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Introduction
Featured
Jam Sessions:
Anutt
(D&D Little Branson)
Fremont
Gainesville
(Hoerman Park)
Kissee
Mills
(Johnson Community Building)
Long Beach
(Mtn. Grove School)
Long
Lane
Manes
(Manes
Music Makers)
Mansfield
McClurg
McDowell
Mountain
View (Weaver's)
Souder
Springfield
(North Town Mall)
Strafford
Wasola
(Stone's)
Related
Events:
Opry's:
Webster Co. Opry
Picnics:
Vanzant Picnic
Fiddle
Competitions and Festivals:
Branson Fiddle Contest, Compton Ridge, and Ozarks
Celebration Festival
Dances:
Ava and Ebenezer
Homecomings:
Horsecreek Church
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Mountain
Grove School
Long Beach, MO
Every Thursday Evening
The jam session
started around 1982, and is run by John and Bill Holcomb. Held
in a one-room school building built in 1927 that John and Bill
attended as young students, the weekly gathering features country
songs, gospel songs, old popular songs, and fiddle tunes. Most
musicians play acoustic instruments, but electric guitars and
pianos are not uncommon. Several musicians bring their own
amplifiers.
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Sometimes
only five or six musicians come to the jam session, but often
as many a twenty are there. John states
proudly that some famous musicians have attended the jam, including
members of the bands of Brooks and Dunn, Emmy Lou Harris, and
Bill Monroe.
Directions from Springfield: drive
south on US 65 for 35 miles into downtown Branson; drive east
on 76 to Hwy T; drive north to Mountain Grove Rd., a few
miles before Long Beach, and turn right; the school building
is about a block on the left [See
map]. Photographs are from July 27, 2000.
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John has many stories
about the building, which has not been used as a school since
1952. For example, once the school bell was stolen and
then mysteriously retrieved many years later. Now the building
is principally used for the Thursday evening jams, but the community
occasionally uses it for reunions and Christmas parties. |
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The walls are covered with photographs and plaques
that review the history of the building and the people who have
used it. |
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Among the most regular, and most talented, musicians
at the jam session are Joe Brayfield on guitar and Earl Minard
on mandolin. The old blackboard and many other original school
supplies remain in the building. |
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John Holcomb, upper left corner, takes care of the
building and organizes the jam sessions with the help of his brother
Bill, pictured with the 1Dad cap. Roscoe Keithley, an experience
M.C., enjoys telling stories of the famous musicians who have passed
through the doors of the Mountain Grove School building. |
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