I went to a hillbilly jam this weekend. It was out of town a couple hours, just far enough so that when you looked into a person's eyes you saw that they were thinking about something, not hiding something. It was nice.
i figured that the main reason for these hundreds of people to gather at a community hall and have a big weekend long music festival of sorts was for "the music". I now think i was mistaken. I think that they all gathered there because "that was what was going on that weekend". So they went. They players weren't there because they wanted to show the audience how good they were at their craft, and the audience wasn't there to get a dose of the finest music that they ever heard.
The performances were amature. The audience was polite. The sound was audible. The rules were followed. The craft table was cute. The donations were modest. The food was reasonable. The outfits were casual. The souvenir pins were a dollar and the lack of ego was staggering.
This was one of the most refreshing events I've ever attended. 
The music scene in the city is full of competition, business, quality, ingenuity, surprise, ego, money and recognition. None of these things are to be frowned upon. But when they are taken out of music, you are left with music. Honest music. Effort and result. Nothing more.
What a blessing it was to witness.
Lenny Gallant. (July 12,2009)
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