The last time they played in front of a large crowd, Southern Fryed never imagined it would be almost six weeks ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic and government shutdown of bars and other performance venues.
However, this shutdown has not stopped the band from performing live. In fact, they've found a great way to reach their fans and help out several local restaurants along the way.
"With the corona virus pandemic causing cancellations of our shows we had to come up with a way to still get our music to our fans, so we decided to live stream our shows. But we wanted this to be two fold," said Russ Brown, Lead Singer and founding member of Southern Fryed. "Not only were we wanting to provide live music to our fans but we also wanted to support local businesses as they’ve been hit by this crisis. So we decided to do our live streams from different local businesses to help promote them and their services during this tough time."
Live streaming of performances has been around for several years, but with the recent pandemic, these types of performances have seen an increase across the music industry.
Southern Fryed has now live streamed three performances around Cheyenne: The Outlaw Saloon on March 27th, The Office Bar and Grill on April 4th, and the Dog Haus on April 15th.
"The response we’ve received from fans and viewers has been tremendous, added Brown. "The fans have been really enjoying the shows and the interaction we have with them during the shows as we respond to their comments."
Brown also said that the restaurants have seen an increase of food sales during their performances and it has brought some joy to the limited staff working.
Today, Southern Fryed will be live streaming again from Sanfords Grub and Pub at 6:00 p.m.
"Our goal with these live streams is to provide our fans great live entertainment while they’re stuck at home and to promote local businesses to get folks to use their services whether it be delivering or curbside service," said Brown.
The public can watch the Sanford Grub and Pub live performance on the bands Facebook page by clicking here.
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