Visiting a Bluegrass Jam in Nashville

Okay… In order to keep things fair, we visited a Bluegrass Jam that is held on Sunday night at the Station Inn in Nashville. We had a ball. I talked with several of the jammers. This jam reminded me a lot of the jams I see at Heartland Unplugged. Everyone kind of sat in a circle and took turns leading a song. There were breaks in the song for solo parts. There were two or three Dobro players, maybe three fiddlers, 4 or 5 mandolin players and a couple of banjo players. There was also a standup bass player. I’ll include a picture at the end of my rambling. Anyway, I found that we jammers all speak a common language when it comes to talking about jams. I told one guy in the audience that we had just been to see an “Old Time Music” jam. He said that that was the song on the other side of the record. I asked him which side was the “A” side. He liked that.

A guitar player that I talked with told me about his recent experience with attending “Nashcamp”. He said that it was sort of a fantasy camp. There were about 65 people attending and they were divided up into several bands. Each band had to learn a song or two and then at the end, they had to perform the song(s) in front of a live audience at the Station Inn. He said that it was a wonderful experience and he learned a lot. I think he said the cost was around $950.

Anyway..here is the picture:

The Difference between Bluegrass and Old Time Music

First of all you have to understand that this is my understanding of what I heard (very unofficial description.) My wife and I are on a trip thru Tennessee and North Carolina. While traveling along we’ve had the opportunity to listen and talk with several musicians. I was talking with a lady banjo player the other day, and asked her what the difference was between bluegrass and old time music. She said that originally in the hills around there, it started out with just a fiddler playing. It was used for barn dances and such. The next instrument to come along was the lap dulcimer. The fiddler would play for most of the time and then the dulcimer would help play (I think) during choruses and such. Eventually guitars and banjos were added. The style of banjo pickin’ was clawhammer. She demonstrated. This was basically “Old Time Music”. Everyone would basically play together thru the whole song.

When Bill Monroe came along he took over in the band (can’t remember which band) for (can’t remember who) and introduced a new style of banjo pickin’ …three finger style. He also introduced the idea of “breaks” where there would be instrumentals during the song that different individuals would take.

So I hope I described this okay. I’m sure there is more to it, but for me it is two things:

1. Does the banjo player play clawhammer style or three finger style

2. …and does everyone play together thru the whole song or are there breaks

I sat in on a jam in Asheville, NC (no I didn’t play…just listened). This was an “Old Time Music” jam held regularly on a Wednesday night at a pub in downtown Asheville. There I got to see first hand what that type of music was like. These were very good players. They played and sang with lots of energy and enthusiasm. Everyone did play the whole song together without the breaks that I hear in the Bluegrass jams back home. Hopefully, I can attach a picture that I took there.

July's Jam ... Just (I'm stuck...can't think of another "J" word)

This one was the best. Just wonderful. The musicians played superbly. That does it...I have to start practicing more. Have you ever decided that you were going to start practicing at least an hour a night? I've probably told myself that ten times before. I get very frustrated that I don't practice. I know how much better I would be if I would only practice regularly. I'm sure glad that no one else out there has this problem.

Now, for some more nice pics.