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If acoustic music and jamming sound like fun, then the Mountain Rose Acoustic Society in Conifer is the place to be the first Sunday of each month. The group was created as a place to jam with other acoustic musicians in Conifer and is held at Havekost Road at Conifer Community Church. The schedule is a loose framework, and the music is pure jam. Open acoustic jam begins at p.m.; from : to p.m., young people can showcase whatever music they want to play; and starting at p.m. two local bands play a concert. In January, The Elk Creek Band and Liz Masterson will play starting at p.m. Tickets are for general admission, for members and
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Mountain Rose Acoustic Society belts out its own version of bluegrass one Sunday a month
seniors, and kids and students are admitted free. Yearly memberships are available and cost an individual and families . Suzie Solomon, organizer of Mountain Rose, said one of the best things about the jam is seeing beginners develop of a love of bluegrass music and learn from more experienced musicians. “The kids are great, and we just want to have kids come out and play the music they like,” Solomon said. Solomon always wanted to have a place in Conifer where people could come and play acoustic music, and she began working with Greg Blake, pastor of Elk Creek Community Church. Along with others, they created Mountain Rose and Bluegrass Church, held each Sunday at p.m. “We were talking and agreed it would be great to have a Mountain
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Jr. Kennison of Golden and Mountain Rose Acoustic Society organizer Suzie Solomon perform during a jam Sunday evening.
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Photo by BARBARA FORD | The Times
Rose, but we had nowhere to hold it,” Solomon said. Through Pastor Lance Swearingen and Conifer Community Church, both Mountain Rose and Bluegrass Church had a venue to jam. Though Bluegrass Church has a worship format, Mountain Rose is secular music with a chance to learn from people who have been playing for decades or just a few months. It’s not just bluegrass — the musicians play a lot of country-western music and all forms of acoustic tunes, according to Solomon. Greg Martines of Bailey has played guitar for years and was Mountain Rose’s first paid member. He said it’s a great way to spend time with other musicians and practice a variety of songs. “It’s just about the chords, and once you learn the pattern it’s fun,” Martines said. Most of the music played is bluegrass but an occasional tune from the distant past creeps in. “Bluegrass is great because it’s basically a three-chord pattern,” he said. “Experienced players and beginners can play together, and you can learn from everybody, because everyone hears things just a little bit differently.” Martines said that regardless of skill level and no matter what a player’s style, everyone fits in.
A retail repository
Music isn’t just an occasional
thing in Solomon’s life — it’s central to his existence, like breathing. Solomon not only hosts Mountain Rose Acoustic Society, she also hosts Bluegrass Church and she owns an acoustic music shop in north Denver where even more people gather and play bluegrass/ acoustic music. The store, Pickin’ on Tennyson, is at Tennyson. Solomon opened the store a year and a half ago, and it sells acoustic instruments and offers lessons “And we have a lot of jams,” Solomon said. “It ends up being more bluegrass, folk, acoustic music … and we don’t have any electric instruments to sell.” She said a lot of people come to the jams in Denver. “It’s something when musicians get together, because music makes immediate friends,” Solomon said.
Getting started
Solomon said beginners are encouraged to join the jam — all they need to know are four basic chords, G, C, A, and D. They will also need a capo, a device used on the neck of a stringed instrument to change the key. “People don’t have to know hundreds of chords,” Solomon said. Bass player and fiddler Chuck Onofrio of Eureka Springs, Ark., said the jam is comfortable, just like kicking back in a living room. “It’s another way of communicating that’s special, and you have
to be playing (an instrument) with other people to realize it,” Onofrio said. “Something just gels, and the magic will never happen that way again.” Onofrio is inspired by the faces of other musicians: Whether they close their eyes, grimace or smile, it touches him in a place that the chords and individual notes don’t. He said the jam is great for all levels, and the performances by local band shows what can be achieved with practice. Performers scheduled at Mountain Rose include Out of Nowhere, Elk Creek Band, Troublesome Gulch, Rex Rideout and OTC Varmintz. For a complete schedule, visit www.reverbnation .com/venue/mountainroseacousticsociety. Tom Stuart of Denver is a former board member of the Colorado Bluegrass Music Society and said he could be legally convicted of playing the guitar. He said the music played at Mountain Rose is truly American music that originated in the th century. Even with some of its funky themes, it’s still family friendly. “Bluegrass has a lot of death, dying, cheating and prison songs,” he said. “Like folk music, this is the music of the people.” Contact Barbara Ford at barbara@evergreenco.com or -. Check www.High TimberTimes.com for updates.