Fiddle players Andrew Heaton (left), a post doctoral associate in genetics, and Jim Wilson, a professor of math education, are two of several musicians who play bluegrass music in front of the Forest Resources building every Tuesday and Thursday between n
With the cheery notes of "Whiskey Before Breakfast" and "Tommy Don't Get Drunk" meandering along the pathways of South Campus, students and passersby smile or pause to enjoy the lighthearted tunes produced by two guitarists and a fiddler.
On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for the last four years, University employees have been "jamming" in the style of "old-time music" in the courtyard outside of the Forest Resources building.
Latessa Bortner, a senior from Clermont, said she enjoys sitting and listening to the music while she studies, especially on days when the weather is nice.
"It's a nice calming atmosphere compared to the rest of my day," she said.
The jam sessions were started by Tommy Jordan, a guitar player who runs a geography research lab, Dick Daniels, a guitar player and forest resources professor, and Andrew Heaton, a fiddle player and post-doctorate scientist in ecology.
Heaton, who often writes original music and teaches it to the other players, said the group came about very informally.
"Not many people play this type of music in town, and half of them are at the University, he said. "So we started hearing about different people who played, and we all got together."
"We picked this spot because it's shady, nice, central, and there's a good place to put our cases," he said.
The number of players and instruments vary from day to day. Banjos, mandolins, guitars and fiddles are the most common.
"Sometimes there's six or eight players, even as many as 12," said Lee Ogden, a research coordinator in the Forest Resources building. "They sound really great when there's that many, though they often have a hard time deciding what to play."
Jones said they encourage anyone, students included, to join them.
"In the past we've even pulled people who were on their way to the music building to come play with us," Jones said. "We prefer acoustic rather than electric or brass instruments, but we would love people to come play with us."
There's no set list of songs they play. They choose from the more than 100 that they all know.
Most often, they will decide on a certain key to play in and improvise along with the set melody.
They all share a common love of Athens' own fiddle legend Dave Swanson, but explain they mostly play songs that have been passed down for 100 to 300 years.
"It's cool because people who play this style of music have a common repertoire. You can just sit down with anyone and jam together, even if you've never met them or played with them before," Jones said.
The players collectively have gone by many different names including String Theory, Fiddle Bone, and Tommy Jones and Friends when they perform as a group off-campus at venues such as the Human Rights Festival and the Flicker Picker.
The group typically plays throughout the year every Tuesday and Thursday in front of Forest Resources from about noon to 1 p.m. and will find a place inside to play in bad weather, often the Forestry or Ecology buildings.
"Playing inside is not as good as playing out but better than not playing at all," Jones said.