http://66.225.205.104/MT20110630.mp3
During the day the E.H. Montgomery General Store in Gold Hill in Rowan County is just that - a general store with jams, jellies, old-fashioned candy, and soda in glass bottles. But every Friday night the store becomes a music hall where a group of local musicians gets together and plays bluegrass. Eighty-year-old guitarist and harmonica player Richard Jones has been playing at the store on Friday nights for about four years. He says he usually sees the same people in the crowd. "We do get some new faces now and then, but most of the time it's just the regulars that come," Jones says. He says they get to the store about a half-hour before the playing begins and usually stay for the whole show. Jones says the group that comes together to play on Fridays is very loose. Sixty-one-year-old James Trexler plays bass with the group. Trexler, or "Gabby" as he's known around the Montgomery, is a Vietnam War veteran and began playing music in 1996 after the Department of Veterans Affairs put him on disability. He says the band doesn't even rehearse during the week. "The only time [the band practices] is here on Friday night," Trexler says. "Most of us know most of the songs, but when someone throws a new one in we jump in and hang on with both feet." The weekly jam at the store is the brainchild of bluegrass promoter and booking agent Vivian Hopkins, who owns the Fifth String and Company music store and leases the Montgomery. "I had an idea that if we leased this store and started some pickin' on Friday nights it could grow and build into something for the community to enjoy," Hopkins says. "So that's what we did seven years ago." Hopkins says about three or four musicians came out to play that first Friday night. "Now it's anywhere from eight or nine [and can be] up to 10 or 20," Hopkins says. "We never know how many musicians will be here." Hopkins says she opted to hold the weekly jam at the Montgomery instead of just up the street at a small park amphitheater because of the store's ambience. "There's old pictures on the walls, antiques, hay rakes, ox yokes hanging from the ceiling," she says. "It's nostalgic." Willy Jones of China Grove has been coming out to hear the music every Friday for the past few months. "It's a good time, good people, good music," he says. "It's homegrown music. A lot of people enjoy it but they don't know where to find it and this is one of the places where you can find it, every Friday." Shirley Ingram also comes out every Friday. She says she enjoys the people, the music, and the fellowship at the Montgomery. "It's a good place to come and gather and listen to music and everything," Ingram says. "And the people here are terrific." "Just come on down to Gold Hill on Friday nights from seven to nine," says bass player Gabby. "Y'all are welcome."