Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Bring along that mandocello and join the Seattle Mandolin Orchestra!
http://seattlemandolin.org
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
I've never been to the Green Lake neighborhood, but it's relatively close to the Fremont and Ballard neighborhoods, which I love. Dusty Strings is in Fremont, too, in case you need to do some mando tasting or get strings and such.
As your buddies may have already told you, Port Townsend and the San Juan Islands are wonderful for weekend getaways. You'll also be about a 2.5-hour drive from Vancouver.
For festivals, the only one I know about is a major high-end guitar festival. https://laconnerguitarfestival.com/ I've never gone, but there are some great names on the luthier list.
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mrmando
Might be a good use for it - I honestly rarely play it these days. Thanks for the heads up :)
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Northwest Folklife happens at Seattle Center every Memorial Day weekend and there's music of every imaginable kind.
The jam session at the Maltby Community Center on the first Saturday of every month is sort of the mother of all the other bluegrass jams.
Wintergrass is an indoor festival the last weekend in February. There are smaller outdoor bluegrass festivals around the area all summer long.
https://washingtonbluegrassassociation.org/
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
There used to be a few BG and oldtimey things listed in meetup.com before pandemic, but just ask at Dusty. That neighborhood, is guitar store central, Amer. Music up the road, Mike and Mike's guitar bar, Lasley also for fiddle and cellos
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Is anyone a member of the Washington Bluegrass Association? I looked at their site and looks like there's only 2 regular things going on - 1 jam on Monday and 1 show on Wednesday by the Rank Strangers. Seems like there's a lot more than just that happening haha.
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
In July there’s the Columbia Gorge Bluegrass Festival in Stevenson, WA on the Columbia River. http://new.columbiagorgebluegrass.net/
In August (and a little closer to Seattle) there’s the Centralia Campout https://www.centraliacampout.com/ No stage, no stars (‘cept at night overhead) just jamming in the park by the river for nine days.
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
The Goldendale Pickers Festival is a good one if you're mostly interested in playing music with others. It doesn't book special guest bands but there is lot's of good music made in the park. Due to Covid it's missed a couple of years but is back on this year. https://www.facebook.com/pg/goldenda...ersfest/posts/
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Maltby has a monthly jam. Maltby is east of Seattle. Wintergrass festival at end of February. Wenatchee BG festival in June. Darrington BG festival in July. Stevenson BG festival in July. Bluegrass From the Forest BG festival in July. Toledo/WA BG Festival in August. Winlock BG festival in August. North Cascades BG festival at end of August. The Rank Strangers jam is by-invite only. It's in Olympia. There are other jams in the area. I'll see if I can find more info.
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
There is a Seattle Bluegrass Club on Facebook. I bet you can find more jam info there.
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Quote:
Originally Posted by
banjoboy
There is a Seattle Bluegrass Club on Facebook. I bet you can find more jam info there.
I'm on that too ;). Just covering the bases for those not on Facebook.
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Quote:
Originally Posted by
banjoboy
Maltby has a monthly jam. Maltby is east of Seattle. Wintergrass festival at end of February. Wenatchee BG festival in June. Darrington BG festival in July. Stevenson BG festival in July. Bluegrass From the Forest BG festival in July. Toledo/WA BG Festival in August. Winlock BG festival in August. North Cascades BG festival at end of August. The Rank Strangers jam is by-invite only. It's in Olympia. There are other jams in the area. I'll see if I can find more info.
Thanks a bunch for the details!
I couldn't find details on the Rank Strangers jam but I feel like I've heard about that before - though I may be thinking of Conor Byrne jam which is also invite only from what I hear.
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Hey Matt, how has your move worked out? Have you found enough music going on in the Seattle area to keep yourself busy?
I hope it's gone well. Sorry we didn't get a chance to jam again while you were in SoCal, but maybe we'll bump into each other again at a festival.
Best wishes to you!
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dhergert
Hey Matt, how has your move worked out? Have you found enough music going on in the Seattle area to keep yourself busy?
I hope it's gone well. Sorry we didn't get a chance to jam again while you were in SoCal, but maybe we'll bump into each other again at a festival.
Best wishes to you!
Hey Don,
So far, so good! Lots of great music and festivals around here. I found a few local jams I'm attending (Conor Byrne, Hidden Door from time to time, Machine Brewing) and already been to two bluegrass festivals (Wenatchee and Darrington) with plans to attend the Mount Saint Helen's coming up too.
