Weblinks: Main Page

Acoustic Friends offers an alternative to generic social networking sites. The community you involve yourself in is built around and for acoustic musicians, allowing you to participate in groups and forums that are full of people who share your interests and passions. Are you tired of being invited to so-and-sos private web chat every few days on other social networking services? Sign up with acoustic friends.

Acousticfriends.com and folkjam.org have partnered to bring you social networking in the virtual world and networking socially in the physical world through jam sessions near you.

Austin Friends of Traditional Music (AFTM) has its origins in the autumn of 1974 when a group of musicians gathered in an Austin living room with a special purpose in mind: to produce a traditional music convention with competition for pickers and singers. By November of that year, the first convention was held. It was financed on a shoestring budget and the only publicity was free publicity. And its producers wondered if there would be enough interest for the convention to last until noon. But by midnight, their fears had dissolved. Living room pickers from all over the area attended, competed, and got to know each other and AFTM was on its way. (from their web site)

The oldest Bluegrass tab site on the net, "Banjo Tablatures and Bluegrass Information" at bluegrassbanjo.org has a number of useful pages for bluegrass pickers, including a lengthy list of recurring jam sessions from around the United States, which is where this link takes you to. Pay Phil a visit and thank him for keeping up with his site for over twelve years.

Banjohangout.org is a thriving community of banjo pickers that provides pretty much anything a banjo player may need. Among their offerings is an event listing service for festivals, camps, workshops and jams that are of interest to banjo players. Stop by and check them out.

Over 3000 bluegrass-related links and 9000 lyrics!

The Bluegrass Americana site provides a number of items, including a listing of festivals in North America.

Check their site as well as our festival calendar when looking for information on festivals.

Edward Pollak, a professer and fiddle player from West Chester, PA, maintains a good list of jams in his region.


You may also find user contributed jams on folkjam listings near Baltimore, folkjam listings near Wilmington, Delaware and listings in Northern NJ, New York City and Rockland County.

The premier resource for bluegrass fans, musicians, promoters and organisers around Australia. Where to find bluegrass in Australia, and the main way you can tell others about events you might be organising.

Another way you can tell others about your acoustic music jam sessions is through folkjam.org. Contribute to folkjam.org and your session can appear on our local maps. Look for user contributed jam sessions near Brisbane, Syndey, Melbourne

A guide to Bluegrass festivals in the US.

Meetup.com allows people with similar interests to find eachother and organize meetings. It has a bluegrass area with a small collection of recurring bluegrass sessions listed.

Bluegrassguitar.com brings together learning resources, artist information, tabs and various bluegrass materials for guitar players.

Bluegrass music on the internet around the clock, Gospel music every weekend. This is user ebanjo's live365 serviced Bluegrass radio station. Tune in!

The California Traditional Music Society (CTMS) is dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of traditional Folk Music, dance and related folk arts of America's diverse cultural heritage by broadening public involvement with Folk Music. (from their about page)

The Colorado Bluegrass Music Society site maintains a list of jam sessions in Colorado, as well as a directory of local bluegrass bands.

You may want to check for user contributed jams on folkjam.org near your city too, as well as view folkjam listings near Denver for more jams.

Community Guitar is a ten year old program in Northamption, MA (US) that teaches students how to play guitar in group settings rather than teaching them to play alone. If you want to play with others but don't yet have the nerve or the repertoire this is a way to start.

This site, which dubs itself as the 'official' website for Irish music in Worcester, Mass, offers up a list of Irish sessuins in the greater New England area.

This Washington, DC area based bluegrass organization keeps tabs on events, open jam sessions and the overall bluegrass scene in the DC area.

The Delaware Friends of Folk organization supports folk arts in Delaware. They host monthly picking sessions, sponsor open mic events and coordinate sessions at local coffee houses.

