Austin Friends of Traditional Music

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)

Look for user contributed jam sessions near Austin here on folkjam.org too.