The John St. Jam was conceived in December 2003 during a trip to Nashville.
Terri had wanted to run a coffeehouse
in the Chapel as a way to generate some much-needed revenue.
A visit to Nashville's
Bluebird Cafe was all it took --
the lightbulb over her head remained lit all the way back to Saugerties and the first
John St. Jam took place on January 31, 2004.
The first two Jams were
done as an open mic, but we quickly realized that the only way to keep the audience coming back was
by providing them
with the best entertainment we could, so with the March edition, the Jam became invitation-only.
In our never-ending
quest to find the best
musicians in the Hudson Valley who would play for free, we went to every bar, open mic, bar, coffeehouse and bar
we could find. It was grueling work, but someone had to do it.
