Good Places to Jam in Boston

[HarrisonMandolin]

Hi everyone,

I am moving to Boston in the summer to attend New England Conservatory for my masters and I really want to get a head start on learning about the music culture and community in the area. Any info on favorite jam sessions, concert venues, clubs, mandolin stories, music stores, etc. of yours would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Davey

[Ben Richardson]

I live outside of Boston, and there is a fair amount of mandolining around Boston. There is of course the Joe Val festival every year in Framingham. There is a old time jam and an irish jam every sunday and friday respectively at the Burren in Somerville. There is mando camp north in Charlton every year and the cape cod mando camp in east sandwich every year. There is the new england mandolin orchestra in boston I think and a great new orchestra in about 3 hours west in south hadley. The music emporium is a good acoustic music store with a few mandolins.

[Austin Koerner]

Cantab Lounge!

[August Watters]

Check out the website for Boston Bluegrass Union - www.bbu.org - the BBU offers:
1. Joe Val Festival - every February
2. Jam'n weekend - twice a year
3. concert series
4. occasional workshops (Roland White was two days ago!)

Summary of nearby festivals:
March Mandolin Festival - in New Hampshire, with David Surette
Cape Cod Mandolin Camp - end of September, East Sandwich Beach
Mandolin & Banjo Camp North
Festival of Mandolin Chamber Music - semiannual, in Vermont
New England Folk Festival- in the Spring
Lowell Folk Festival - July

There's a lot going on here in the Boston area!

[allenhopkins]

Cantab Lounge!

Tuesday night bluegrass jam, feature act followed by open stage.

Website; Central Square in Cambridge.

Music store: Music Emporium on Mass Ave in Lexington.

Boston Bluegrass Union sponsors events, has a jam calendar, etc. Folk Song Society of Greater Boston sponsors concerts and sings, weekends etc. There are several open mic listings; this one requires no sign-up and claims to be relatively current.

Lots going on in Boston; have fun!

[HarrisonMandolin]

Awesome! Fantastic info!!

[jaycat]

You do not want to miss the Lowell Folk Festival (mentioned above). I believe it is the largest free music festival in the country. They close off the entire downtown area and have 5-6 stages of music going on at any given time. Hey, I got to see Swamp Dogg there a couple of years ago -- you can't beat that!

In addition there is the Lowell Summer Music Series. Schedule: http://www.lowellsummermusic.org/pag...=home/home.htm
Get there early and bring a lawn chair.

We also have two world-class jazz clubs: Regattabar and Scullers. A short list of acts I've seen there over the past few years: Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mose Allison, Diana Krall, Karyn Allison, Persuasions, & Irma Thomas. Sorry, no bluegrass content.