The jam last Thursday was packed.  It was a lively affair, led by a banjo player by the name of Jason.  i sat down and listened to a couple of tunes before pulling out my instrument and joining in and I was lucky it was one of my good nights.  For those of you reading that don't know how a bluegrass jam works, a group of musicians get together and play standard tunes that most of the musicians know.  Usually, the person that calls out the tune starts it off and then the melody is passed around the circle while everyone else plays chords behind them.  At the jams that have been organized usually a person leads the jam circle and calls the songs and at this particular jam, chooses who will play a solo. 

As I said, I was lucky it was one of my good nights, because if you don't take a break on a song or don't do well, the jam leader will start to pass you up in favor of people who can or will play on any and all tunes.  So, I was lucky enough to make a bit of a splash on my first try, which in this community garners some respect and as I continued to play well I got to talking with the bass player, a guy by the name of Conrad, who told me that he had played bass for Tanya Tucker a long while ago and he gave me his card, telling me to call him if I wanted to play or hear about the history of bluegrass in Southern California.  I'm hoping to interview Conrad soon and see what he has to say about the the history of bluegrass here and hopefully hear what his stance is on the traditional versus the new.

The jam ran from somewhere around 6:30 until well past 9, still going strong by the time I left.  Somewhere around 7:30ish we all took a break and I got invited to play a bit with some of the really good musicians, professionals in the San Diego area as I understood, so I took them up on their offer and played all through the break,  after which another mandolin player introduced himself and asked to exchange contact information so we could play some other time as well.  If I'm lucky I'll be able to interview him as well and perhaps see about getting a bluegrass gig with Conrad, as he said that they were always looking for a good mandolin player to play with them, but never could find one that was available.  I'll have to head back to the jam again this next Thursday and see if I can get some recordings and ask a few more questions.