Atlanta Music Hall draws crowds with free weekly music
By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com
Atlanta Music Hall, 135 W. Main St., has been quietly drawing crowds (pardon the pun) for over 35 years. Every Saturday night from 7 to 8:30 p.m. for free you can enjoy music from the Atlanta Music Hall Band. If you see and hear the band at any other venue, they travel under the name Atlanta Music Hall Quintet.
Saturdays are for blues and jazz, according to Roberta Terry, who runs the music hall. Jam Night takes place the second and fourth Monday of each month, also starting at 7 p.m.
“Oh, jam nights are fun!” Terry told The Reporter. “We have had up to 16 musicians in there playing every kind of instrument you can think of.”
Those nights are a round-robin of request and music, giving every player a chance to pick and play a song. The Atlanta Music Hall draws musicians from across Hamilton County as well as Anderson, Tipton and Muncie.
“My husband was playing tenor banjo, which is a jazz banjo, not a bluegrass banjo,” Terry said. “This place came up for rent and he said, ‘Well, let’s rent it.’ So we started this. When we first started, we were here seven days a week. After four or five years we cut it down to jam night and Saturday music nights.”
You can see the Atlanta Music Hall Band every Saturday night at 7 p.m. (Reporter photo by Stu Clampitt)
“We got these same guys who kept coming in on Saturday night,” Terry said. “We got a piano player from Tipton who said, ‘I want him to play … I want him … I don’t want him … but I want him.’ He picked five of them and that became the Saturday night bunch.”
All the music is free, but they do have a donation box near the door for those who would like to help support the music hall and thus keep this hidden gem open to the public. They also offer $0.75 candy bars and $0.50 sodas for music fans.
Music, snacks, and walls lined with music memorabilia – that’s the Atlanta Music Hall.
Some nights they pack the house to capacity, so if you want to enjoy the music, pick a Saturday and pick a seat.