January Jam at Ruby’s

Please join us for the 1st of our 2012 Winter Jam Series

Date:  Saturday, Jan 14, 2012

Time:  2pm – midnight

Where:  Ruby’s Inn & Convention Center – 4825 N Reserve, Missoula, Montana (406) 721-0990

Description:  This is the first of our 2012 Second Saturday jams at Ruby’s.  This is also going to be the premier of our Slow Pitch jams, for jam beginners.   If you’ve been wanting to get started, pickin’ the bluegrass music with others, this is the perfect opportunity.  The slow pitch jam provides a warm and fuzzy cocoon for incubating your pickin’ skills.  (see Mark’s story).

Schedule of days events

2:00 – kick things off with shake and howdies

3-4:30 Slow Pitch Jam

5:30 Potluck  (raffle giveaways)

6:30 – 1am Jamming at all levels.  There’s room for 10 different jam circles.

Tell all your friends and come on out to help us in our mission “to preserve, perform and promote bluegrass music”.

 

 

Missoula is the Place for Bluegrass Music

Mark Vosburgh - photo by Krista Miller Larson, Montana Photojournalist

Mark Vosburgh - photo by Krista Miller Larson, Montana Photojournalist

By MARK VOSBURGH from MakeitMissoula.com

Wanna Jam? Missoulians, You are SO in luck.

It’s a bit ironic that in the digital age you can learn old time bluegrass over the Internet. YouTube videos and Internet mandolin instruction kept me busy for the first year or so with my new instrument.

I practiced in my living room, learning chords and a batch of fiddle tunes. After that year, I started yearning to make live music with others. Trouble was, I didn’t have a clue how to go about it, and the Internet was no help.

Missoula’s the Place for Bluegrass. 

Missoula has a great bluegrass scene.  I can easily count 15 area bands playing bluegrass, and we have a ton of great musicians.  The Montana Rockies Bluegrass Association (MRBA)   is the hub for area bluegrass festivals, camp-outs and jams.

Everyone doesn’t have it so good. “Here in Idaho Falls there is no bluegrass scene. I usually tell people that there are only five people in our area who play bluegrass, and they are all in our band!” says Fred Frank of New South Fork.  Fred, his wife Emily and fellow band-mates routinely make the long drive to Montana to jam with area bluegrass musicians.

Read the rest of this article on makeitmissoula.com

New Thursday night jam at Tangled Tones Studio

Tangled Tones StudioWeekly Bluegrass pickin’ circle

Day:  Thursdays

Time:  6-9pm

Place:  Tangled Tones Studio

2005 South Ave. West
Missoula, MT 59801
(406) 396-3352

Price:  Suggested donation $1

Description:  All acoustic bluegrass musicians of all levels welcome.  Bring your guitars, dobros, basses, banjos, fiddles and your smiling faces and join us for an evening of sharing bluegrass tunes.

Idaho Sawtooth Bluegrass Associatian – 2009 Spring Super Jam

Will Williams and Gravel Road, Chicken Dinner Road, and Tradition

Date:  May 8, 9, 10 Mother’s Day

Location: Lewis & Clark Resort, Kamiah, Idaho

Cost: Free Admission

Camping/Hotel
Make reservations at Kamiah Resort 208 935-2556
Motel, RV spots, cafe, dry camping.
Special Bluegrass Rates
email: lewisandclarkrvresort.com

 

 

Schedule

  • Friday, 8th
    Open jam, all day and into the night
    Open mic Friday evening from 4-6pm
  • Saturday, 9th
    9:00 AM Annual ISBA general meeting
    10:00 Instrument Workshops — Banjo, guitar, and fiddle
    11:00 Instrument Workshops — Bass, Dobro, and guitar
    12:00 Noon Open jam all afternoon
    2-6 Free performance of bluegrass bands: Will Williams and Gravel Road, Chicken Dinner Road, and Tradition
    6:00 Catered dinner and buffet
    7:00 Jam all night
  • Sunday, 10th
    Open MIC bluegrass gospel. Sign-up with Raynae Redman

New This Year: Beginner/Intermediate Jamming

This year we are trying something new — a beginner/intermediate jam for the shy people of the bluegrass world. We have consulted with the jams in the three areas of the state to compile a song list for this jam so that you may come prepared. There will be no pressure to do breaks. Our goal is to have fun and give beginner/intermediates a chance to play with other people at their level. We will post a sign where people can gather for this jam and have a jam master to moderate and help those with questions.

Song List for Beginner/Intermediate Jam

  1. Bury Me Beneath the Willow G
  2. I’ll Fly away G
  3. Life is Like a Mountain Railway G
  4. Lonesome Road Blues G
  5. Salty Dog Blues G
  6. Will the Circle Be Unbroken G
  7. Gold Rush A
  8. Rebekah B
  9. Randy Lynn G
  10. All the Good Times Are Past and Gone G
  11. Fireball Mail G
  12. No Mother Nor Dad
  13. Cripple Creek A
  14. Old Joe Clark A
  15. John Hardy A or G
  16. Bury Me Beneath the Willow G
  17. Maggie G
  18. Cumberland Gap G

Kids in Bluegrass

The Kids in Bluegrass program was so successful at our Round Valley Festival last Fall that we will be continuing with this program at both the Superjam in Kamiah, and once again at Round Valley. Our association is about helping to preserve and promote the bluegrass music that we all enjoy and play. Through the encouragement and teaching of the children and then allowing them so showcase their talents at our activities we can show them how we value their efforts.

