Every month in Maltby, a diverse crowd gathers for bluegrass jams

MALTBY — It’s late in the evening and four musicians are ripping it up on the stage of the old Grange hall.

Call it progressive bluegrass, newgrass or jamgrass, their music makes people in the crowd want to dance, clap and holler.

Ruben Taylor, of Granite Falls, on mandolin, guitarist Nick Dumas, of Brier, bassist Pete Goodall, of Clearview, and Clayton Hess, of Woodinville, on banjo take turns with intricate, fast solo improvisations.

Older folks in the 100-member audience, some who earlier performed traditional three-chord bluegrass tunes and some who are down from Darrington just to listen, sit back to let “the boys” have at it.

What brings these people — teens, octogenarians, white collar and blue collar — together on the first Saturday of the month at the Maltby Community Club is the love of this American art form.

“Bluegrass is the most honest music,” said Jan Jones, longtime organizer of the jam sessions.

On Saturday, the 21st annual Maltby bluegrass concert will give people another chance to see these bluegrass musicians in action and raise money to benefit the upkeep of the community building.

With its roots in Appalachia among people of Irish, Scottish and British ancestry, bluegrass was often gospel-based and tinged with more than a little country twang.

In the past century, as people followed the timber industry out to western Washington from the likes of North Carolina, bluegrass became one of our region’s most important musical genres.

Darrington, a proud Tarheel town, will celebrate its 39th Bluegrass Festival in July with national headliners on the program.

More centrally located in the region, Maltby’s monthly bluegrass jam is arguably the best attended in the state.

People show up at 2 p.m. on those first Saturdays and double park in the lot surrounding the community club. They haul in musical instruments, sound equipment and food for the potluck supper. Some won’t leave until nearly midnight.

On the afternoon of April 4, a group including Taylor, Dumas and Goodall sat outside near the front door for a prolonged warm-up jam session. Inside, a big circle of fiddle, guitar and banjo players went through standards such as “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and “I’ll Fly Away.” Out back, a group of banjo players dueled. Other people played music in the kitchen, the main closet and the hall by the restrooms.

Dumas, 24, has been part of the Maltby bluegrass scene for more than half his life. He plays guitar, mandolin, fiddle and sings lead and harmony.

Dumas performed first with his songwriter mother and dobro-playing grandfather in the Three Generations, then was part of Northern Departure, which garnered regional attention for its energetic style. Now he plays with North Country Bluegrass, a mostly younger group that will perform this summer at the Darrington festival.

“I know there was a bluegrass revival in the 1970s, when the festival in Darrington got started,” Dumas said. “But we’re in the midst of another revival. I’d never seen so many young people (as) at last year’s bluegrass festival.”

Dumas makes it to most of the Maltby jam sessions. He loves the older people — “my school of bluegrass teachers” — and their hospitality.

“For me it’s like church,” said the bass player Goodall, who hosts the Bluegrass Ramble at noon Sundays on radio station KBCS (91.3 FM).

Jan Jones, 80, of Snohomish, and her late husband, Bill, moved the 30-year-old monthly jam to Maltby about 22 years ago. The musicians are the primary tenants at this 1930s-era grange hall, but it’s also home to Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and other nonprofit groups.

Among the performers at this Saturday’s benefit concert for the hall will be some of the young people, such as Dumas, who grew up attending the Maltby jam.

“I am so proud of our kids,” Jones said. “Our jam is a wonderful place for beginners.”

It’s been great for the band Blueberry Hill of Stanwood, said Darrington native Kevin Miller, whose bandmates are his wife, Sarah, and their son, Forrest, and daughter, Aida, now young adults and accomplished musicians.

Betty Lampinen, who grew up in Lynnwood and lives in Everett, never misses a first Saturday.

“Nobody interrupts my music day,” said the grandmother. “My kids say I have an addiction, but bluegrass draws you in and it doesn’t let go.”

Lampinen plays guitar and helps organize the monthly potluck as well as the rootbeer floats during intermission.

“It’s the best potluck around,” Jones said. “Because we’re all family here.”

Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.

If you go

Maltby Bluegrass Fundraiser Concert, 7 p.m. April 18, Maltby Community Club, 8711 206th St. SE, Snohomish. Tickets are $15 general admission, $10 for seniors and students and free for children. Bands include Rural Delivery, Blueberry Hill and Top String.

Maltby Bluegrass Jam, first Saturday of the month except July and September. Jamming at 2 and 10 p.m., potluck at 5 p.m., open microphone 6 to 10 p.m. For more information, email jlj35@juno.com.