Boston Bluegrass Union

Concord Open Bluegrass Jam
2024-07-11 19:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | The Concord Conservatory of Music, 1317 Main Street, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
The Concord Open Bluegrass Jam is a weekly, community driven jam session that prides itself in being an open space for local musicians and music-lovers to socially engage and create music together.
Maxfield Anderson leads the group through vocal songs and instrumental tunes from a variety of musical traditions, including bluegrass, old time, classic country and western, blues, swing, and beyond. Musicians are encouraged—never required—to bring in songs to play with the group.
The Jam is open to acoustic musicians including voice, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, banjo, dobro, bass, cello, harmonica, etc. and at all levels, as well as community members who wish to listen and enjoy the beautiful sanctuary.
The Jam is open to the public. A $10 suggested donation is greatly appreciated! Thank you.
July 11, 18
August 1, 29

Harry Smith Frolic
2024-07-12 17:00 - 2024-07-14 17:00 | Camp Kiwanee, Camp Kiwanee Road, Hanson, MA, 02341, United States
Camping and old time jam weekend in Greenfield, MA
On the Green River at Camp Keewanee, Greenfield, Mass.
July 12-14, 2024
Friday 5pm through Sunday 5pm
(No early birds! Day Camp in session weekdays)
Suggested donation: $40/weekend or $20/day
Summer day camp facilities including:
•Unfurnished cabins to play music in (no beds)
•Bathrooms and showers
•Picnic pavilion & basketball court
•Camping and parking on flat ground
•Frolicking in the Green River
•Swimming Pool open select hours
Saturday Morning Secular River Immersions
Potluck Saturday Night
&
Midnight Reenactment Vol. 2 Harry Smith Anthology
This volume has everything: fiddle & string band tunes, cajun, gospel, blues, shape note. So study up!

Old Time Jam at The Burren
2024-07-14 18:00 - 21:00 | The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Somerville, MA, 02144, United States
Long-standing, weekly Sunday night old time jam led by Alan Kaufman and friends in the Front Room.

Old Time Jam at The Bebop
2024-07-14 19:00 - 22:00, 2024-07-21 19:00 - 22:00, 2024-07-28 19:00 - 22:00 | The Bebop, 1116 Boylston St, Boston, MA, 02116, United States
Groovy old time jam every Sunday night, 7-10 pm.

Bluegrass Tuesdays at Lily P's Jams
2024-07-16 17:00 - 23:30 | Lily P’s Fried Chicken & Oysters, 50 Binney St., Cambridge, MA, 02142, United States
In addition to the weekly concerts at Lily P’s there is a lot of jamming happening all over the restaurant and outside. Also:
Beginner & Intermediate Bluegrass Jams at Lily P’s
There are now three distinct jams scheduled nearly every week:
(1) The weekly Beginner-to-Intermediate Bluegrass Jam continues to meet nearly every Tuesday starting at 5:15 pm at Lily P’s (but you’ll have to email me at tonywatt@gmail.com to be sure). This is a “teacher-directed” jam where we never know what songs we’re going to play, but we’re limited to no instrumentals and no very fast nor very complex songs.
(2) The Intermediate Bluegrass Jam hosted by Kelley meets every week starting at 6:30 pm. This jam is likely suitable for those who have some experience jamming already and can play songs and tunes, recognize chord changes, and play well with others.
(3) The Int/Adv Bluegrass Jam hosted by Wayne usually starts at 7 pm. This jam typically evolves out of the Intermediate Jam and then moves out back unless the weather is nice enough to play outside.

For more information about any of these jams, please email me at tonywatt@gmail.com

Tuftonboro Country, Bluegrass and Gospel Jam session
2024-07-16 18:30 - 21:30, 2024-07-23 18:30 - 21:30, 2024-07-30 18:30 - 21:30 | The Old White Church, Center Tuftonboro, NH
The weekly Tuftonboro Country, Bluegrass & Gospel Music Jam Session continues at the historic Old White Church of Center Tuftonboro every Tuesday from 6:30 until about 9:30 pm. Fans of country, bluegrass and gospel music are invited to enjoy an evening of music. There is no admission charge, a donation is requested to help cover operational expenses. The Church is located on Route 109A, just across from the Tuftonboro General Store & Post Office. Everyone is invited to attend the jam session while enjoying cookies and a cup of coffee. For more info call Joe at 569-3861.

