It sounds like bluegrass – and looks like it too, given the group with banjos, guitars and fiddles in hand beneath the slowly setting sun – but the music they play isn’t the only point of connection visible at Turners Station.
There are also notes of community tucked among the folks lounging in lawn chairs, some with sandwiches in hand, as they come together for a monthly bluegrass jam at Greene County’s oldest grocery that began in 1889.
A monthly bluegrass jam draws musicians and listeners to Turners, a tiny community that began in the 1800s because of the railroad. Today, Turners Station Mercantile — where the jam is hosted — is the main remnant of the town, although trains also still rumble down the rails.
“People have really enjoyed our bluegrass events, weather permitting of course,” says Jill Elsey-Stoner, a sixth-generation Turner descendant and the mercantile’s owner for more than 30 years. “It's a wonderful way to spend an evening, seeing old friends and making new ones.”
The store itself is basically all that’s left of Turners, a town that began because of the railroad. Trains still trundle by dozens of times per day – some which now cause the jammers to pause their tunes – and the sense of community remains.
“We try to get together once a month, and this sounded like something different to do,” says Liz Burris, who arrived with two friends on her first visit to the jam on July 18. “It seems like a sense of community. You can just get together, it’s free and it’s low-key. It’s a local thing to do.”
The jams – typically held on the third Thursday from April and August – began about five years ago. They became a solution to a challenge noted by D.C. Cunningham, a local musician who felt that the Springfield/Rogersville area was “terribly underserved for people to express themselves musically.”
You never know who might show up at the jam. At the July gathering, a new-yet-experienced face was Jess Grimes, who lives in rural Christian County and regularly plays fiddle at the Oldfield Opry.
“I felt that Turners would be an ideal location to have an acoustic jam session where everyone is welcome to join in,” he says.
The jam is set up similarly to a show: The musicians gather on one end of the store’s side yard while the listeners in their lawn chairs face them from the other. Everyone is welcome, whether to play or listen, and participation in either of those activities is free.
As Elsey-Stoner put it in a Facebook post: “If you don't need to purchase anything from inside the store, we still appreciate you popping in to say hello and to let us know you were here to enjoy the Bluegrass Jam!”
The jam at Turners is a place to enjoy music, and to spend time with friends.
A tip jar sits out front, but there’s no pressure to make a donation. Everyone is welcome – to attend, or to play, although one note is that the show is acoustic only.
“I feel that to achieve a piece of Americana it needs to be pure,” says Cunningham. “I began my musical career about 60 years ago and I have always leaned towards acoustic instruments for the purity of sound.
“One interesting fact is that there is never the same group of people performing. I never know who is going to show up. We have had world famous musicians such as Alan Munde” — who was recently announced as an inductee into the International Bluegrass Music Association’s hall of fame — “show up as well as beginners.”
A sign out front reminds of facts about Turners – including the fact that the store is celebrating its 135th anniversary in 2024.
It was the case at July’s jam, too, when longtime area fiddler Jess Grimes came by for the first time. Now 88, Grimes is a regular at the Oldfield Opry, a weekly music show in rural Christian County.
While some folks go straight to the field and set up their chairs, others stop in at the store to pick up some dinner or other goods.
Today, the store still sells a limited number of groceries and still has an in-store post office (once common in the past, but today quite rare) and a candy counter, long overseen by Candace Stoner, Elsey-Stoner’s daughter.
Visitors come into the store to purchase dinner items, which include deli favorites and other popular rotating items like taco salad.
Its vintage atmosphere is created through old-time signs, art and the native-stone building, which also features locally made merchandise. And there’s a deli, which draws regular customers for meals, or to have a cup of coffee in its dining room.
The jams are only one of many events held at the store, ranging from political gatherings to frog-jumping contests (the latter which was held last weekend). They all align with the same mission, Elsey-Stoner says: To build connections.
“All of the events we hold here, and there are a lot of them, are for one purpose: to bring our community together,” she says. “We are able to sponsor these events from the daily proceeds when customers eat and shop here. It's our way of giving back to the community that means so much to us.”
Outside, the golden summer sun gave a glow to the scene, which began its July gathering with a smattering of listeners that grew as the evening progressed.
“Many people are appreciative of having a venue to show who and what they are, and I hear this every time we have the jam,” says Cunningham. “The people that come to hear them are also grateful that there is somewhere to listen. Jill has made this possible for this to happen, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart.”
Want to attend?
The monthly bluegrass jam is held seasonally on third Thursdays from April to August; dinner begins at 5 p.m., and the music at 6 p.m. Weather permitting, it’s also held in September and October on the third Saturdays from 2 to 4 p.m. For more information, connect with Turners Station Mercantile on Facebook.
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