Under the glow of October's full moon and a dim string of white lights, Jeff "Jefferson" Holland sets up the plot for the next folk song from his seat near the pilot house of buyboat Half Shell. Kevin "Brother Shucker" Brooks plays light banjo for mood.

'Tis the story of vile pirate captain Richard "Dick" Clark, renamed Captain Doubloon for the sake of good storytelling. In verse, Holland's eyes go squinty and his voice turns pirate's snarl as he sings of how a cabin boy saved Annapolis from pillage. And of how sea nettles were born of pirates' blood.

The audience smiles broadly at the yarn, their imaginations stoked. Some of the few kids on board wonder aloud whether pirates still roam about. Holland smiles through his thick beard.

This lyrical tale of Dick Clark the pirate is but one of many spawned by Them Eastport Oyster Boys, equal parts Holland and Brooks. Before the night is done, they will sing the tale of Chessie, a 42-ton Chesapeake Bay retriever with 80-knot breath and a tail that makes six-foot wakes when it wags. Sing the recipe for Mama's beaten biscuits. Sing about the three elements to a full Eastportorican life.

"We have fun celebrating where we live," says Brooks. Since the early '90s, the Oyster Boys' collaborative creativity has yielded songs ranging -aquatic vegetation to a deck shoe chantey to a tango about sub aquatic vegetation to a reggae about sailing. They even composed Maritime Republic of Eastport's national anthem. "Eastport's an eclectic and diverse area, and the music that we do kind of reflects that, from tangos to waltzes to reggae to Dixie to rhythm and blues, the whole bit," explains Brooks.

Though musical credit is shared, Brooks yields lyrics to Holland, Poet Laureate of Eastport since 1995. "That's his fault," Brooks says. Holland's eyes gleam through his glasses with almost childlike enthusiasm when he speaks of his muse. "Inspiration is all around," says Holland, gesturing toward Annapolis in the distance. "I'm shocked that there aren't more people doing what we do.

"Look around here. This is an incredibly inspirational place. Look up in Whitehall Bay and imagine that there's a sea monster up there. And what can a sea monster be on the Chesapeake Bay? Well, how about a Chesapeake Bay retriever? And if it was a Chesapeake Bay retriever, and it was a giant retriever, and it was a Chesapeake Bay sea monster, what would he do? Well, there's the State House dome! He'd bury it like a bone! And there's the governor's house. He'd fetch it! Like a stick! So, you look around you. And you see what there is to see. And you leave your imagination open. It's great-great-great fun. "

The fun began some 10 years ago, when then-bassist Brooks joined the four-year-old quartet Crab Alley, of which Holland was an original member. A couple years later, when segmentation divided the group into duos on opposite shores of the Bay, Them Eastport Oyster Boys went larval as they explored their own original repertoire. With Brooks reassigned to six-string banjo and Holland on baritone ukulele, they took their current name and settled in as fresh spat on the reef of Annapolis' music scene.

In the highest traditions of oyster recovery, Them Eastport Oyster Boys' success helped revitalize folk music in Annapolis. Holland was crowned Poet Laureate of Eastport in 1995 and the duo's "Eastport Shuffle" was chosen as the fledgling Maritime Republic of Eastport's national anthem. The two play mostly on boats but have been tonged regularly to play local festivals and concerts. They even recruit a few friends to play along now and then, the Big Band, and often bringing in the Horn Point Horns for bigger venues. It's all in the name of fun and local pride.

"What we're trying to accomplish is to get people to appreciate this wonderful treasure we have in our own backyard by singing about it in a way that doesn't beat people over the head with a message," says Holland. "Our message is, we're having fun here, this is a great place. Don't you love it? Don't you want to treasure it? Don't you want to restore it? It's almost a subliminal message. If we're out here having fun and singing songs, then you can have fun on the Bay, too. And in order to have fun on the Bay, you've got to take care of it."

--Mark Burns

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