Zoe and Cloyd with Evan Murphy
2024-07-16 19:00 - 22:00 | The Burren, 247 Elm Street, Somerville, MA, 02144, United States
Zoe & Cloyd – The innovative “klezgrass” music of Zoe & Cloyd springs from the rich traditions and complementary styles of fiddler/vocalist Natalya Zoe Weinstein and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist John Cloyd Miller. Descending from a lineage of klezmer and jazz musicians, Natalya trained classically in her home state of Massachusetts before moving south in 2004. John, a twelfth generation North Carolinian and grandson of pioneering bluegrass fiddler, Jim Shumate, is a 1st place winner of the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest and the Hazel Dickens Songwriting Contest. Based in Asheville, NC, Natalya and John are also experienced educators and are both instructors in the traditional music program at Warren Wilson College.
With B.B. Bowness and Nate Sabat.
Evan Murphy opens.
$20 advance; $25 at the door.

Weekly BG Jam at MrSippy
2024-07-17 18:00 - 20:30 | MrSippy BBQ, 184 South Main Street, Rochester, NH, 03867, United States
Bluegrass and BBQ Jam in NH every Wednesday, 6-8:30 pm

Bluegrass Jam at The Bebop
2024-07-17 21:00 - 23:30, 2024-07-24 21:00 - 23:30, 2024-07-31 21:00 - 23:30 | The Bebop, 1116 Boylston St, Boston, MA, 02116, United States
Bring your instrument and play some tunes with this talented bunch of bluegrass musicians! Or just come to eat and drink at The Bebop Boston.
Every Wednesday 9-midnight.

Concord Conservatory Open Bluegrass Jam
2024-07-18 19:30 - 21:00, 2024-07-25 19:30 - 21:00, 2024-08-01 19:30 - 21:00 | Concord Conservatory of Music, 1317 Main Street, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
The Open Bluegrass Jam is back!
Thursdays, 7:30 – 9:00 pm in the sanctuary
Open to bluegrass players at all levels – guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, dobro, bass, singers – join Max Anderson as he calls the tunes, posts the charts, and leads the group (at a manageable speed) through the great repertoire of tunes and songs from the bluegrass tradition.
Open to musicians and those who just want to listen and observe.
Jam dates:
December 2, 9, and 16, January 6, 13, 20, and 27, February 3, 10, and 17, March 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31, April 7, 14, and 28, May 5, 12, 19, and 26
$10 suggested donation is greatly appreciated to support the program.

Jamvember in July!
2024-07-19 - 2024-07-21 | Camp Kiwanee, Camp Kiwanee Road, Hanson, MA, 02341, United States
JamVember in July, a weekend-long bluegrass non-festival, will be held on the 19th, 20th & 21st of July
at Camp Kee-wanee in Greenfield, MA just 10 minutes from the intersection of Rt. 2 & I-91.
It starts at 6 pm on Friday and ends at 1 pm on Sunday.
https://jamvember.com/index.html for more information

3rd Friday Jam at PCA
2024-07-19 19:00 - 21:00 | Parish Center for the Arts, 10 Lincoln St, Westford, MA, 01886, United States
Featuring, but not limited to Bluegrass music
Bring your Guitar, Banjo, Fiddle, Bass, Dobro, Harp (all types), mandolin,
bones, etc.. and come and enjoy a night of great music.
The Parish Center For The Arts (The PCA). 10 Lincoln Street Westford, MA
PCA is a BYOB facility, so feel free to bring snacks, a bottle, whatever!
Please bring whatever you need, and be sure to police up everything when we go. I ask you to leave no trash, garbage, bottles, cans, etc behind.
There are chairs and tables as needed.
This is a pass-the-hat event, with proceeds going to the PCA to offset the cost of our usage.
Welcome to players of all skill levels and audiences alike.
Free parking
Monthly on 3rd Fridays, 7-10pm

