The fiddlers and guitarists who for decades would meet for weekly jam sessions at an abandoned general store in Missouri’s Ozark Mountains worry that their musical tradition might not survive the pandemic. https://nyti.ms/3oLFh2r 

The McClurg jam, as the Monday night music and potluck fest was known, draws musicians in their 80s and 90s on fiddle, mandolin, banjo and upright bass to play what’s sometimes called “mountain music.” https://nyti.ms/3oLFh2r 

The old-time dance music, a precursor to bluegrass, has survived for hundreds of years in this corner of Missouri. The McClurg players have mostly learned the tunes by listening to one another and passing the tradition from one generation to the next. https://nyti.ms/3oLFh2r 

Many of the musicians who know the songs best are growing old and have been sidelined during the pandemic. “I’m one of the younger ones, and I’m 74,” said Steve Assenmacher, a bass player who lives just up the hill from the McClurg Store. https://nyti.ms/3oLFh2r 

Alvie Dooms, 90, can recall shivering in the back of a wagon as a boy, as his parents drove through the Ozark hills after dance parties, a fiddler’s music reverberating through his head to the rhythm of a horse’s feet striking dirt. https://nyti.ms/3oLFh2r 

As they wait out the pandemic, some of the musicians worry that, even if they avoid Covid-19, they can “get rickety” with age. But until they’ve been vaccinated and public health officials declare widespread immunity, the McClurg store will remain closed. https://nyti.ms/3oLFh2r