The bluegrass jam is a 25-year-old tradition in Pearl, a community right on the edge of the Texas Hill Country, about 20 miles from Gatesville. Pearl is so small, it has no post office, traffic lights, gas stations or stores. The native-stone Pearl Community Center—once a four-room schoolhouse—supplies the heartbeat of the community. In fact, the Pearl Bluegrass Jam began as a fundraiser to provide for the upkeep of the iconic building, which was built in 1918 and rebuilt in 1941 after it was damaged by fire. In 1997, it desperately needed repairs, and local residents devised a plan. “Nearly everybody likes music,” says Ronald Medart, a 1955 graduate of Pearl High School and now the president of Pearl Community Center. “October of 1997 was our first one,” he says.
When musicians and fans attended, volunteers recorded their contact information so they could be invited to future jams. Soon, the event began to grow. “I would get telephone calls 24 hours a day from people wanting to come,” Ronald says. The Pearl Community Center added an RV hookup, but it quickly became apparent that one hookup was insufficient. Today, there are 32 RV hookups for attendees. (Some RVers use the hookups even when it’s not a jam weekend.)
Musicians from many parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico have performed. “And we had one guy fly up here from California, remember?” says Bettie Blakley, the community center’s treasurer. “They come from everywhere,” Ronald says. “They should have a bus for everybody from Wimberley and Austin.” Once, some people from Germany attended the jam while they were visiting family in the area.
Some of the musicians—playing guitar, banjo, mandolin, violin, stand-up bass and Dobro (an acoustic version of the steel guitar)—find others to play with when they arrive. “I have seen them not even know each other and put on the best performance you have ever seen in your life,” Ronald says. Others, such as House Arrest, come as groups, says Guy Mathews, who lives in Temple. “We used to be the Lone Man Mountain Boys, but most of them have gone on to their reward,” he says. Guy has been attending the Pearl Bluegrass Jam for about 20 years. “People knew I liked to play music, and they told me about it. They said, ‘You need to go to Pearl.’ When I first came, it was really just kind of a local-folks thing,” he says, “but now people come from all over.”
At each jam, there is an open mic event, and at its heyday (before the pandemic forced a one-year hiatus), the community center auditorium was packed to overflowing. “We finally got to where we would have 300 people,” Ronald says, noting that the building has seating for 275. “People were lined up around the wall listening to certain bands—besides four rooms with musicians, and people listening to them, and under the sheds in fair weather.”
There is no entrance fee to the jam. Money is made from donations, RV hookups, and the sale of food (like pulled pork sandwiches, chili, beans, cornbread, and pie) and souvenirs (including caps and T-shirts). “The food is always great,” says Guy. “It’s all homemade!” Bettie boasts. The people who make the jam happen each month are all volunteers. “It’s people from everywhere—people who are interested in keeping the bluegrass going,” Bettie says. She and her twin sister, Minnie Wright—two of the 11 graduates of Pearl High School in 1956—volunteer in the kitchen on jam weekends.
“You couldn’t get one person in one hundred miles to tell you what bluegrass is,” Ronald maintains. “We’ve had country western and a lot of gospel. One man used to play Elvis Presley songs.” Most, however, agree that bluegrass music is acoustic, so the Pearl Bluegrass Jam does not allow electrification or amplifiers. Bluegrass musicians are often known as “pickers,” and their picking is impressive. “Some have played professionally,” he says. “They would rather play here than travel all over the U.S.”
In one jam room, as an impromptu group pauses to retune, another musician approaches. “Do you know ‘Kentucky Girl’ in the key of G, like gee whiz?” he asks. The musicians—people from their 20s to their 70s—begin to play, and the man starts to sing. “Kentucky girl, are you lonesome tonight. . .” When the song is over, he asks, “What about ‘Girl from West Virginia’ in G? Can y’all do that? ‘She told me that her name was Jenny. . .’ In G, then A minor and back to C.” Another musician says, “OK, I’ll pick it up.” And he does. When the vocalist begins to sing, another joins in to harmonize. The musicians seem to instinctively know when it’s time for a fiddle or banjo interlude. As the musicians continue to play, more people come into the room to listen. The scene is repeated in the other jam rooms and lasts all day.
One jam room features “slow jam,” a hodgepodge of young musicians. “Everybody is here to play and learn and support one another on that journey,” says Chris Ray, the vice-president of Pearl Community Center. “The older ones are great to share with them,” agrees Guy. In one jam room, there are framed photographs of young musicians who have gone on to play professionally.
One picker and his wife often travel over 100 miles, sometimes pulling their RV and sometimes for day trips, to pick with the bluegrass musicians at Pearl and to listen to others play. They first heard about the event in 2014–and the picker, who grew up playing guitar with his father, a mandolin player, was intrigued. “I went to play, figuring I could just hang with these guys, and they handed me my head,” he says, laughing. “I was not the musician I thought I was. There are all kinds of levels of skill: beginners, wannabes, and then you’ve got world-class musicians that have played professionally. They don’t do it for the money; they still have that fire deep inside to play. Other bluegrass venues have tried to figure out how Pearl has made it.”
As the day progresses, many attendees enjoy the homemade food. Others browse among the thousands of titles at the adjacent Pearl Book Cottage, a native-stone building that was once a teacherage. Some purchase crafts from local vendors; many engage in animated conversation. Meanwhile, the music never stops. “It has a family-friendly atmosphere,” Chris says. “The music is the biggest draw, but it’s not just the music. There’s the bookstore, and vendors come in. People come to participate, to listen or to shop. There’s something for everybody.”
The small-town atmosphere is contagious, and many people vow to come again next month. Bettie knows why. “There’s no place like Pearl,” she says.
For more information, visit facebook.com/pearlbluegrassjam.
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