The Desert Bluegrass Association (DBA) was formed in Tucson, Arizona in March, 1995 to promote, preserve and perpetuate traditional Bluegrass music in Greater Tucson and Southern Arizona. The DBA is an all volunteer non-profit organization consisting of not only local members but numerous visitors (snowbirds) from throughout the United States and Canada. (from their web site)

View DBA and Tuscon area jams on folkjam.org.

DLA music entries are derived from non-commercial sound recordings that document much of Appalachian music's geographic, ethnic, vocal, and instrumental diversity. The several thousand presently available provide an unprecedented resource for study of repertoire, technique, lore, and the musical interchanges among the region's traditional musicians, many of who are no longer living.

This website provides information about hammered dulcimer events in the Michigan area, where this is a very high concentration of interest for this particular instrument. There is also a repository of sheet music and midi files for traditional and original (tradtionally inspired) songs as well as links to various other resources within and outside of the hammered dulcimer community.

Ed maintains a healthy list of folk festivals across the east coast.

A loose group of those obsessed by, in thrall to or otherwise in love with fiddle music of ALL kinds - north-south-east and west!

The GCBMA was founded in Pace, Florida, in 1993 to bring more bluegrass music to northwest Florida and southern Alabama. The association sponsors music festivals and concerts featuring local, regional, and national bluegrass performers. We also contribute to a music scholarship at Pensacola Junior College. (from their web site)

FARM is the Midwest regional chapter of the Folk Alliance and supports folk music and dance in the greater Midwest region. Like their sibling Folk Alliance organizations, FARM operates regional gatherings of folk musicians. Visit their web site for more information.

Folk Alliance Region West (FAR-West) is the western regional chapter of the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance (Folk Alliance). FAR-West exists to foster and promote traditional, contemporary and multicultural folk music, dance and related performing arts in the Western United States including but not limited to California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii, and Alaska. FAR-West seeks to strengthen and advance organizational and individual initiatives in folk music and dance through education, networking, advocacy, field and professional development. (from their web site)

The Folk Federation of NSW contains events and articles about the folk scene in the New South Wales state of Australia. The site's content is predominantly user contributed. If you live in NSW or will be visiting, this is a good resource for finding local acoustic folk activities in the area.

The FMSNY keeps folk music alive in and around Huntington on Long Island. They sponsor monthly shows and jams as well as an annual festival. Visit their web site for more information.

Folkworks provides information on folk/traditional music, dance, storytelling and folk arts in the greater LA area. The magazine lists upcoming events, festivals and sessions.

Author Stas Bekman maintains several of the Internet FAQs on his site, including several about musical styles and genres.

The GOBMS maintains a list of jam sessions and bluegrass shows from around Oaklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. View their jam lists.

If you regularly attend a GOBMS jam please consider posting the details of the session to folkjam.org.

You might also check out folkjam listings in Oklahoma City to see what user contributed jams are listed in that area.

This site has a reasonable list of old time jam sessions broken down by US state as well as a list of festivals.

iBluegrass.com maintains a database of bands, festivals and recurring jams. We urge you to check their listings too as you look for a jam in your neighborhood.

The Idaho Bluegrass Association maintains a list of jam sessions in the state.

The Indiana Bluegrass site offers information on jam sessions, instructors, festivals, bands and live shows. They offer a newsletter and links to local streaming radio programs too.

You might also find jams in your city too here on folkjam.org. Do you regularly attend a local area jam session? Contribute details of the jam to folkjam.org and spread the word.

The Kansas Acoustic Arts Association near Wichita, KS sponsors acoustic music events in the region. See their events calendar for details on upcoming events.

You may also find user contributed jam sessions near Wichita, Kansas on folkjam.

Local Kansas City bluegrass information, tips, hints and news.

Founded in 1966, KOFP&S is a non-profit entertainment and education corporation dedicated to promoting, encouraging, educating and preserving the enjoyment of the art form known as "oldtime music".

