Riderwood retirement community’s bluegrass band, Lonesome Pine, will play a gig on Tuesday, January 29, at the New Deal Cafe in the heart of old Greenbelt, MD.  Music will run from 7 to 9 p.m.  There is no cover charge.

Down-home, improvised bluegrass jams by residents of Riderwood in Silver Spring, MD, have been going strong for the past eight years where they began in a classroom on the Riderwood campus. Residents passing by would sit-in and listen. The classroom soon overflowed with an audience. The bluegrass jams tried moving to one of the Riderwood lobby areas in search of more space, but this venue also proved too small because so many residents brought chairs to listen to the music.

The “Riderwood Ol' Opry Bluegrass/Country/Old-Timey Music Jams” are a stage show format, where the audience numbers as many as 200 people. The bluegrass jams take place every two-to-three months. The Lonesome Pine Band provides accompaniment, playing a wide selection of bluegrass, country, western swing, and novelty songs.  Riderwood residents, relatives and friends come up on the stage to perform this style of music, backed by the band

Regular performers include resident Henry Plotkin on fiddle, resident Glen Lesher and his  sons on guitar and resident Walter Krauss on bass. Family members of residents who perform are Ron Davies on guitar and  vocals and Doris Justis on guitar and vocals. The Lonesome Pine Band, in addition to resident Bruce Clark on guitar and vocals , consists of resident Pat Kral on autoharp and vocals, Barb Diederich on bass and  vocals, Allan Oresky on fiddle and mandolin, and Eddie Schaeffer on guitar and  vocals.