I started a new acoustic jam in Emmaus on Thursday night, and it was quite interesting. I had never walked into this place, but thanks to some fine scouting by my friend Greg Buragino. We set up outside on the back ‘veranda’, and folks gathered for the evening. Reasonable armless furniture was pretty rare on site so that was the immediate hump. We moved along to creating a reasonable space for the jam. A beautiful evening with a waxing moon rising in the west. This’ll be nice.
An assortment of banjo pickers, fiddlers, harp players, guitarists and the ilk started in on a variety of songs, fiddle tunes, blues and more so I tried to guide the session onwards. Various non-players gathered and really enjoyed the music and the banter. That’s what it’s all about. The bubbles of community rising to the surface.
It’s a fine balancing skill to do one of these jams. I have to assess the skills, the musical genres, the performance abilities, the reaction of the folks observing (it is a performance….) and try to make it work on many levels. It is intense but worth the effort.
A good night, for sure.