A cozy concert setting isn’t necessarily calm, and a listening room doesn’t have to be silent.

Attendees sang along and jabbed fists in the air when David Lowery and Johnny Hickman of the band Cracker played a show last month at the home of Steve and Jane Ruemmele.

For the Kessler House Concerts event, Hickman placed his guitar amplifier next to a fireplace in the living room, and Lowery sang a few feet from the family’s computer.

“When we do this, it’s not ‘Kum Ba Yah,’.” Hickman said after the show. “We dig in and rock it out.”

Cracker is more than a decade removed from MTV exposure for 1993 hit song “Low,” but the band remains popular enough to play to crowds larger than the 65 people gathered at the Ruemmele residence.

House concerts offer up-close-and-personal access that appeals to both musicians and their fans.

“It’s not time to sit back and be jaded,” Steve Ruemmele says. “You’re right there. You can talk to the musicians. You can walk up and say, ‘Hey, that was great. How did you play that?’.”

Hickman says a change of pace from nightclub dates often inspires one-of-a-kind performances.

“We’ll get in the spirit of the thing and do a song we haven’t played in a long time,” he said. “The word ‘intimate’ is overused, but it’s true. You’re in someone’s living room, singing to a group of people who are there to see you. It’s very special.”

House concerts aren’t on the itineraries of mainstream acts that play Conseco Fieldhouse or Verizon Wireless Music Center.

Small shows in homes or meeting rooms make sense for singer-songwriters who play acoustic guitars and travel light. These acts may be on the upswing or downside of careers, or they’re comfortably matched with a niche audience.

The Ruemmeles, who will host singer-songwriter Ari Hest tonight and Monday, pursue their personal favorites.

“We go after people we like,” Steve Reummele says. “We call artists and say, ‘Would you like to play our house?’ I get three or four requests a week from people all over the country asking to play. We’ll look at it, but the criteria are: My wife and I both have to like the artist and agree to have them here.”

Indy Hostel is another local venue where live music doesn’t compete with the sound of beer bottles clanging in trash cans or the bells and whistles of cappuccino and coffee machines.

“You don’t go home and have to take a shower because you smell like cigarette smoke, and you don’t have to yell at each other while you’re talking because the music’s too loud,” says John Newton, who opened Indy Hostel as a lodging facility for budget-minded travelers in 2004.

Indy Hostel isn’t a single-family residence, but house concerts for as many as 55 attendees have been a constant on its calendar.

The Indyindie promotions team of Cathy Schneider and Joyce Walker stage their house concerts in the clubhouse of a condominium community.

Indyindie has booked shows at Talbott Street nightclub, Out Word Bound bookstore and the bygone Key Cinema, but Schneider says nothing else matches the “warm, fuzzy feeling” of a house concert.

Before every show, Schneider cooks a buffet meal for 100 — an audience that’s typically two-thirds repeat customers and one-third new.

If rookie guests are unsure of what to expect at a house concert, Schneider says Indyindie has a “buddy” program to raise their comfort level.

George Cannon says he initially felt like an outsider when he attended his first Kessler House event last May.

“I had some trepidation about going into the home of someone I didn’t know,” Cannon says. “I found that I didn’t have anything to be nervous about. It was a great environment. All the people have something in common — the artist and the music.”

Smithereens vocalist Pat DiNizio performed that night, and Cannon will promote his first house concert when DiNizio performs April 6 in Plainfield.

“I would like to fill the room with folks who are into what the man is doing,” says Cannon, who refers to the date as a fan’s labor of love.

For Indy Hostel, where indie-rock trio the Bowerbirds will play Saturday, live music is a marketing device.

“People come to the hostel who maybe would have never heard of it,” Newton says.

Schneider, meanwhile, describes Indyindie shows as soothing diversions from her day job as a food service director at a retirement community.

“I’m a little stressed, and I don’t think I’m alone,” Schneider says. “The concerts are medicine for that.”

House concerts aren’t the byproduct of an ailing economy. Kessler House first worked with DiNizio in 2002, and Indyindie presented its debut show six years ago.

But it’s true that modest-sized audiences in unusual venues translate into unconventional paydays for musicians.

Indy Hostel pays its performers 100 percent of the money collected at the door — commonly $5 to $10 per attendee — plus the offer of a free overnight stay.

Kessler House Concerts charged $30 for admission to the Cracker show, and the Ruemmeles treated Lowery and Hickman to bed-and-breakfast accommodations.

“We don’t play house concerts very often, which is what keeps it fun,” Hickman said.

Although DiNizio embarked on his national “living room” tour with the backing of corporate sponsorship, that funding evaporated, according to the singer’s posts at his official Web site.

Merchandise sales would be appreciated at the Plainfield show, Cannon said.

“I tell people to bring some cash to purchase the CDs and things that Pat brings with him,” he said.

Indyindie, which will present singer-songwriter Martine Locke on Saturday, offers a guaranteed payment for its artists with additional payment possible if attendance is high.

Schneider and Walker prepare to lose a few hundred dollars once the meal is made, an audio technician is hired and the clubhouse is rented.

“We throw a darn good party for really cheap,” Schneider says.

Upcoming house concerts

Ari Hest, Sunday, March 22 and Monday, Mardh 23, Kessler House Concerts, $20, visit www.kesslerhouseconcerts.com.

Bowerbirds, Saturday, March 28, Indy Hostel, 4903 Winthrop Ave., visit www.indyhostel.us.

Martine Locke, Saturday, March 28, Indyindie at the clubhouse, $15, or $12 if purchased in advance, visit www.indyindie.com.

Pat DiNizio, April 6, Heartland House Concerts, $18, send e-mail to heartlandhouseconcerts@yahoo.com