I'm in a jam . . . so to speak.

Some of our regulars

Yeah, I'm in a jam. It's Greg's Jam, an informal ECLECTIC group of musicians that gets together in our church fellowship hall once a month and plays anything from "Freight Train" to "Just a Closer Walk" to "I'm in the Jailhouse Now." My friend Harold has kept the group going after Greg, who "birthed" it, was deployed to Iraq. Greg is now jammin' with the Baghdad Bad Boys (really). We're counting the months till he'll be back stateside. Even though our group is eclectic (notice, that's not electric--see my first blog post ever), all our instruments are compatible with country, folk, and bluegrass. We've had guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, bass, and keyboard. All instruments are acoustic except my keyboard, and I keep the volume moderate. Last night was our largest gathering. We had pickers, grinners, singers, and plain old listeners. In a jam, we all just join in the best we know how. It's not like practicing, because we just go around our circle taking turns requesting songs. If we bomb, it's no big deal and we move on. But most of the sounds are upbeat and alive, and however long our session lasts, we always learn to "read each other" before quitting time. The real diehards pack up about 9:30 p.m. and head up to Maness's Music Barn, near Midway. I learn a lot of from these jammers from diverse backgrounds and that's just another reason I'm glad music is such an integral part of my life.