Let’s jam

Darren Matthews (left), John Price and Jamie Grimm at The Hull Avenue Tavern open jam.

Jamie Grimm does his best to please.

“Let’s play ‘Fat Bottomed Girls,’ ” says a fellow named Mike, tuning up his guitar.

Grimm shakes his head affably. “I don’t know that one.”

But Mike is not to be denied. “It’s easy! It’s just C and E with a little D thrown in.”

That’s not much to go on, but Grimm shrugs. “OK, let’s do it.”

So it goes at The Hull Avenue Tavern’s Wednesday night open jam. Every week, Grimm and a couple of mates take the stage and entertain with the help of whoever wishes to hop on stage and join in. Sometimes that means he’s playing with a local legend such as Thankful Dirt’s Darren Matthews — as was the case last week. Matthews sat in on the first five or so songs of the night. Other times, though, his jam partner might be an extremely accomplished hobby player like John Price, as was also the case during last week’s jam. Then there are those times when he collaborates with people whose experience and inebriation levels are suspect. Like Mike-from-down-the-street.

Through it all, Grimm is accommodating, and the band does a good job playing support on a wide range of songs with bassist Kelly Howerton even taking a crash course in Mississippi blues riffs on stage, laying it down like a champ.

“Fat Bottomed Girls” goes fairly well. Mike fumbles the words to one verse and sticks the bridge where it doesn’t belong but recovers and finishes with a solid extended solo while the band keeps time behind him. Once he has played himself out, Grimm and the boys play a couple on their own. Price joins them back on stage for a while. After a set break, the night is closed out with some more blues. Just another Wednesday night at The Hull. CV