Musicians “jam” all the time. It is a way for them to learn from each other, network and even as has been done over and again, create a new art form. The Blues has a long tradition of people getting together to just play and sing all sorts of songs and ideas. I had been away singing last summer at a Blues week at August Heritage in West Virginia. I had been part of “jams” before but not like these! We would play for hours starting the moment we woke up and some of us it seemed never slept. I would go to sleep at 4 or 5 AM listening to blues coming from all corners of the place and wake up at 9 hearing it still going on. I loved it so much that I wanted to find a way to recreate that here a little in NYC. Granny’s Blue-Mers is set to perform on a monthly basis now and I wanted to not only allow folks to come up and hear our funny, dirty songs but also to bring an instrument or their voice and play! Dan Furman is on piano and Adam Weingarten on Drums (that’s a loose term with The Blue-Mers, more like he’s playing washbasin, boxes and metal objects like would have been in the old days) and Mario Claudio on back up vocals. I am hoping that some amazing artists show up and bring their ideas, music and instruments! Acoustic only!
They can expect to sign up to perform as a leader of a song if they wish or they can just play along with the crowd! I will be MCing and singing my songs all through the night.
I think its going to be great and a wonderful new tradition for NYC blues artists. If I can help to bring people together the way I experienced it in WV I will be so very happy.