Beer. Brats. Banjos.

WASILLA — On a Thursday night earlier this month, a group of a dozen or so local musicians gathered in a bar to jam on their instruments for two hours. Across the bar at Schwabenhof, where the event was being hosted for the first time, patrons gathered around the television screens to watch the Seattle Seahawks beat the Green Bay Packers.

“Only at Schwabenhof could bluegrass and Thursday night football coexist,” said Bill Weith, who owns Schwabenhof with his wife Pat.

Bill and Pat built the eight-sided log building on top of the hill near the intersection of the Seward Meridian Parkway and the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

“It would’ve been really nice if we got this together in the summertime because then we could out there raising hell,” Brian Gearry said.

Gearry organized the get-together, which ended up as a casual gathering of the who’s who in the Valley bluegrass community. Many of the players frequent jam sessions in Anchorage, Eagle River, or at Vagabond Blues in Palmer. Many of the players travel with bands during the summer. In total, two banjos, one upright bass, a hammer dulcimer, a fiddle, a dobro, a mandolin, and anywhere between three and five six-string guitars were played that night at Schwabenhof.

“It’s really neat to be able to support Bill and Pat,” Shonti Elder said.

Elder played the fiddle and sang during the two-hour jam session. She moved to Alaska in 1977 with a bluegrass band and stuck around. She said she got a real job, but finds time to play with Ten Dollar Bet and Shonti Elder and friends, as well as teaching music on the side.

One musician without an instrument decided to improvise.

“I normally play guitar but I didn’t bring my guitar so i borrowed something just to tag along,” John Stroup said.

Stroup borrowed a pot and a knife and became the de facto percussion section of the jam session.

There is no set list. Musicians each suggest a song at one point or another and each take turns soloing on different songs. Some swap out instruments or pick up a slide for the guitar, like Robert Howard. Howard has been playing the guitar since 1967 and tours with The Blues Man in the summertime. The self-proclaimed ‘Sultan of Bluegrass’ definitely dresses to his moniker. Mark Horman wears a pair of denim overalls and a Pabst Blue Ribbon T-shirt while he plays the upright bass. Horman moves his entire body while playing the bass, sitting upright on a stool. He broke out to lead the group in a rousing rendition of the Jerry Lee Lewis hit “Great Balls of Fire.” Feeling the heat, he rests his tall leather hat on top of his bass.

“It can be a spontaneous kind of thing. It’s an outlet for us to actually just have fun and not be on a stage. We can play for ourselves,” Gearry said.

Gearry plays with the Carhartt Brothers and has a long-standing relationship with the Weiths. Bill and Pat held a fundraiser for Brian as he was losing his sight to take a trip to Antarctica. The last member of the band does not actively make music with an instrument. Gearry’s seeing eye dog Sergeant lies at his feet in the middle of the circle for the duration of the jam. Gearry claims that Sergeant is the brains of the operation, but all of the other musicians put the blame on Gearry for getting them to show up.

“To play with these guys, because they have such a wealth of knowledge, you learn from them. Everybody learns a little bit from everybody else,” Gearry said.

The group plans to gather every third Thursday at Schwabenhof. For the last song, Bill joined in and sang with the group of bluegrass musicians.