Fifteen minutes before the bluegrass jam starts at Thirsty's Neighborhood Grill and the dining area is already packed with musicians.
Stacking their black cases near the front door, the 13 amateur artists cluster on the south end of the room and tune their fiddles, guitars, banjos and other stringed instruments before taking off on a three-hour ride through a series of High Lonesome standards.
The group eventually swells to more than 20 as the early Sunday evening rolls on. They perform with enthusiasm as the last bit of daylight creeps through the vertical blinds behind them and the Cardinals battle the 49ers on a corner TV.
All this goes on while typical bar activities — pool playing, drinking and socializing — continue in the other two-thirds of the East Side establishment, owned and operated by Tucsonan Jack Kenney.
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"A lot of these folks watching come to every single jam we have," said Rudy Mamula, 58, a mandolin player who works for a local concrete company. "They are what we call the grinners. We are the pickers and they are the grinners."
Mamula, a tall, slender man in a gray cap, is a regular at the twice-monthly jams at Thirsty's. He said the sessions, sponsored by the Desert Bluegrass Association, attract folks from all walks of life, from engineers to doctors to barbers.
Jack McMeekin is a 70-year-old retired pilot from Ontario, Canada. A snowbird, he spends five months of the year at the Voyager RV Resort in Tucson and has been a regular visitor to the association's jams for the last nine years.
McMeekin said the Thirsty's jams can get a bit confusing at times with the number of people showing up, but he never misses an opportunity to play with friends.
"There is such energy, such enthusiasm," he said. "It is infectious. You find yourself up there tapping your foot and smiling."
Guitarist Joe Reighley, 49, knew nothing about bluegrass when he first started jamming with the group nine years ago. He was a rock musician, a fan of artists like Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead, in search of a way to keep his chops up.
"I heard about this group and thought it was a good idea," said Reighley, an engineer at Ventana Medical Systems. "You don't have to have drums or amps or anything. You just come in and start playing."
Reighley eventually took to bluegrass music, learning the songs regularly performed at the informal sessions. Today, he is the vice president of the association, which sponsors six jams monthly at various locations.
"I do whatever the crowd requests," he said. "Usually things like 'Man of Constant Sorrow' and 'In the Jailhouse Now.' If you are going to play any of the songs you have to listen to the popular ones."
Marilyn Ryan is one of two women performing at Sunday's jam. Dressed in a black V-neck blouse and blue jeans with red, white and pink roses embroidered along the sides, Ryan takes turns as an accompanist on guitar and lead vocalist when she's not in the audience with her husband, Steve.
The Ryans just swept in from Maine, where they live for half the year. This visit marks the first jam at Thirsty's they've attended under the newly enacted smoking ban. As a nonsmoker, Marilyn is loving it.
"I used to walk in to see the gang, then have to leave," she said. "They could stand it for some reason even though most of them don't smoke. It is hard to breathe after three hours of playing through that. I couldn't stand it."
The retired retail store owners look forward to making Thirsty's a regular destination during their time in the Old Pueblo.
"Where else do you get free music with your own seat?" Steve Ryan asked. "They don't hustle you for anything here. The waitress is always helpful. Not everyone can offer that to a group. They've given bluegrass a home."
Bluegrass jam at Thirsty's Grill
• Sponsored by: The Desert Bluegrass Association.
• Where: 2422 N. Pantano Road
• When: Bluegrass jams run from 4 to 7 p.m. every second and fourth Sunday of the month.
• Cost: Free. Newcomers are welcome to watch and perform.
• More info on jams: visit desertbluegrass.org.
