarity these days: a live concert.

“Someone just said, ‘It’s like Wolf Trap Lite,’” Maxwell says from her lawn, where she and about a dozen spectators are perched on folding chairs or lie in the thick grass as a jazz combo plays on her patio.

Maxwell, along with her husband and neighbor, are co-hosting a YardWork show, a series of private concerts that repurpose D.C.-area lawns and patios as amphitheaters.

“We just feel an obligation to use this space for community, especially with the COVID pandemic going on and there’s not that many opportunities to get together,” says Maxwell, who has helped host a few prior shows. “This really serves that purpose, as well as helping the musicians.”

YardWork is the creation of Michael Philips, a retired blues guitarist who serves as music director for Takoma Park’s WOWD 94.3 FM, which sponsors the shows, and jazz booker for Takoma Station. As COVID restrictions set in across the region last year for both public performances and outdoor gatherings, Philips looked to Baltimore’s Sidewalk Serenades and other models for ways to offer local musicians a viable and safe performance space.

Music fans pay a fee to host a concert outdoors (most of the money goes to the musicians, and Philips collects a fee, he says), and are welcome to invite friends and neighbors to attend and socially distance. Participating YardWork artists play 3-5 one-hour sets over the course of a day, a micro tour that gives them ample opportunity to perform and get paid, while keeping costs down for hosts. Since the summer of 2020, YardWork has presented more than 60 shows across the region from about a dozen artists.

“Being a jazz musician is pretty tough in normal times,” Philips tells the socially distanced crowd at that afternoon show. “And even when things get back to normal, a lot of the jazz clubs have closed for good.”

Musicians throughout the D.C. area have struggled to find performance outlets during the pandemic, with many venues temporarily — and in some cases permanently — shut down. Particularly hard-hit are jazz stages in the District, which has lost some celebrated names in the past year.

“It’s been a challenge. Some months are better than others,”says Baltimore saxophonist and music educator Lionel Lyles, whose Takoma Park performance marks his fourth YardWork date.

For the patrons dotting the lawn, who Philips encourages to tip generously, the gathering offers several benefits, in addition to getting some fresh air after a cooped-up winter.

“We all miss live music,” says Susan Baker, a neighbor who found some shade beneath a large tree. “The musicians need our support, and I think it’s really important that we do this. And it’s a great part of our community.”

Another attendee calls the concert “a taste of normalcy.”

And while house shows are nothing new, with various iterations in pandemic times, the format is particularly well-suited to an era when live music may remain scarce for months to come.

“This is one of the things that maybe should stay in place after COVID,” says YardWork co-host and jazz musician Dan Mullaney.

Shows are booked through mid-June and may continue through the fall, weather permitting. Philips is also looking to expand genre-wise to include Americana, bluegrass, and classical music. And even when restrictions and mask requirements lift, he’d like to keep the concerts going.

“It’s been nearly unanimous that people think it will work,” he says in a recent Zoom interview. But he’s concerned that tipping may decline in a post-COVID world. “People have been missing live music, and so they’re just so overjoyed and want to reward musicians. … And that’s going to wear off after COVID.”

Lyles was well-versed in outdoor gigs prior to the pandemic and says musicians should be “maximizing” their performance output now, from al fresco concerts to livestreams. But he says nothing quite compares to a screen-free show.

As the quartet nears the end of an uptempo set, a few bees and butterflies alight on a collection of daffodils nearby, a reminder of the spring.

“The best thing about playing live for me is not even financially; it’s just the connection to the people,” Lyles says. “Even if there’s only one person out here, being able to get energy from that one person, it makes what we do so much easier.”

Find more info on show dates and how to host or co-host a performance here.