Blind Horse jam night with One Eyed Jack

I’m not sure that my first post should be about Country, since I’m going to tailor this blog towards the Bluegrass jams/shows, but I will mention that I went to the Blind Horse last night (Thursday 5/14/2009). I read somewhere online that Thursday nights are “jam” nights, so I decided I’d see what kind of response they were getting. I don’t know of any other Country jam in the upstate. I stay pretty well in-tune with the Country scene in the Greenville area (or at least I THINK I do).

The band “One-Eyed Jack” is the house band for the Blind Horse. They are exceptional musicians. They kicked things off with some rocking Country, featuring several new and old styles. They didn’t play a slow song until they returned from their break, which was a sigh of relief from me, and apparently the many line-dancing students that were there. Several of the line-dancers graced the floor the entire time I was there, which was well over 3 hours.

I really enjoyed hearing One-Eyed Jack this time. They didn’t leave much time for talking (or losing interest) in the music between songs, so it made time go by really quickly.

As far as jammers, in the Bluegrass sense, there were none. The protocol is to give your name, choice of instrument (voice included), and song choices to the sound engineer, and after a few numbers from One-Eyed Jack, they would invite you onstage to either play with them, or solo. There was a guitar player that played with them all night, that was obviously not part of the standard band. He was really good, but I could tell he was nervous. I’m sure in a different setting he would thrive and really show-out. Two drummers joined the band, on different occasions, and faired well, but I could tell that without the standard drummer, the other musicians in the band were having a hard time predicting certain cues. One guy did a solo bit, which was not great, but I’ve heard a LOT worse. The band seemed to know him, so he must be there a lot.

The overall atmosphere was great. The bartenders were really helpful, especially when I asked for a beer that they don’t stock. Instead laughing egregiously at me, he simply suggested an import that might be comparable. Nice touch. The waitress was cordial in asking me if I wanted any refills, or anything else for that matter. There was a $3 cover-charge, and they asked for ID so they could either mark both of my hands with an “X” (under 21), or slap a disposable hospital type bracelet around my wrist.

I had a very enjoyable evening in the end. I didn’t jam, sing, or dance, although several times I wanted to. I’ll definitely go back, and am looking forward to the trip.