Jams and Picking Parties

This is an intermediate jam for bluegrass instruments hosted by Victor Evdokimoff, instructor at Union Music. The event is in  the performance center at Union Music , 142 Southbridge St next to the Coney Island hot dog place (508 753 3702). Jam is from 630 to 8 PM every third Thursday of the month . Event is free.

The summertime weekly Sunday jam at Westward Orchards starts up this Sunday, June 5. Sandwiches, drinks, and homemade donuts are available in the store. Jam is on a covered porch in front of the store, so it's on regardless of the weather.

These weekly Teacher-Directed Jams hosted by Tony Watt are open to all bluegrass instruments, both rhythm and lead players. Each week we play through songs from the same set repertoire at various tempos depending on the experience level of the jam. You can attend even if you don’t know all of the tunes as I have mp3s and copies of tab, chords, and lyrics for most of these tunes, however, I only have tabs for mandolin, guitar, and bass at this time. Every Wednesday the “2-Hour Fast” jam meets from 7 until 9 pm in north Cambridge. Each week we play through as many songs as we can from the following list: Whiskey Before Breakfast (in D), Nine Pound Hammer (in A), Cherokee Shuffle (in A), Clinch Mountain Backstep (in A), Little Maggie (in A), Wayfaring Stranger (in Em), I am a Pilgrim (in G), and possibly Red Haired Boy (in A) time permitting. These are my fastest teacher-directed jams, and some might argue we play some of these songs too fast. The jams are held in north Cambridge, about a half mile from where Rt. 2 hits Cambridge at the Alewife T station. This location is one block from the intersection of Rt. 16 and Mass. Ave., near the Cambridge/Arlington border. There is plenty of meter-free, permit-free parking on Mass. Ave., and the location is only a 10-minute walk from Alewife and 15 minutes from Davis Sq. Most of the attendees of the jam are what I call “subscribers”, which means they have paid in advance and committed to attend a block of six jams. The subscriber cost is $20 per 2-hour jam, but you can attend even if you are not a subscriber by RSVP’ing on a … Read More »

These weekly Teacher-Directed Jams hosted by Tony Watt are open to all bluegrass instruments, both rhythm and lead players. Each week we play through songs from the same set repertoire at various tempos depending on the experience level of the jam. You can attend even if you don’t know all of the tunes as I have mp3s and copies of tab, chords, and lyrics for most of these tunes, however, I only have tabs for mandolin, guitar, and bass at this time. Every Wednesday the “Songs Beyond" fast jam meets from 9 until 10 pm in north Cambridge. Each week we play through songs chosen by a rotating "DJ" (a regular jam member) from the following repertoire: Big Sciota (in G), Big Spike Hammer (in A), Bill Cheatham (in A), Gold Rush (in A), Billy in the Lowground (in C), Fireball Mail (in G), Wayfaring Stranger (in Em), Blackberry Blossom (in G), St. Anne's Reel (in D), and possibly Old Joe Clark (in A). These are my fastest teacher-directed jams, and some might argue we play some of these songs too fast. The jams are held in north Cambridge, about a half mile from where Rt. 2 hits Cambridge at the Alewife T station. This location is one block from the intersection of Rt. 16 and Mass. Ave., near the Cambridge/Arlington border. There is plenty of meter-free, permit-free parking on Mass. Ave., and the location is only a 10-minute walk from Alewife and 15 minutes from Davis Sq. Most of the attendees of the jam are what I call “subscribers”, which means they have paid in advance and committed to attend a block of six jams. The subscriber cost is $10 per hour-long jam, but you … Read More »