Pickin' - A Bluegrass All-Star Jam onstage

It’s a bluegrasser’s delight.

“Pickin’ – A Bluegrass Allstar Jam” is back for its third year — and something new this season, the jam is on tour in January.

The mega-concert recently returned for the third year to the Paramount Center in Bristol, Tenn.

With the help of sponsorship, the crowds were up from the previous years, and the 2008 line-up changed to allow some new faces to appear. Some of the earlier participants simply couldn’t make the 2008 jam because of scheduling conflicts with their own bands.

Joining artists Phil Leadbetter, David Talbot and Tim Laughlin, who had appeared all three years, were returning artists Adam Steffey, Alecia Nugent and Kenny & Amanda Smith. Newcomers included Terry Baucom, Ron Stewart, Josh Williams, Alan Bibey, Missy Raines, Rickey Wasson, Jim Hurst, Dale Ann Bradley and Bradley Walker.

Again Mike Bub played and coordinated the music.

This season, there was a receptive response to the idea of taking the show to other venues. Thanks to the work of Harry Scanlan, former director of the Paramount, and the folks at CMI Entertainment, Inc., jams are being scheduled at other venues as 2009 plans are being made.

The original idea of the Bristol jam was to gather some of the best pickers and singers from the bluegrass genre to perform in a jam-type setting. Each artist appearing would bring two songs to the event and, out of the other artists appearing, they could choose who they wanted to appear on those two selections. If they did not have a preference as to who appeared with them, then the music coordinator arranged the selection.

An emcee was selected to introduce the songs and performers as they appeared on stage. The artists would then speak to the crowd and perhaps give their reasons for their song selections or related stories.

“Pickin’ – A Bluegrass Allstar Jam” was based loosely on another event that was held at the Paramount in the early part of this decade. The event was “Knee-Deep In Bluegrass- The Acutab Sessions” which had different artists performing songs from the recording project of the same name. “Knee Deep In Bluegrass” won the Recorded Event of the Year in 2001 as chosen by members of the International Bluegrass Music Association.

The Pickin’ event is different in that the organizational staff of the event contacts members of the bluegrass community and tries to get some of the genre’s finest to participate.

In its first year, the jam attracted Phil Leadbetter, Adam Steffey, Mike Bub, Jim Mills, Larry Cordle, David Talbot, Don Rigsby, Kim Fox, Rob Ickes, Rob McCoury, Darrel Webb, Steve Gulley, Ronnie Bowman, Tim Laughlin, Terry Eldridge, Alecia Nugent, Bobby Hicks, Jason Carter, Junior Sisk, and Marshall Wilborn while Tim Stafford played as well as coordinated the music.

Though the artists were selected before the 2006 IBMA awards, the staff of Pickin’was able to bring four of the instrumentalists of the year to the event.

The first event met with huge success, and while the event was in progress, there was talk of doing a second show amongst the Paramount staff and the artists. Also, there was backstage chatter of taking this event to other venues because of all the fun that artists were having while performing out of their usual band context.

In 2007, “Pickin’ – A Bluegrass Allstar Jam” was brought back to the Paramount. Due to personal and band commitments, some of the original artists could not make the second event. However, several did return, including Leadbetter, Cordle, Talbot, Rigsby, Kim Fox, Rob McCoury, Darrel Webb, Steve Gulley, Ronnie Bowman, Tim Laughlin, Bobby Hicks, and Jason Carter.

Added to the line-up for the first time were Barry Bales, Paul Williams, Kenny & Amanda Smith and David Grier. The music coordinator changed due to Tim Stafford’s commitments; that position was assumed by Bub who played in the event as well.

The 2007 show met with success as attendance was up. Again, there was talk of taking the show to other venues.

After the 2008 “Pickin’ – A Bluegrass Allstar Jam,” the show is ready to take to the road. The road trip starts at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8 at the Progress Energy Center, Meymandi Concert Hall, Pinecone Concert Series, in Raleigh, N.C. Other shows in January are scheduled in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and virginia. Cindy Baucom is serving as the jam’s emcee.

A complete tour schedule, with a tentative artist lineup for each show, can be found at http://www.pickonejams.com/Schedule.htm

Questions can also be addressed via email to bluegrassallstarjam@yahoo.com.

You can also download a flyer for the Download Bluegrass AllStar Jam flyer..