LUCKY PICKERS JAM
A Monthly Jam held on the first Sunday of the month from 3-6PM
Location: Black Lung Brewing Round Lake Beach, 2217 N IL-83, Round Lake Beach, IL 60073
Host: Lucky Pickers (Caleb Peters & Despina Pafralides)
Features: bluegrass, old-time, circle jam
Description: Lucky Pickers bluegrass jam! Hosts Despina Pafralides and Caleb Peters perform an opening set from 3-4PM and then area pickers gather for a circle jam from 4-6PM. This is an intermediate to advanced jam. You should be able to lead a song. This jam includes bluegrass standards, country songs, old time fiddle tunes, and more. Patrons and pickers under 21 years old must be accompanied by an adult.
Travel & Accessibility: Accessible by car. Black Lung Brewery has a parking lot. No public transit. Wheelchair accessible, no stairs.
For More Information: Lucky Pickers Facebook Page, Black Lung Brewery Events Page
Q&A with Caleb & Despina, hosts of the Lucky Pickers Jam
Cassie Wright, Bluegrass Chicago: Lucky Pickers are everywhere – you play, write, travel, and jam! When did the jam start it and what made you want to start your own jam?
Caleb & Despina: Up here in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago there is a small community of folks who love to listen to and/or play bluegrass music. It’s not as small as we thought though. Almost every month we’re seeing new players come in from the surrounding areas. We just thought it would be fun to create a space where everyone can get together, meet and play together. So far its connected several of our new and old friends and we’re happy to see this!
BC: Tell us a bit about the jam and what folks can expect when they attend.
Caleb & Despina: The first hour is a Lucky Pickers performance. We get things started and play original songs and “jam busters” (songs that are hard for the group to follow). We often invite a guest to join us in order to highlight different players from the area, often someone who comes to the jam. Depending on the collective skill level we typically keep the jam pretty straight forward, so that everyone can participate. Sometimes its simple 3 or 4 chord songs, but we’ve been known to push the more intermediate tunes on some occasions.
BC: What is it about jams that you enjoy?
Caleb & Despina: Meeting new players, learning the tunes that folks bring to the table and the community coming together. We’ve seen so many new friendships and new bands form from the jam.
BC: What are some tunes being called right now?
Caleb & Despina: It seems the popular choice these days is a lot of Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, sometimes even some Grateful Dead. You can expect to hear us singing songs such as Nellie Kane, Big Spike Hammer, Ruby, On and On, Love Please Come Home & fiddle tunes such as Cherokee Shuffle, Big Sciota, and Red Wing.
BC: How did you two get into bluegrass, old-time, folk music?
Caleb & Despina: We both came from different eclectic musical backgrounds like rock n roll, punk rock, jamband, blues etc..For me (Caleb) I started playing a lot of acoustic shows on guitar/mandolin and as you can imagine I fell right into love for bluegrass/folk music. I think what really did it for me was going to my 1st bluegrass festival (John Hartford Memorial Festival). Getting to meet and jam with a bunch of great players is super inspiring, and it definitely gave me a bug to be more in the scene.
BC: You both are very busy performers with Lucky Pickers, Fox Crossing Stringband and solo shows, tell us more about who you play music with and what’s on the horizon for you?
Caleb & Despina: Yes, we stay pretty busy between all of the various groups and solo shows! While Fox Crossing is focusing more on shows and traveling for the spring & summer this year, Lucky Pickers is getting more of an original repertoire dialed in and hoping to have an album by the end of the year. Meanwhile we’re still playing all over in various projects with so many friends in the Chicagoland area. You could often find us playing here or there with Sean Shiel & Brandon Reisdorf (Miles Over Mountains), Mark Messer (River Valley Rangers), Mark Frystack & Hayley Skreens (Wheels North) & so many more. We love our bluegrass community, and it is alive and well!
BC: What are some tips or advice that you would give to someone who might be hesitant to try going to a jam?
Caleb & Despina: Always bring a song you can lead to the table, and don’t be shy, the more the merrier! It’s best to pick songs that are pretty straightforward so that if someone isn’t familiar with it, they can learn it easily and quickly. Whether its a singing tune, or instrumental, it doesn’t have to be fast. Just make sure you know it well enough to be able to quickly teach it to other people in the circle if they are not familiar. Please leave your hand drums, tambourines, and shakers at home, they are not bluegrass instruments.
(Musicians and music lovers alike fill Black Lung Brewery for the Lucky Pickers Jam)