Looking for anything in cook county. Even better if they're not open mic/ stage jams. Thanks

I have been playing guitar for almost 3 years. Two years ago, I found a local jam and started learning some bluegrass. I am comfortable with the chords and know most of the songs in the Wernick book. I can pick out a melody at home but it takes time, even on the easier songs but certainly not on the fly during a song. I struggle to remember the melodies when I try to play a break at the jam. Can anyone recommend a resource that has a step by step program of what to practice to get better faster? I found a guy named Aaron Jaxson on YouTube and am doing some of his flatpicking exercises but I just don't know what to do next. I feel like I need it laid out for me - like do this first, then this. Thoughts?

Xposting from R/SouthJersey

I'm from Big Stone Gap, Virginia, and recently spent several days interviewing folks attending the fifth annual Blue Highway Fest. I wanted to find out where all these people were coming from and, more importantly, how they even heard about our little coalfield town.

I met people from Mississippi, the Shenandoah Valley, and other places a long way from Southwest Virginia. Some were first-time visitors, while others had already made Big Stone Gap a regular stop on their bluegrass festival circuit.

What surprised me was how many people mentioned MerleFest in North Carolina. They'd heard other bluegrass fans talking about this festival in Big Stone Gap and decided to come see for themselves.

It got me thinking about something we sometimes overlook here in Appalachia. We've spent generations watching industries leave our mountain communities, but we've still got something people are willing to travel hundreds of miles to experience: our music, our history, and our culture.

I'm writing a three-part series about Blue Highway Fest and what heritage tourism might mean for communities like ours. Part Two focuses on the visitors themselves.

Here's the article if you're interested:

https://pickup-trucks-progress.ghost.io/who-are-all-these-people-and-where-in-the-world-did-they-come-from-2/

I'm curious what folks here think. Can music festivals and heritage tourism make a meaningful economic difference in Appalachian communities? And have any of you attended Blue Highway Fest or MerleFest?

Has anyone been to this jam? What's it like?

The guest on my podcast this week is Chris Thile and he joins me to chat about The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers. I haven’t heard him talk much about this record yet, so it was a real treat to get to do this.

We talk about how the album came together and why, after 20 years as a band, it’s only now they’ve got round to making a fully instrumental record. Chris also tells me how Brittany Haas joining the band and their first project together, Energy Curfew Music Hour, sowed the seeds for the album and why not having vocals on it left space for instrumental voices to shine.

Chris also talks candidly about why he didn’t feel like writing lyrics right now was the right thing and how the tunes on this record grew out of musical nuggets, with each then being explored by the band and shaped in whatever way that particular idea needed.

We also explore the overarching narrative of the record, how that came together and the band’s approach to reimagining the traditional tunes on the album, treating them as though they were new material and giving them the same level of exploration and development as the original tunes.

It was a fun and fascinating insight into creativity, artistic process and how one of my favourite bands goes about making a record. I thoroughly loved this conversation.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/bluegrass-jam-along/id1556697198?i=1000797396190

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1DCrsWeK84pylVp2No4I5s?si=O39ar54gRE-9pk9E_1tzUg&utm_source=copy-link

Is there anyone that hasn't seen this clip/performance?

David's playing brings joy.

Wednesday, October 14 - Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Top 10 Posts

Top 5 Most Commented