KOFP&S membership is made up of musicians and music lovers of all ages forming 18 different chapters scattered around the state. Monthly meetings provide opportunity for fun and fellowship.

Louisiana Folk Roots is a non-profit organization dedicated to nurturing the unique cultural traditions, resources, and folkways that abound here in Louisiana. From refined native crafts to exhilarating traditional music, from distinct regional folkways to hot dance steps and magically intense cuisine, Louisiana offers the world a cultural cornucopia unrivaled in its depth and diversity. (from their site)

If you are looking for acoustic music jam sessions in Louisiana, visit our location changing form, type in your city and see what jams we have available in your area. If you run or regularly attend a jam then please consider contributing it to folkjam.org.

This portal site provides information on folk and roots music in the state of Michigan.

This group organizes festivals in several Midwestern states and also offers an annual guide to festivals in the Midwest on their site.

MABC describes itself as the oldest continually running bluegrass organization in the United States. Their website offers information on the festivals they sponsor, forums and newsletters. Their mission is to "promote the education and enjoyment of traditional and bluegrass music and preserve the folk traditions from which this music was developed; to promote the appreciation and promulgation of the art of teaching and learning relevant to traditional instrumentation and composition."

This site provides news and information on Bluegrass happenings in the state of Missouri in the US.

Missouri Valley Folklife Society (MVFS) is an all-volunteer not-for-profit Kansas City regional organization committed to bringing high quality traditional, folk music and dance performances to the Kansas City area. Recent concert seasons included Battlefield Band, Flook, Kevin Burke with Johnnie Connelly and Ged Foley, The Black Brothers, Brewer & Shipley, and the annual Metro Artists Concert with Eddie Delahunt and Tullamore. While many concerts feature Irish and Scottish roots music, bluegrass, classic folk, and other acoustic traditional music is presented. (from the mvfs.org home page)

This site covers country music and opry events in eastern Kansas and Western Missouri, essentially a very large area around Kansas City. The events listed on this site are frequently part show, part jam. Their calendar is full enough to keep you busy every night of the week all month long every month of the year if you are willing to drive quite a bit.

Western Montana is rich in bluegrass music and the MRBA is at the heart of the bluegrass community. With about 300 members, including some "world class" pickers, the association is active throughout the year. The MRBA hosts a one-day bluegrass festival in April featuring some of the northwest's finest bluegrass bands. We also sponsor performances by nationally and internationally known bands. To take advantage of our beautiful surroundings and fine weather, we hold a number of bluegrass camp outs throughout the summer. These campouts feature some of the hottest jams around, some fine potluck meals and wonderful fellowship. They are some of our most popular activities. Finally the Association holds workshops and jams at various locations throughout the year.

This is a multi-purpose site, designed to aid musicians in web-based self-promotional endeavors as well as learning to use existing technology to distribute, collaborate, share, edit and/or create their music...regardless of the tone or type of music. (from their homepage)

The site's content appears to be focused on San Diego County.

Since 1989, Folk Alliance has served as the headquarters for Folk Music and Dance. With over 2000 members worldwide and an annual conference that is one of the five largest music conferences in North America, Folk Alliance continues to grow and mature while providing a unique range of member services to our community. Over the years, our community has grown to include record companies, publishers, presenters, agents, managers, music support services, manufacturers and artists that work in the folk world. Folk Alliance has six regional affiliates that provide the grass roots efforts in their respective markets.

NERFA organizes an annual gathering of folk musicians as well as other folk music and dance activity in the Northeastern region of the United States. Visit their web site for information on the location and dates of their next regional conference.

The NIBA is a not-for-profit organization that exists to promote Bluegrass in Northern IL. They maintain a page listing recurring acoustic music events in their area. Check the folkjam listings around Chicago to see what our users have contributed as well.

This organization brings together bluegrass music events within a 200 mile radius of Fort Wayne, Indiana. It includes well maintained jam session and festial listings in addition to bluegrass rumors.