If you have a child or know of a child 18 years and younger who is playing or singing bluegrass they are welcome to participate in the “Kids In Bluegrass” program. This is for all abilities and all children under age 18. The only criteria is that it must be bluegrass music that the child is playing or singing. So if you have a child and would like them to participate you may contact Raynae Redman blugrssmom@aol.com or by phone at 208-839-2267 or you can just get ahold of me at the festivals and let me know of your child. I will be working with the kids at the festivals and more information as to times and places will be available there. So come one come all. Raynae (Cuzin Ray)

For more information about the Idaho Sawtooth Bluegrass Association visit their website.

Lots of pictures from the 2008 Jam

Colter Coffee hosts music on Thursdays and Fridays

Colter Coffee hosts music on Thursdays and Fridays

Bluegrass and a Cup of Joe on Main Street

visit the Flathead Beacon website to see audio slide show of the Thursday night jam session.
Colter Jam - click to view video

Alex Hogle on Mando - for slide show and audio of jam

Every Thursday night at Colter Coffee, you can hear a century-old conversation that rarely requires words. Except for the singing, of course.

This conversation needs only guitars, banjos and fiddles – maybe a mandolin or two and an acoustic bass. Anybody who’s been part of a traditional picking circle – a term derived from the act of picking on an instrument’s strings – understands this dynamic. Much of the interaction is unspoken and it’s all unplugged.

The players all take cues from each other with eye contact, head nods and ample understanding of both music structure and picking circle etiquette. When one takes the lead, the rest keep the rhythm. Backup vocals are always welcome.

This is the system in which these half dozen or so self-proclaimed “pickers” tell their stories at Colter Coffee. Everybody chips in. And because much of the music is rooted in improvisation, with varying degrees of experience wielding the instruments, mistakes are made. But everybody’s fine with that, including the audience.

“It’s a beautiful, old tradition,” Alex Hogle said of the picking circle. “Playing the good old stuff and rocking it.”

Colter Coffee Roasting has quietly become a cozy bastion for acoustic music since opening its Main Street location in downtown Kalispell two years ago. The company also maintains a roasting and packaging plant near Snappy Sports Senter.

The coffee shop’s picking circle, guided by traditional old-time and bluegrass music, started up in November and is now held every Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. The public is welcome to attend. Hogle helped organize the event, as much as a picking session can be organized – he put up a flyer and they came.

“A lot of it is just common folks who happen upon this and see the flyer,” Hogle said. “I like to have a circle in a community, especially right here in the center of town.”

On Fridays beginning at 7 p.m., the coffee shop holds concerts for local talent, often showcasing young singer-songwriters like Betty and the Boy. Blue Onion, a blues and jazz-infused band, is also a mainstay, as are names like Porter Creek and Allison Stayer. Colter also holds special shows during First Friday Art Walks.

There are few greater unifying forces than coffee and music. When combined, rare scenarios arise in which high schoolers end up spending their entire evenings watching 50-year-olds pluck on banjos. Colter Coffee owner Lindsay MacDonald and manager Heather Anderson take pride in offering a hotspot where both young and old can gather for music outside of a bar setting.

Located near Flathead High School, Colter has a strong contingent of teenage regulars who arrive right after school or come for the music later.

“A lot of parents have thanked us for having a place close by where they don’t have to worry about them,” Anderson said.

Picking circles – often written as “pickin’ circles” – have long been a part of traditional American music. Today, they’re still widespread, serving as meeting grounds for acoustic music enthusiasts who range from beginners to seasoned flatpickers. Missoula is known for such circles, but they’re also scattered across Northwest Montana.

On Memorial Day, Libby will host a large acoustic gathering that is expected to draw more than 150 musicians from across the nation and Canada. The Colter pickers will be there.

The Colter Coffee crew of musicians has been together in some form for years. Vicki Bodfish, who plays with Porter Creek, said she remembers holding a circle at Avalanche Creek as early as 1999. Later they moved on to the Red Lion. Today, they’re happy with their new home at Colter Coffee.

Jim Crandall, who plays with Bodfish in Porter Creek, said even if the venues have changed, the driving force behind the picking circles hasn’t.

“It’s the love of the music,” Crandall said.

Top Hat Jam

Howdy all, i have been talking with Rob from the Top Hat and it sounds like the bar will be in kinda a day to day operation, but he did tell me that the Garr family is interested in keeping the bluegrass jam/Pinegrass night. They will reopen for the jam and Pinegrass not tonight (Tuesday) but next Tuesday (24th). Please come down an support this jam and show the Garr family that we care about keeping the valuable resource. I will be out of town next week sadly but if any of you could make it down…i think they start around 7:30ish these days. This jam has been going for at least 15 years and i know many people, myself included, who owe this jam a lot of credit for thier musical development.

Brian