what if we want to "host" local musicians playing in our home?

Sounds like fun I have been in the area for two years but have been working so much I have not had time to develop like minded musical friends.Plans are in the offing for me to change jobs with hopes of having time for my music.Building a jam takes time and it is often better if it is at a public place,(comfort level)but I would be happy to lend assistance in any way I can.Lawrence

Margaret,

The answer is "It Depends". As Lawrence noted, it does take a while to get a jam going. A 'core' of musicians is needed to reliably be there, along with some sort of predictability so that folks can put the jam on their calendar.

That said, there are several jams around may towns (including the KC area) that move from host to host. They don't exist in public locations, and tend to grow through word of mouth. You might get connected into one of these groups and volunteer as a host. How do you find them? There is no pat answer. I find them by going to jams and being invited to more jams.

If you are really serious about having a jam at your house - not necessarily a regular thing - get a few of your musician friends to commit to a date that's some number of weeks away, be clear about the style of music to be played at the jam, then begin to promote. They tell their friends, you post messages at local shops that cater to folk music (Mountain Music Shoppe was perfect for this, but it's gone), post on forums if you want to be that open, and post the event on folkjam.org

You need to weigh whether you want your home address up on the net. Some folks don't care. Others do.

If you want to promote the jam, but keep your details private, here's how folkjam can help.

Create a group on the site, where the purpose is to run occasional jams in your home. Make it a public group, but one where you need to accept each user as they join.

In that group, post your jam session date(s) with your full address and tick the box that says "show on public maps".

Your jam is now on the public folkjam.org maps, but only group members you who you have approved are allowed to see your home address.

And when your first jam is done, you automatically have a mailing list to reach out to the folks who attended to start organizing the next one.

It looks like you already have one interested person. Create your group and invite Lawrence. You can then also visit the musician map for your area and start to invite the folks you see on the map who play the same style of music you intend for your jam.

Shawn and I have done that through our group on the site. This month we celebrate two years of running the "Whiskey Just After Breakfast" jam session in Lenexa, KS. A notable number of people have found us through folkjam.org.

Scott