×

Still leading the band

Toe tapping and knee slapping – they’re downright giveaways that bluegrass lovers are in the house, enjoying tunes from Merrimack’s Jerry Jean and his bluegrass buddies.

Jean, 91, almost a lifelong musician, is a Nashua native who later moved to Keene. He put music on hold for a while when he enlisted in the Navy in 1942 during World War II. Upon his return, he went at it again, full speed ahead.

He is one of two survivors from a crew of 30 men who operated a large, slow-moving transport craft – LST 133 – that was a part of the Allied operations on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

The term “D-Day” was military code for the day of the launch of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion that drove enemy Germans from the beaches of Normandy, France, and ultimately from Europe.

Naval histories report some 73,000 Americans among the 156,000 Allied troops sent in there. Some 10,000 American, Canadian and British allies were killed or wounded in the initial clashes but about 100,000 successfully made their way ashore and continued the mission. About a month later, thanks to thousands more troops and airborne, the region was secured.

Jean was a radio man. The craft he served on made two successful trips and one nearly fatal voyage across the roiling English Channel during the operations. Men, tanks and other supplies were carried by his ship from England to the Normandy beaches. On the return trips to England, the LST carried scores of casualties.

The third trip brought death. Jean said vibrations from the engines of the LST triggered a submerged mine. The lethal device detonated beneath the hull as the ship was halfway across the channel.

“We got blown up,” Jean said. “I don’t know why I lived. That kind of explosion sucks the breath right out of people. I was pinned between the deck and the bulkhead until I got myself out. We stayed afloat, at least, and were towed into France.”

Upon returning from the war, he married music-lover Ruby Naylor. The congenial pair, married 62 years before her passing in 2004, had two sons, Jerry Jr., now 67, and Peter, 55. Numerous grandchildren are mostly musically inclined.

Jean for many years owned a store – Noel’s Music and House of Guitars – in Keene. His current crop of bluegrass buddies was established after 1988 when Jean relocated to Merrimack, nearby his many kin.

Bob Pope, a solid guitarist and vocalist from Nashua, has been around since ’88. Jean refers to him as, “my right-hand man.” Others, too, have a long duration.

“These are all great guys,” said Jean. “They love what they’re doing. We may get a little gas money, or a sandwich at some places, but mostly we play for the love of it.”

Today, the group includes about a dozen members. Guests often sing or play, as do spectators. The men and some women, too, all spend time pickin’ and grinnin’ and sharing the joy of bluegrass – folk music rooted in the South.

The bluegrass buddies include Bob Pope (guitar and vocals), of Nashua; Don Hurt (12-string guitar), of Hollis; Ed Brousseau (electric guitar and vocals), of Amherst; Bill May (accordion), of New Ipswich; Fred Fowler (fiddle), of Temple; Dick Powell (mandolin and guitar), of Manchester; Chuck Poltack (electric guitar), of Merrimack and Kevin “Curley Jones” Nunley (guitar and vocals), also of Merrimack. Others jump in as schedules permit.

“We play songs mostly from the ’30s through the ’70s,” said Jean. “Today’s country music is too jazzed up. Old tunes have a story, a sad story or a life story.”

In reflecting upon his love of music, Jean mentions he was one of eight youngsters whose father, a World War I veteran, was born on Christmas Day. Jean’s mom was adept at orchestrating her husband’s annual party, a family-style shindig filled with music and dancing.

As his store in Keene boomed, the musicality served him well, for he taught himself to play 40 instruments expertly enough to show and sell at his music store.

“I’d get the students started,” said Jean. “Then, I’d turn them over to one of my regular teachers.”

He mastered about 12 of the 40 instruments well enough to play as a professional. There were radio shows on WKNE. Television shows on WMUR Channel 9 and WBZ Channel 4 followed.

“My music store in Keene drew a lot of the entertainers booked at the Cheshire Fairgrounds in Swanzey,” said Jean. “They would come, maybe borrow an amp or buy a microphone, and visit a while.”

Among those he was friendly with during that era were B.B. King, Ernest Stubb, Pete Seeger, Dolly Parton and Kitty Wells. He enjoyed knowing Conway Twitty, Tex Ritter, Buck Owens and Farron Young. A favorite was Hawkshaw Hawkins, who in 1963 died alongside Patsy Cline and others in a plane crash in Tennessee.

Today, Jean plays a Dobro, an acoustic guitar with a metal resonator that amplifies the sound. He sits down, lays it on his lap and uses his left hand to manipulate a metal slide along its neck. He plucks the strings with his right hand.

“I guess because of my age they’ve accepted me as the leader of the band,” Jean said of his buddies. “I get a lot of energy out there. Music keeps me going.”

The group performs, free, at the Merrimack Middle School, 31 Madeline Bennett Lane, on the first Monday of each month from 7-9 p.m. Another gig takes place at Ciao’s Pizza and Subs, 495 Amherst St., in Nashua, every Thursday from 6-8 p.m. In addition, Nashua’s Senior Activity Center, 70 Temple St., offers free bluegrass on the third Tuesday of each month, 7-9 p.m. All are welcome.

Non-public events round out Jean’s bluegrass calendar. The group plays on a regular schedule for Nashua seniors living independently at Hunt Community Home and at Wagner Court. It performs for people at Manchester’s Easter Seals Center and also for seniors at the Varney School Apartments in Manchester. Other seniors living at Atwood Acres in Townsend, Mass., welcome the band once a month.

Jean encourages anyone with a musical streak to follow in his stead. He offers some counsel to those intrigued with bluegrass music. He urges them to train their ears to hear all the separate components – bass notes, guitar riffs and such. Then, practice.

“If you don’t enjoy it, forget it,” said Jean. “If you love it, practicing will never be a chore. Other than that – just keep smiling.”

Readers seeking booking information for a bluegrass performance or other details about the group may contact Jerry Jean from 12-3 p.m. by calling 424-4848.