Every Thursday for the past 19 years, a group of musicians has gathered at the old Roseland Community Center on the banks of the St. Sebastian River for a jam session.
They come from Indian River, Brevard and St. Lucie Counties mostly. A few come from the Beach. They come with all sorts of instruments, and they play and sing together.
And no matter how different their lives are the rest of the week, on Thursday afternoon between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., they share one thing – the simple love of making music.
Jackie James is a vivacious blonde, born and raised in Signal Mountain, TN, possessed of a great Southern drawl and a talent for playing the autoharp – by ear.
“I don’t read music,” she laughs.
James is also a devoted fan of Roseland, where she’s lived for years in a charming old Cracker house tucked away at the end of a sandy road.
She’s active in several local groups, including the Thursday jam sessions.
“Nineteen years ago my friend and I would go down to a big church in Vero Beach where musicians got together every Monday night – she played the dulcimer, I played my autoharp. We loved it. I told her ‘Why don’t we have it up here in Roseland?’”
So the two put out the word and sought permission to use the Community Center at 12925 Bay Street.
“At first we had eight or 10 people. Musicians like to play with other musicians. We’d play old country songs, old gospel, and a little bit of bluegrass. We’d play every single Thursday except one time the air conditioner was broken, so we went right over to the volunteer fire department and played there.”
As the years passed, more musicians joined in. An appreciative audience developed and it, too, has grown.
The musicians pretty much stick to the traditional music they began with, although – James says a bit wistfully – some jazz might be nice once in a while. But the audience loves to hear the old, familiar music and the musicians love to play it.
As much of the population does, the players ebb and flow with the seasons, and in the summer, the numbers dwindle. But, James says, there is a faithful core of year-rounders who keep the music playing and the audience coming, even during the summer months.
“We used to get down to about six in the summer. Now there’s more like 12 to 15 people.”
Then, The Season comes again and along with it, the snowbird musicians.
“In November,” James says, “people come down from West Virginia and that changes the whole complexion of the group. All they do all year round is play music. Some of them, I think, play every single instrument there is.
“In the first week of November, I’ll pull together a party – everybody comes and brings food,” James adds. “We get reacquainted; we play music for two hours and then we dine. We have all sorts of interesting people who come. We do that twice – in late winter and early spring.”
For more information on the Roseland jam sessions and about how to join in or just watch and listen, contact James at 772-913-2182.
