Toting instruments from fiddles and clarinets to guitars and trumpets, or even simply themselves, Roots’ jam session attendees gather in a small practice room. They chat softly, share laughter and tune strings as they prepare to play the folk classic, “Cornbread and Butterbeans.”
Every Thursday at 6 p.m. around 30 students play bluegrass tunes together within Western Washington University’s Performing Arts Center for a new campus club. Roots began in April 2024 when current Western fourth-year and Roots club president Liz Binnington found herself wanting an opportunity to jam with other campus musicians in bluegrass style, a popular genre back in her hometown in southern Illinois.
“I used to throw a rock and I’d hit a fiddle player back home. Now I’m like, oh, there’s no one here,” said Binnington. “I’ve lived in Washington for a bit, but I’ve just been really yearning for that. It reminds me of home.”
Roots’ sessions have had fairly high and consistent attendance, according to Binnington. When the weather is nicer, Roots holds sessions on Old Main Lawn, where they occasionally attract intrigued passersby with no musical experience.
“We’ve blown up overnight,” said Binnington. “I didn’t know how much people wanted that here, until – obviously – people are showing up to my club.”
Since the start of this school year, weekly attendance has hovered around 30, with no signs of letting up. The club even had to close the doors to a recent square dancing event they held on Oct. 2 at the Blue Room due to the event’s popularity.
“It's stuff like that where I've found that we've created so many connections. I've met so many new people that I never would have met,” said Binnington. “We got to reach out to those people and create that community.”
For some students searching for alternative music groups, Roots is exactly what they were looking for.
“I found them on Instagram because I was curious if [Western] had a bluegrass or folk music club. I’m from Tennessee originally,” said London Egan, a first-year Western student. “I figured it was a long shot having something like that here, but I was pleasantly surprised.”
Once involved in Roots, attendees tend to stick around, said Binnington. Spencer Milburn, a first-year music major at Western, became the Roots’ secretary after finding the group during the Fall Info Fair in September.
“A lot of music major classes are very focused on the classical side,” Milburn said. “This club helped me to learn how to do something different. Folk is one of those things that isn’t discussed as much.”
The music isn’t the only thing keeping club members returning each week, multiple club members have expressed they’ve found community and connection on Western’s campus through Roots’ weekly sessions.
“Going to the Roots’ meetings has been something I look forward to each week,” said Allie Schwartz, a current Western student. “The first meeting I was kind of nervous and after playing I met Sylvia and Lily [Roots board members], they made me feel welcome.”
Mark Miyake, assistant professor of music and society at Western, teaches a quarterly folk music class at Fairhaven. In the class, students teach each other songs – not strictly folk – throughout the quarter. Miyake said the class brings in students with a wide range of interests and skill levels as it doesn’t require an audition to take, contrary to many other music classes at Western.
“There's always been interest in these community music-making ventures, whether that's something like the classes we have, or something like the Roots organization, or even just other places where people get together to make music,” Miyake said.
Miyake pointed out that while there does appear to be a sincere desire for and love of these community spaces at Western, they sometimes fall through due to the level of responsibility and upkeep required by student organizers.
“I'm also the official adviser for the mariachi ensemble at Western, and that has not really been around since the pandemic,” said Miyake. “We just haven't had students that wanted to take the reins on that and get that rolling again.”
Now, Roots’ goal is to raise money to purchase second-hand instruments to have available for anybody who comes by during jam sessions.
“A lot of what I think about and do is [about] the value of music-making in a broader community sense. That has to do with bringing different people together to share ideas, space and be together,” said Miyake. “I think that we could certainly use more groups like [Roots].”
Ava Nicholas (she/her) is a campus life reporter for The Front this quarter. She is a second-year Theatre and PR journalism major, with an Honors minor. You will often find her rehearsing for her next production, listening to music or out taking photos with her Canon. You can reach her at avanicholas.thefront@gmail.com.
