(Some of our photo's taken at the May 6th jam session.)
TEXAS TALES' well known writer, John Pronk, visited Shelly's Market for Lipan's "First Saturday Bluegrass Jam Session" hosted by new owner Shelly Mills. Former owner Billy Green started this now monthly tradition, and all its fans look forward to it continuing.
The following is John Pronk's article appearing in the Dallas Morning News "Getaway" section Sunday May 14, 2006.
"LIPAN – At Shelly's Market in Lipan, you'll find canned soup on aisle two, baby food on aisle three and bread on aisle six. But the jam's here only once a month, and it sticks to the whole front of the store.
We aren't talkin' Smucker's, though. We're talking pluckers. It's a bluegrass jam session, and it has been a monthly tradition for five years. It's where you'll find guitars, five-string banjos, fiddles and basses. They emerge from cases and are tuned, finger picks positioned on hands and lawn chairs adjusted to suit. At this free concert, you bring not only your own instrument, but your seating arrangements as well.
While most big grocery stores play recorded background music by the likes of Henry Mancini or Herb Alpert, at Shelly's Market the music's live, loud and strictly Flatt and Scruggs, Stanley brothers and Bill Monroe, to name a few.
Shelly Mills just bought the grocery and grill in this small town about 90 miles west of Dallas, but she was aware of this musical tradition held on the first Saturday of each month. And even though it means staying late after a day of running the grocery, Shelly's glad to do it. "We sell home-style hamburgers off our grill, Cokes and snacks, but even if I didn't make a nickel, it would be worth staying late, just to hear the music," she says.
And late it can be, with the music going on for hours. Billy Green used to own the grocery (many folks still call it Billy's Market), and he along with Joe Bass and members of his band, the Double Mountain Boys, were instrumental in bringing the instrumentalists here. "I wanted something to pep up this sleepy little town," says Mr. Green, who isn't a musician but certainly is a devotee of high-powered bluegrass music.
What started as just a few musicians grew and grew. Sometimes as many as 50 people are playing all at once. There's no one age group in attendance. You might see a 3-month-old future fan gently rocked to the music in great-grandpa's arms. Most of the pickers are amateur musicians and use these sessions to learn new songs and licks on their instruments. The other night, the store was full as the lawn chairs were armrest-to-armrest, and nearly 80 people packed the front of Shelly's.
Naturally, there was a spill on aisles two and three, but that was simply the extra audience members spilling over into the grocery aisles. Those who prefer congregate outdoors in front of the store talking music, weather or football and admiring one another's antique guitars or new fiddles.
"It's as much a social gathering as a musical one," says Shelly, and she wants the tradition to stay alive as long as folks will come.
You can't beat the admission price: free. Or the show's length: 6:30 p.m. sometimes until 11 p.m.
And rest assured that the evening always ends on a high note."
The next First Saturday Bluegrass Jam Session will be June 3. This is Lipan's Homecoming Weekend. Come and join the fun!
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