Morgantown, WV

There’s no stage, no lights, not even a microphone—just a small circle of patio chairs arranged in the corner of a wooden deck. Yet, from that circle comes an energy that bounces the floorboards like coiled springs.

The banjo players pick wildly and the upright bassist plunks feverishly, while fiddles and guitars fill in the cracks of an old-time favorite:

“Will the circle be unbroken? By and by, Lord, by and by. There’s a better home awaiting in the sky, Lord, in the sky.”

The circle of musicians, gathered at the West Virginia Brewing Co. restaurant and microbrewery in Morgantown, has gone unbroken for the past three years. It’s a group of friends of all ages and backgrounds who come together to play the way it’s always been done in these Appalachian Mountains. Together, as family.

To the untrained ear, the lyrics, bathed in a thick country accent, are sometimes hard to understand. The accompaniment may also be a little off key, but that’s of no concern to the musicians or the audiences who gather every week on the banks of the Monongahela River. They’re simply there to jam—West Virginia style.

“That’s what this town has always been about,” says Vince Farsetta, a 47-year-old picker. “People have been coming here, and the various traditional artists over the years have passed on the music to those folks.”

Keith McManus, brew-pub jam founder and the group’s self-proclaimed “spark plug,” says he’s inspired by the amount of interest the circle has generated not only for old-time and Irish music (from early settlers) but also for West Virginia culture. The songs speak of work, strife, and struggle, but also illustrate family, religion, and love for home.

McManus, 50, is a sculptor and creative arts lab manager at West Virginia University who’s watched hundreds of students blow through this college town. Many of them never know the area for more than the school they attended.

But the brew-pub jam has inspired several students to look beyond the classroom and discover the richness of Appalachian history—through songs that have been passed down through the hills, the hollers, and the generations.

“To me, this is my gospel,” says McManus, a California native who relocated to the Mountain State some 20 years ago, seeking the peaceful refuge and musical heritage. “The music that we play here is really what they call old-time music. It’s the stuff that came out of the medicine show days with the old-time banjo, not the bluegrass (five-string) banjo.”

And just like it was done generations ago around campfires and inside country kitchens, the circle is open to anyone brave enough to pick up an instrument. It’s an atmosphere where experienced musicians encourage novices to learn. And no one is too young to start jamming.

In fact, the group has begun playing at an earlier hour to give Zack Fanok, 13, a chance to practice his fiddling. Every week the youngster plays Irish tunes while his dad watches from a nearby bench. Fanok recently received a scholarship to a national fiddle camp in Nashville, Tenn., an accomplishment McManus brags about like a proud father.

Still, it will be a few years before Fanok is old enough to experience the brew-pub jam to its fullest. Long after the teen is in bed and several pitchers of free frothing ale have disappeared, the tempo increases as the whoops, wails, and yee-haws mix with stomping feet and clapping hands. It’s a collaboration of drums, spoons, harmonicas, accordions, and washboards pounding out the beat to favorites like Angeline the Baker and Pig in the Pen. Up to 25 musicians have played for crowds numbering 500.

It’s a scene like nothing Omar Masisko, 24, had ever seen. The WVU student from Elizabeth, Pa., found the brew-pub jam by accident one night.

“Down here was the first time I played an upright bass,” he says. “It inspired me to go out and buy one.”

Masisko expects to leave Morgantown upon his spring graduation, but the jam has prompted some students to settle.

“I walked in the door (the first time) and said, ‘I gotta stay here. This is where I want to be,’” says guitarist and fiddler Kathryn Madison, a doctoral student who recently bought a house in the area. “These people are family to me.”

Margie Mason is a freelance journalist and West Virginia native now residing in California.

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