The Old Stone House at Washington Park is located just a few blocks west of our previous venue and provides even more fun opportunities for Jamboree guests. This historic site and nature conservancy offers a permanent exhibit of the Battle of Brooklyn as well as original exhibits connected to Brooklyn’s past and present. Surrounded by garden spaces featuring native plants in natural settings, the outdoor interpretive space is perfect for jamming!

Don’t forget that the Jamboree was nominated for IBMA’s 2014 Bluegrass Event of the Year!  Though we didn’t win, it was definitely an honor to be nominated. We’re working hard to get another nomination, hopefully for the 2017 event. With the new location and the help of some more sponsors, that hope can become a reality. If you would like to be a sponsor for the Jamboree, please contact James Reams at 714-376-1086. There are many levels of sponsorship, we’re sure we can find one that will fit your budget!

For more than a decade, Park Slope  has become the focal point of American traditional music when the Park Slope Bluegrass & Old-Time Jamboree takes place. The sounds of banjos, fiddles, mandolins, guitars and big upright basses echo through the “hills and hollers” of Brooklyn in this celebration, conference and music festival. The Jamboree attracts more than 700 musicians and fans of old-time and bluegrass music. You won’t want to miss what happens in 2017!

Now held at The Old Stone House, a reconstructed Dutch farmstead in the middle of a 3.5 acre park, the Jamboree kicks off with a high-energy bluegrass concert on Friday night by James Reams & The Barnstormers, the band that the New York Daily News called “New York City’s bluegrass icons.” This internationally known bluegrass band plays bluegrass music the old-fashioned way, reminiscent of the way the founders of the genre played it – Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and other “pioneers” of the music. James Reams fronts a band that has garnered nominations from the International Bluegrass Music Association and critical acclaim from every major bluegrass and roots-music publication.

The next day’s schedule features a full day of activities with workshops in rhythm guitar, fiddle, songwriting and more, plus all-day jamming, a special kid’s event, and an evening concert featuring many fine performers and special guests. Musicians from all over the Northeast convene at the Jamboree to play and enjoy the music that originated with the earliest immigrants to this country. The settlers from Scotland, England and Ireland combined the ballads and instruments of their tradition with the music and instruments of the slaves (the American “banjo” was originally the African “mbanza”) to produce this country’s first “fusion” music.

The Jamboree is heralded as one of the finest events of its kind in the Northeast and attracts musicians and fans of traditional American music from all over the area. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors like the Folk Music Society of NY, Crown Finish Caves, and The Old Stone House, we can continue to bring this special family-friendly event right to NYC’s doorstep! Time-Out New York magazine called the Jamboree a “happy little festival,” and indeed it is. Musicians gather in informal groups on the beautiful  grounds surrounding the landmark building for informal jam sessions; attendees who do not play music themselves can enjoy listening to it.