The Dutch Arms Chapel, the former home of the Seedling Nursery School, was a coffeehouse back in the late '60's. We're proud to bring it full circle.
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 Café 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 with Bob DeGraw, Terry Seeley, Nanette Benoit and Phil Miller in the first round and Kimberly, Greg Dinger/Gaetana Ciarlante, RV Henninger, and Terri & Steve Massardo in the second. Paul Andreassen arrived in time to perform 4 or 5 songs in an abbreviated 3rd round.
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.
In the mean time, the artist list continued to grow and the word started to get out about this great listening space where you could hear 2 eclectic hours of excellent music for only $3 and soon the audience started to grow, too. The first time we broke 50 we were giddy with excitement but for the past year or so, the audience hasn't dipped below about 65. In January 2007, over 100 people helped warm the Chapel.
In November 2005 we hosted a songwriting seminar under the auspices of Mane Event Productions. Nashville songwriters Kim McLean, Devon O'Day and Suzanna Spring shared their experience and expertise with about 45 attendees and performed at the Jam in the evening. There have been many great moments over the years -- tell us your favorites and we'll post them here.