I hope we get to jam again sometime soon Don! I'm planning to come back to SD / Carlsbad for the South State 48 and ideally Bakersfield for the Great 48 as well. I may even make it down to Huck Finn ;)
I hope all is well with you too! Looking forward to seeing that metal bass again ;)
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mbruno
Hey Don,
So far, so good! Lots of great music and festivals around here. I found a few local jams I'm attending (Conor Byrne, Hidden Door from time to time, Machine Brewing) and already been to two bluegrass festivals (Wenatchee and Darrington) with plans to attend the Mount Saint Helen's coming up too.
I hope we get to jam again sometime soon Don! I'm planning to come back to SD / Carlsbad for the South State 48 and ideally Bakersfield for the Great 48 as well. I may even make it down to Huck Finn ;)
I hope all is well with you too! Looking forward to seeing that metal bass again ;)
Good, glad you're doing well up there...
We're definitely planning on camping at SummerGrass in Vista August 17-22 if you're considering that (we'll be in "Electric"), and we're currently planing to go to the South State 48 for a day, not sure which day yet -- and yes, I'll be bringing the "Silver Bullet", I've just re-strung it and it's sounding pretty good.
Looking forward to seeing and jamming with you! :mandosmiley:
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
A nice little place is the Connor Byrne Pub in Ballard. Used to be an OT jam there every Tuesday, but I am not sure it that is still going.
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JeffD
A nice little place is the Connor Byrne Pub in Ballard. Used to be an OT jam there every Tuesday, but I am not sure it that is still going.
I don't think there's an OT jam anymore - but the WBA bluegrass jam is going strong still. 8pm till ~1 or 2am frequently. Great group of pickers from beginners to advanced - and lots of bad bluegrass jokes.
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
In case anyone else is interested in some Seattle music - here's what I've found in my first year here
There's a TON of bluegrass jams! For a while, I was going Sunday - Wednesday almost every week!
Sunday
+ Outlander (Fremont) - progressive bluegrass jam, so lots of tunes that would be jam busters elsewhere (the High Road, Garfield's Blackberry) and some non-BG material (old time, near-bluegrass tunes etc)
Monday
+ Conor Byrne (Ballard) - pretty standard bluegrass jam. Great people, but limited size (only 8 - 10 allowed at a time). There's an outdoor area where sometimes a second jam gets held. Dog friendly :)
+ Hidden Door (Shoreline) - This alternates between bluegrass and swing - no real rhyme or reason it seems. Lots of great pickers though and tons of fun. Dog friendly too
Tuesday
+ Red Hen (Green Lake) - Same folks from the Outlander jam. This is a newer jam, so not too well attended yet, but still fun.
Wednesday
+ Machine House Brewing (Georgetown) - this is every other Wednesday and is a big jam that often has two circles going. It strays from BG often but easy stuff (blues, folk, some old time). This likely will be shutdown soon though as they are moving further south to Columbia City. I believe the organizers are trying to find a new home.
The bluegrass festivals around here are a lot different than I'm used to.
Wintergrass reminds me of the Great 48 but bigger and with a variety of main stage acts - lots of fun!
Most of the outdoor summer festivals have 5 bands that play the entire weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) - so not a lot of variety which is unfortunate. On the plus side, it's cheap since they don't have to pay so many acts - but I'd rather pay a higher ticket price and have the variety. That said, the jamming at the festivals has been pretty good. Nice blend of beginner / intermediate / advanced jams and a lot of the artists hang out in the campgrounds at night. I'm looking forward to hitting up a few again this year - especially Darrington, just a beautiful location and lots of outdoors!
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Worth a drive to Wenatchee. Nice facilities and great bands. Sure to Rise Bakery has lovely donuts as a reward for your walk into Cashmere. Take the free bus back to the fairgrounds to save the uphill walk back:)
Just sayin…….
Re: Seattle Jams and Meetups
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bill McCall
Worth a drive to Wenatchee. Nice facilities and great bands. Sure to Rise Bakery has lovely donuts as a reward for your walk into Cashmere. Take the free bus back to the fairgrounds to save the uphill walk back:)
Just sayin…….
I didn't really like the Wenatchee bluegrass festival honestly. It was weird having the only stage inside a big metal barn - and we got yelled at for dancing at one point by the staff, which was really weird IMO. Jamming was good for sure - great people, dog friendly which was awesome and etc. Just a weird venue, weird rules, and only 5 bands playing the whole weekend.
That said, I'll be going back again this year most likely. Still healing up from an annoying left hand injury though :(