Aoife O’Donovan and Hawktail: All My Friends Tour
2024-07-19 20:00 - 22:00 | Groton Hill Music Center, 122 Old Ayer Road, Groton, MA, 01450, United States
Aoife O’Donovan and Hawktail join together for a night of joyous music. Hawktail opens the evening with their signature songs and cosmopolitan sound. Aoife O’Donovan will then take the stage with Hawktail as her band, performing songs from the Grammy-award winning musician’s 4th studio album All My Friends (out March 22, 2024).
O’Donovan continues to enchant audiences worldwide with her soul-stirring music and unwavering passion for storytelling through song. Deemed “a vocalist of unerring instinct” by the New York Times, she has released three critically-acclaimed and boundary-blurring solo albums including literarily crafted Age Of Apathy, which received three Grammy nominations.
Her newest album, All My Friends is based around a collection of songs Aoife O’Donovan wrote, inspired by women’s suffrage and the passage of the 19th amendment. The album is a deep dive into the reimagining of the life of Carrie Chapman Catt – one of the movement’s leaders and founder of the League of Women Voters – juxtaposed with Aoife’s own experiences as a woman and mother.
Hawktail is the acoustic instrumental trio of fiddler Brittany Haas, bassist Paul Kowert, and guitarist Jordan Tice. Though at first glance it looks like an acoustic super-picker side-project, their all-original music is cohesive and unique, distinguishing them as an ensemble with a sound built from the ground up. Flush with orchestral sweeps and sparse vigils, with strains of the American South and the North Atlantic. Together, they have fostered a reputation as a rare ensemble of composers and instrumentalists able to take the listener on a journey, without the use of words.

Little Wishbone at Mr. Sippy's BBQ
2024-07-19 20:00 - 22:00 | MrSippy BBQ, 184 South Main Street, Rochester, NH, 03867, United States
Little Wishbone is a rollicking old-time string band based in the New Hampshire & Maine seacoast. If you like Old Hat Stringband or Green Heron, you’ll love Little Wishbone! $10 cover

Meeting House Bluegrass Festival
2024-07-20 09:00 - 20:00 | Smith Meetinghouse, 451 Meetinghouse Rd, Gilmanton, NH, 32370, United States
New England’s Five Best Bluegrass Bands
Saturday July 20, 2024 9:00AM – 8:00 PM
451 Meetinghouse Rd. Gilmanton, NH
Free Rough Camping Fri & Sat with Advance Tickets
Join us at “Smith Meetinghouse” for an AMAZING DAY OF BLUEGRASS! This event is the 250th Anniversary of the establishment of the Meetinghouse. The First Congregational Society in Gilmanton is a Non-Profit 501(c)(3) organization that maintains the historic buildings on this site. The Bluegrass Festival is a fundraising event to help the annual costs of maintaining and preserving the buildings and grounds.
Bring your own lawn chairs, blankets and appetite, we will have great vendors onsite!
*$50 Tickets at the gate or $45 available by check or money order through June 30, 2024
Please address check to “FCSG Meetinghouse” and mail to:
544 Meeting House Road, Gilmanton, NH 03237
Please include self-addressed, stamped envelope

Brookline Old Time Jam
2024-07-21 13:00 - 15:00 | st pauls episcopal church, 79 Cross St., Gardner, MA, 01440, United States
Held every Sunday 1-3 in either St Paul’s Church inside or along the Charles River at Herter Park.
Hosted by Andrew Tanis

We get together and play old-time music. During the warmer months we meet outdoors at Herter Park Boston, MA. Once it’s cold we meet indoors in Brookline, MA.

Join us if you play fiddle, clawhammer banjo, guitar, cello, bass, mandolin, ukulele, autoharp, pennywhistle or anything else, or join us to listen and/or dance.

