Having grown up in Appalachia from birth, music has been inexorably woven into the fabric of my life (and the culture of East Tennessee). Musicians and fans of music often identify bluegrass as the indigenous music of Appalachia, however, there is a genre that pre-dates bluegrass. That genre is Old Time music. Old Time is a form of folk music rooted in multiple countries’ musical traditions, including England, Scotland and Ireland with influences from various nations within the continent of Africa. The core instruments are stringed and acoustic, usually fiddles, guitar and sometimes banjo.
In the heart of the Old City sits Boyd’s Jig and Reel, recently cited as “One of the Best Bars in Tennessee”, a story covered by Urban Guy in an August, 2024 article. Jenny Boyd created the venue in 2011 to host live music in a similar way to pubs in the United Kingdom with jam sessions throughout the week. Scottish and Irish sessions swap Thursdays throughout the month in addition to attracting regional, national and international acts. One of those international acts, The Tannahill Weavers from Scotland, recently thanked the Boyds in a May, 2024 social media post, for hosting them for a concert and calling the Boyds good friends and “their music venue, bar and restaurant is one of the best in the States.” After many years of wanting to see them live, I finally had the opportunity to hear The Tannahill Weavers, one of my personal bucket list bands, at the Jig and Reel a few years ago.
In addition to the Celtic sessions, Tuesdays are dedicated to Old Time music. Sharing a palette of instruments and musically similar structures, Old Time Music descends from Celtic traditions and pre-dates bluegrass as an original form of Appalachian musical expression. Every Tuesday, Sarah Pirkle leads a jam session that combines the talents of local (and sometimes international) musicians to carry on this Appalachian tradition at the Jig and Reel. I recently had an opportunity to attend my first Old Time music session after having attended the Scottish and Irish sessions for years. I sat down with Sarah Pirkle to discuss the history of the sessions as well as the music.
Pirkle, session leader on Tuesday nights since the beginning, is a fiddle player, songwriter and music teacher. She teaches private lessons to people of all ages and is the Program Director for Junior Appalachian Musicians, leading one program in Knoxville and another in Blount County at the Heritage Center. Pirkle told me that Junior Appalachian Musicians is a “low cost, or sometimes free, program for kids after school promoting Appalachian culture and music, and we provide the instruments if they don’t have them.”
That teaching connection directly led to the creation of the Old Time music sessions. One of Pirkle’s adult students, Jenny Boyd, owns Boyd’s Jig and Reel and asked Pirkle to lead what became the Tuesday music sessions. Pirkle called Jenny a “true music lover.” They met when Boyd switched from classical music to fiddle. Pirkle told me that Boyd took a trip to Scotland and found a jam like the ones now held at the Jig and Reel. Pirkle said that the “community aspect of everyone sitting around a table playing at the same time was what she was looking for.” Boyd transformed the former Manhattan’s into a space to “support music. That’s the focus here. You don’t see TVs on with sports. It’s for music. It’s provided a great venue for many local artists and many people that are traveling through the area to play for more than ten years now.”
The focus for the artists playing on this Tuesday night has refined from the early days after Boyd asked Pirkle to be a jam leader. Pirkle told me that “when we first started, it was just me or one or two, sometimes it was just me sitting there playing until the word got out. And for a while, it wasn’t even Old Time. It was just people playing folk music to whatever. And then, eventually we got enough old time players to make it what it is today. It is pretty consistent every week.”
That consistent session is made up of a diverse group from beginners to professional artists at all skill levels. Many of the group has been with the session for the entire ten years. “We all have our assigned seats like when you go to church. Sit in the same place. We have a lot of retirees. We have a couple of professional musicians. We have some kids that come from time to time; [we] try to make this a kid friendly place. So, these are just people that just like to play music for the sheer joy of it and are not really interested in trying to show off. They are just trying to make the groove together.”
One of the evening’s session players, guitar and fiddle player Lon Spurgeon, told me that he loved learning new tunes at the sessions and hanging out with other musicians. He loves the environment at the Jig and Reel and found it fun to hang out with people who love the same thing that he does. Spurgeon played guitar and fiddle during the session, though he is primarily a fiddle music player.
The sessions cover Appalachian old time fiddle tunes, some Midwestern and a little Celtic music. Pirkle noted that “mostly we just all sit around and play together. We play all at the same time and try to make beginners feel welcome. This is a jam for all skill levels.” Pirkle explained to me that the old time sessions are made up of string players only. She did note that they do not allow percussion. “Old time fiddle tunes are primarily dance tunes. It’s like what you would hear at a square dance. All instrumental. We don’t sing a whole lot, but we do from time to time” she added.
Pirkle said that songs are called out by the players. As leader, she has each player pick a song in a circle so that everyone has a voice, and no one person takes over. That is not a common practice with most sessions. The group has a standard repertoire of around one hundred tunes. A typical song will repeat around four times, and the musician who calls the song, ends it. Pirkle said that the person will make eye contact or “stick their foot up. That’s the other international symbol.”
Pirkle told me that they have included more old time music from the Midwest as not all of their players are from Tennessee. Players come from Florida and the Midwest, including Iowa. Musicians from as far away as Scotland, Australia and Japan have sat in the sessions over the years. The group sometimes plays Canadian old time, which I had no idea existed. Canadian old time is piano and fiddle based waltz music as opposed to Appalachian old time banjo and fiddle. Swing tune ragtime and a little bluegrass becomes a part of the mix.
After Pirkle’s session ends around 8:30, another, even later music session featuring bluegrass will pick up. One of the aspects that differentiates the Jig and Reel sessions is that most jams around the US are bluegrass-based. In Blount and Knox Counties, most sessions are bluegrass. Bluegrass jams with small groups coming up to play their song as opposed to a group sitting around and making music.
In the session I attended, the crowd ebbed and flowed with approximately 20 listeners in the crowd. Pirkle said that this was an average sized crowd; however, crowds can surge. She expects a larger than average during the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday as families come into town and want to check out the music.
When asked what the sessions add to the Old City and downtown Knoxville, Pirkle said, “it’s a unique community experience. Unless you are going to an open mic, you can’t just go sit down and play music. There are instruments on the wall. Say if you were just traveling and you were staying downtown, and people have done this, they’ll look this up and go ‘Oh, I can just borrow a fiddle and take one off the wall and play.” All of the instruments on the wall are playable and Pirkle noted that they’ve only had one taken, which was later returned.
I also asked if the music sets changed for the seasons, and Pirkle noted that they would definitely be adding Christmas music for the upcoming season, probably starting on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. If you want to check the music out on Tuesdays, note that the session room features a full menu with tableside service from Boyd’s Jig and Reel. Sessions typically start at 6:30 and end around 8:00 to 8:30.
In the meantime, enjoy one of the songs I was able to film at Tuesday’s session.