You might also check our user contributed listings on folkjam.org within 200 miles of Fort Wayne.

The OFGC sponsors area jams and lists them on their site, along with a host of other area information.

Violin technique lessons on DVD.

The northernmost member of the North American Folk Alliance, the OCFF coordinates regional festivals and folk music gatherings.

From their web site:
The OCFF serves festivals, organizations and individuals working in the traditional, contemporary and multicultural folk music industry in Ontario. Its services and programs are developed to reflect the divergent needs of each of its client groups. Anyone, individual or organization, working in this field is a potential member.

The Original Michigan Fiddlers Association was formed in 1976 with the goal of encouraging and bringing about a greater interest in fiddle music activities throughout the state of Michigan. The OMFA also encourages the collection and preservation of fiddle music along with an appreciation of our musical history. (from their site)

The PBHS runs several weekly jams in Vancouver, Canada. Visit their jams page for more information.

A blog of bluegrass jams maintained by Rod Ford. The site has listings for jams in several states across the United States.

Pickinbluegrass.net provides information on shows, jams and bluegrass.

Our Motto " if you do not play your ax with other people it will end up in the closet"

Who we are : The Pickoids
Not a band just a group of individual artists that do not have time to be in a band or perform very much live. We provide an outlet for your talents with:

Weekly Jam sessions (average 10 musicians)
Recording sessions
Production of cds with our music on it.
Occasional live performances mostly for no money.
Web site to show our pictures, music and video
An emailing list ( Strings) to communicate with other musicians weekly

Comprehensive local and statewide folk and traditional music happenings, links to other trad music stuff out there on the web. (from their home page)

The Flyin Fiddler Wayne Cantwell maintains a list of jam sessions in the Oklahoma City region.

The Sabine Bluegrass Club services Bluegrass lovers in the Southern Central States, including Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, New Mexico, Missouri and Louisiana. They maintain an extensive event listing for area jams on their site that we recommend you visit.

You might also check for user contributed jams here on folkjam.org in several cities, including Kirksville Missouri, Bellville Texas, Lafayette Louisiana, Amarillo Texas, Austin Texas, Richmond Texas, Catoosa Oklahoma, Winnfield Louisiana, Oklahoma City, OK, Liberty Texas, Enterprise Louisiana, Old Glory Texas and others. If you host or regularly attend a jam please do consider contributing a jam to folkjam.org.

The San Diego, California Folk Heritage Organization maintains a calendar of weekly and monthly recurring bluegrass, Irish, Old Time and folk jam sessions in the area. The calendar is full enough to make me want to move to the city my parents grew up in.

You may also want to check for user contributed sessions near San Diego here on folkjam.org.

The Sarasota Folk Club maintains a list of recurring jams in and around Sarasota, Florida.

You may also find user contributed sessions near Sarasota that have been posted here on folkjam.org.

Looking for a little bluegrass picking in Scotland? Visit the web site of the Scottish Bluegrass Association, which exists to promote bluegrass musicians across Scotland. They list picking sessions in a few cities too, so do check out their listings.

Sid Lewis offers jamming workshops at several festivals on the west coast of the United States through the year. If you are wondering what skills you need before you head off to the local jam session you found on folkjam.org you should check out these workshops.

A community of musicians with common interests in sobriety and music. Offers forum, chat, connections to other musicians and support.

The SouthEastern Bluegrass Association (SEBA) has a very well done site that provides information on jam sessions in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. They also have a very good database of festivals from around the country, forums, news on bluegrass music in their region and a links repository.

The SWFBA operates bluegrass jams and gatherings in southwestern Florida. Their site lists their own jams as well as several in the area.

The Southwest Regional Folk Alliance (SWRFA) serves as the regional chapter for the North American Folk Alliance for the Southwestern United States. Like their sibling organizations they organize regional folk meetings to bring musicians together. Visit their web site for the details of the next SWRFA folk gathering.

