Picking Your Friends
John Conboy, the founder of the Picker’s Circle. Photo: Ben Martin
On a particularly sticky recent Thursday evening, the warm sound of community could be heard between the roar of passing SEPTA trains. I arrived at the Swarthmore station, guitar and pen in hand, hoping to pluck a few notes and grab a few minutes of time with John Conboy, the founder of the new Swarthmore Pickers Circle.
Originally a Delaware County resident, John is back in Pennsylvania after a time living in Wimberly, Texas, where he founded the Texas Pickers Circle. John is the circle’s founder, leader, and informal sheriff (“If there isn’t someone there drawing the focus back to the music,” he notes, “it can get out of hand pretty quickly”).
What is a pickers circle, you ask? Enthusiastic participants arrive with their instruments to play, pick, and sing along. They play original songs, covers of their favorite songs, and new tunes they create on the spot. Talking while the music is playing is strongly discouraged — and will earn you a visit from Sheriff John.
Local musician Josh Gwinn strummed his mandolin, sang bluegrass standards, and played some fiery solos. The head music teacher at Swarthmore Presbyterian Nursery Day School, Fiona Murray, sang along with Josh, their voices sounding clearly through the thick night air. Meanwhile, a small audience of children and dogs played on the platform and clapped along. Train passengers were pleasantly surprised to de-board into the midst of this mini-concert.
John’s former home of Wimberly is similar to Swarthmore, and not only because of its residents’ appreciation of music and the sense of community it can create. The town has about 3,000 residents and lies on the border between southeastern and southwestern Texas, about an hour’s drive southwest of Austin. It’s best known for its swimming holes, its rodeo and ranch life, and especially its pickin’: the renegade poet and songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard hails from Wimberly; the Grammy-winning folk artist Sarah Jaroz lives there; and Rupert Neve, the late sound engineer – grandfather and creator of the rock and roll recording console — spent his final days there.
I am grateful for John, for the ever-blossoming circle of pickers in his ambit, and for the Swarthmore community’s willingness to cultivate and encourage the language of music. Catch the group at the SEPTA station every Thursday evening at 7 p.m. Bring your favorite instrument, beverage, and song — and come pick along. We can all sing, when we do it together.
Read the companion piece by Morgan McErlean, “Nights by the Train Station”.
