Longtime musician Tony Frochio has noticed a change in the air.

“Everything has opened up now,” said Frochio, also known as Washboard Tony.

“It’s spring. Music is in the air. People are smiling, laughing and dancing again,” he said. “People are coming out again.”

If anyone can take the temperature of the Butler County music scene, it’s Washboard Tony. He plays in a country gospel band, hard-rock outfit Wisecracker and alternative rock band String Machine, and he is recording as a duo called This is That.

He also plays gigs with his son, Nic, as Washboard Tony and Son.

The elder Frochio says he’s playing live music five days a week now.

He said he’s seeing a demand for live music in the wake of nearly two years of the pandemic shutdown.

“They want live music, no phones, no CDs. They want to be in the moment, especially after this. It’s starting to get exciting again,” he said.

Debra Krelow, the owner of the Beacon Hotel, 231 Beacon Road, Renfrew, agrees with Washboard Tony, who often plays the Beacon Hotel’s patio.

“We have DJs every Friday, live bands on Saturday and acoustic music on the patio from 4 to 7 p.m. Sundays,” Krelow said. “When Washboard Tony plays, it’s almost like a jam session. You never know who’s going to show up.”

Krelow said the Beacon Hotel brought live music back, initially on the patio only, last summer. She added bands indoors last fall.

Krelow said classic and current rock are the favorite genres of the hotel’s audiences.

“A lot of the bands reach out to me” for a booking, she said. “A lot of bands have their own following. I try to keep it as local as possible. I’m willing to take a chance on a band.”

Krelow said she knows representatives from rival venues come to the Beacon Hotel shows looking to poach acts for themselves.

The Beacon Hotel also hosted Washboard Tony, who has played a lot of music in a lot of places.

The longtime professional drummer, singer and songwriter has traveled back and forth across the country performing in rock and blues bands since he graduated from Lincoln High School in Elwood City in 1984.

A cancer diagnosis ended his days on the road.

Krelow said Washboard Tony is a big hit with the crowd when he’s playing on the hotel’s patio.

“He’s like a one-man band. He walks through the crowd,” Krelow said.

"People just want to get out,“ she said.

Another Butler County musician who has noticed a reawakening local music scene is Donny Eozzo of Center Township.

“I grew up in the Island (area of Butler). I played guitar and sang in bands around here, ” said Eozzo, a singer/songwriter who moved to Los Angeles in 1982 and played in several rock bands.

“I was in Pleazer, which was hard rock like Mötley Crüe, and I was in a harder band, Dirty Trixx, that got a little radio play,” he said. “But I moved back in 1993 when grunge was hitting, and they were no longer wanting the showy hair bands.”

Today, he said, “I still have the long hair, but I’m twice as wide as I used to be.”

Eozzo hosts open mic nights from 7 to 10 p.m. every other Wednesday at the Lyndora Hotel. He said anybody can show up and sing and play guitar, and that’s anybody on any level.

Meloni Rogerson, the manager of the Lyndora Hotel, said acoustic open mic nights arranged by Eozzo “bring in a nice little crowd” every other Wednesday.

“And I go out to a lot of places to check out my friends,” Eozzo said. “There’s so much awesome talent around here.”

Eozzo added there are a lot of venues that can showcase that talent. He said the Monroe Hotel, the Rock House, Recon Brewery, Missing Links Brewery, the Butler Brew Works, the 11th Frame, Rock Ann Haven, the Crossbow Lounge and Longhorn Corral all host live musicians.

Rogerson said she will start booking bigger bands, five-piece bands in the fall.

She finds the acts herself. “Bands get on Facebook, and I’ll find little clips or the bands will find me,” she said.

Eozzo said most of the venues book singers and bands through word of mouth. “Every place seems to be a little different,” he said. “A lot of places are independent. If you can bring in a crowd and keep a crowd, they’ll have you back.”

Roberson said in her opinion, bands that play classic rock prove to be the most popular.

“Southern rock does really well,” Roberson said. “But people like a variety. If you can play a little bit of everything, that’s a plus.”

And the bars, breweries and Legion posts are getting a little more crowded as the weather begins to warm, according to Eozzo.

Eozzo said he’s playing the Lyndora American Legion in May and he’s been contacted to play Sundays on the Beacon Hotel’s patio.

“People feel a little more relaxed. There’s still COVID out there, but the mask mandates are coming down. A lot more people are comfortable going out,” he said. “It’s nice to see places starting to fill up again.”

“The live music scene is starting to revive. There is no shortage of bands to see on the weekend,” he said.