Kansas’ only non-profit American roots music school

OUR MISSION
To teach, promote and support the advancement of all forms of American music and its influences, and to pass on the grand traditions of American-based roots music to future generations. Nestled at the southern end of downtown, Americana Music Academy offers group and private music lessons in a relaxed setting with some of the region's most notable pickers, players and songwriters. This non-profit organization also offers music therapy sessions with a certified music therapist. Take in Americana's packed concert schedule, including plenty of porch jams, community jams held at Signs of Life and other special events.

The Folk Society of NY maintains lists of jam sessions in the greater New York area.

The Folk Project is a not-for-profit folk music, storytelling, and dance organization which sponsors or organizes a wide variety of folk activities in the Northern New Jersey area.

The Folk Song Society of Greater Boston is a non-profit organization of people interested in folk music: its traditional origins and sources and its current expressions. We are dedicated to providing opportunities for everyone to make, enjoy, and support this music. Membership in the Folk Song Society offers you reduced admission to FSSGB concerts, attendance at singing parties and special events, a free subscription to the Folk Letter, and regular announcements of FSSGB events.

The GRFAS organizes contra dances and acoustic folk events in the greater Grand Rapids, Michigan area. In addition to maintaining a list of jam sessions near Grand Rapids, they maintain jams on folkjam.org. View the jams maintained by the Grand River Folk Arts Society.

On a hot July afternoon in 1983, about a dozen members of a beginning Hammered Dulcimer class met at a park in Wyandotte, MI to review what they had learned together. This was the beginning of the Silver Strings Dulcimer Society. Since then, the club has grown to over 100 members playing a variety of acoustic instruments, about half of which are Hammered Dulcimers.

The purpose of the organization is to play the hammered dulcimer together with other instruments for our enjoyment, and to promote and encourage knowledge of the hammered dulcimer through regularly scheduled meetings, workshops, performances, newsletters and other related activities.

A UK site that is our long lost cousin, probably separated from the family at birth and adopted. It is the only other site like folkjam that we've found.

VABluegrass.com is a web page devoted to being a reference guide for those interested in Bluegrass/Folk/Irish or other acoustic music in Virginia. The goal of this site is to make it easier for those people who love acoustic music to learn, play and share that music with others. (from their about page)

The granddaddy of them all for Irish musicians. Tunes, community, links, recordings and world wide session listings.

The comprehensive Twin Cities acoustic music calendar for Minneapolis, St. Paul, and surrounding Minnesota communities, covering bluegrass, old-time, country, Celtic, Cajun, Nordic, blues, folk, Americana, singer/songwriter, and contemporary folk music. It includes major events in the upper Midwest, including Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota. (from the site's homepage)

You may also find user contributed jam sessions near Minneapolis/St. Paul on folkjam.org.

This site was set up to give bluegrass and related music in the UK a genuine web presence. Whilst there are lots of bluegrass sites out there, we are always encountering people online who think there is no bluegrass scene in Britain or believe that they are the only person in the country to play bluegrass instruments.

ukbluegrass aims to act as a web portal to link all the existing online information together and help those who wish to find out more about the British bluegrass scene.

David Snyder maintains a very good list of Bluegrass shows, festivals and jams in the northern/upstate part of South Carolina.

OpenMikes.org maintains a state by state (for the United States and Canada) listing of user contributed open mic nights.

The Washington Bluegrass Association is a nonprofit corporation founded in 1982. Its purpose is to promote, encourage, foster, and cultivate the preservation and understanding, enjoyment and support of bluegrass and other closely related music of these United States of America. (from their web page)

Front Porch Radio streams live audio from Winfield, Kansas for the first time in 2006. Situated in the West campgrounds at the Group Therapy Acoustic Sound Stage, anybody can sign up to have their performance broadcast out to all the poor souls who were unable to make it to Winfield or didn't know that they should have gone.