Check for weekly details on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/427113585480922

Old Crow Medicine Show w Molly Tuttle
2024-07-21 19:30 - 22:30 | Roadrunner Boston, 89 Guest St, Boston, MA, 02135, United States
At Roadrunner Boston.

Ossipee Valley Music Festival
2024-07-25 - 2024-07-28 | Ossipee Valley Fairgrounds, 291 S. Hiram Road, Hiram, ME, 04041, United States
Ossipee Valley is a music festival in Maine. The festival features four stages, food trucks, craft beer, yoga, barn dances, workshops, kids activities, craft vendors and camping. It is dreamily situated on the banks of the Ossipee river, amongst tall pines and goat barns, in southern Maine, under an hour from Portland or North Conway, and 2.5 hrs NW of Boston.
The festival is known for featuring ascendant acts in roots, bluegrass, americana, folk, world, and blues music, but it is about more than just the music: Ossipee Valley is a community where all are welcome. Moon dancers, flatpickers, gangs of kids on bikes, barefoot granolas and retired RV grandmas, wallflowers, instigators, listeners, players, makers and shakers unite under the fresh summer sky. Come join us.
Don’t forget to join us for the Ossipee Valley String Camp-a 5 day immersive educational experience that comes with a pass to the festival, for seven whole days of musical bliss.

Backbeat 4th Thursday Jam - Beverly
2024-07-25 19:00 - 21:30 | Backbeat Brewing, 31A Park, Beverly, MA, 01915, United States
7-9:30 pm every 4th Thursday at Backbeat Brewing in Beverly, MA.

Join us the 4th Thursday of every month to listen or play! All levels welcome. Our first jam in May was a big success with over twenty players jamming in the restaurant and out on the patio. Lively bluegrass filled the air and judging by the hearty applause, everyone loved it!

The Backbeat menu feature two dozen delicious beers on tap, and the kitchen cooks up tasty thin-crust pizzas (including a gluten-free option) and various appetizers. Backbeat is located at 31 Park St (just off Rantoul), directly across the street from the Beverly Depot train station. There is plenty of on-street parking.

Check Facebook for updates to the schedule.

Larry and Joe
2024-07-28 19:00 - 21:30 | Club Passim, Cambridge, MA, United States
Larry Bellorín hails from Monagas, Venezuela and is a legend of Llanera music. Joe Troop is from North Carolina and is a GRAMMY-nominated bluegrass and oldtime musician. Larry was forced into exile and is an asylum seeker in North Carolina. Joe, after a decade in South America, got stranded back in his stomping grounds in the pandemic. Larry works construction to make ends meet. Joe’s acclaimed “latingrass” band Che Apalache was forced into hiatus, and he shifted into action working with asylum seeking migrants.
Currently based in the Triangle of North Carolina, both men are versatile multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters on a mission to show that music has no borders. As a duo they perform a fusion of Venezuelan and Appalachian folk music on harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, maracas, guitar, upright bass, and whatever else they decide to throw in the van. The program they offer features a distinct blend of their musical inheritances and traditions as well as storytelling about the ways that music and social movements coalesce.

Lonesome Ace Stringband
2024-07-30 20:00 - 22:00 | Club Passim, Cambridge, MA, United States
Masters of their trade, The Lonesome Ace Stringband bring grit, skill and abandon to Americana music, bridging old-time, bluegrass and folk traditions into a seamless hybrid of original material that is at once fresh and timeless.
Instrumentation alone sets this Toronto-based trio’s sound apart: consisting simply of fiddle (John Showman), clawhammer banjo (Chris Coole), and upright bass (Max Heineman). The spine-tingling harmonies and interchanging lead vocals only bring more magic to the equation. They’ve become festival favourites at Rockygrass, Celtic Connections, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Merlefest and regularly tour the USA, UK, Germany and, of course, Canada.
With more than a decade of group music-making under their belts, they’re releasing their fifth album, a feisty and mighty collection of all-original material titled ‘Try To Make It Fly’ (October 13, 2023).
