TrailJams is about making acoustic music together, for the enjoyment of the musicians and of people pausing to listen.
Hi, I’m Jonathan Lay. As a musician, some of the most joyful and satisfying times I’ve had have been playing and singing in the company of other musicians — a late-night pub sing, an afternoon of playing tunes, a session that goes longer than anyone planned. Making music with other people is a rich experience that stays with you for a long time. And there is the added pleasure of watching people pause to listen, smile, and maybe dance or sing a little.
It’s all of that which led to the creation of TrailJams. TrailJams is about making acoustic music together — connecting musicians, learning tunes, and building community. Over time it has grown from a handful of friends meeting on a trail to a tune collection and learning resource used by session players in more than 100 countries.
What TrailJams Offers
TrailJams has several interconnected parts:
- A tune collection — More than 200 curated Irish and Celtic tunes, with sheet music, play-along tracks, and selected recordings.
- TrailJams Tune Camp — A subscription learning platform that adds interactive Soundslice tutorials to the tune collection.
- A weekly newsletter — A Tune of the Week, a Featured Set, upcoming session events in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, and items of interest to traditional music players worldwide.
- Local sessions — TrailJams hosts or supports several regular sessions in the Portland area of Oregon, and has helped bring about new sessions in the region.
- Articles — A small but growing collection of pieces on musical modes, session etiquette, tune history, and related topics.
The Tune Collection
A core feature of TrailJams is the tune collection. Unlike large online databases that index thousands of tunes, the TrailJams collection is deliberately curated — focused on tunes worth learning because they are actively played in sessions.
How does a tune get into the collection? The selection draws from two overlapping sources. Some tunes are here because they are played regularly at Portland-area sessions — and to a lesser extent at sessions across the Pacific Northwest — tunes that have been tested in real sessions, that people enjoy playing together. Others are here because they are widely played in Irish and Celtic sessions around the world. The result is a list that reflects both local practice and global relevance.
The collection currently includes more than 200 Irish and Celtic tunes. Each tune page includes sheet music with chords for a carefully established core version of the tune, play-along tracks at two or three tempos, three selected recordings that represent the tune well, and links to tutorials, books, and related resources. Each tune page also features an illustration and a short introduction that gives context for the tune — its origins, character, and what makes it worth learning.
For players who are just starting out, the Core Irish Tune List offers a focused set of 52 tunes — a manageable starting point that covers the tunes most likely to be played at sessions or that “everybody knows.” TrailJams Tune Camp subscribers also get an interactive Soundslice tutorial for each tune in the collection.
Sessions and Community
TrailJams grew out of a local music community in the Portland area of Oregon, and that community is still at its center. Every week, sessions happen — real people in real rooms playing these tunes together. TrailJams hosts a weekly Irish session every Sunday at Hostel Café in Portland, and an outdoor session during summer months at Cook Family Park in Tigard. It is closely connected to the Westside Irish Session in Tigard, which shares much of the TrailJams tune repertoire. TrailJams has also helped bring about new monthly sessions in Beaverton and elsewhere in the region.
The repertoire played at these sessions and the TrailJams tune collection are tightly intertwined. Tunes are chosen for the collection partly because they are played at these sessions. And tunes featured in the collection and as Tune of the Week grow the session repertoire in return. That cycle of playing, learning, and playing again keeps both fresh and strong.
At the same time, TrailJams reaches well beyond Oregon. The site is used by session players in more than 100 countries, with strong audiences in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Canada, Germany, and Australia — all places with active Irish and Celtic music communities.
TrailJams Tune Camp
TrailJams Tune Camp is the subscription side of TrailJams. It gives you Soundslice tutorials that let you set the tempo, loop on any part of a tune, and learn while following the “living” sheet music — notation that moves with the audio as the tune plays.
Soundslice supports two ways of learning. You can learn by ear — setting your own tempo, looping a phrase until it’s in your fingers, with the sheet music as a map to guide you. Or you can learn by eye — following the notation, with the audio bringing it to life. Most players use both together, and Soundslice is built for exactly that. For mandolin and banjo players, tablature is available alongside the standard notation.
The growing tutorial library currently includes Soundslice tutorials for more than 150 tunes and tune sets. Typically, each new Tune of the Week is added to the library as it is introduced. Tutorials are integrated with the TrailJams website — each tune page has “Unlock” and “Learn” links that take you directly to the tutorial.
TrailJams Tune Camp subscriptions are managed through Patreon, and when you become a subscriber you also become a TrailJams patron. Subscriptions are inexpensive, and come with a seven-day free trial. And if you like, you can choose to subscribe at a higher price point to give more support to the TrailJams project.
What’s in the name “TrailJams”?
TrailJams started outside. That was partly a result of the COVID pandemic, and partly because playing music outdoors together is a genuine pleasure. For the first two years, starting in 2020, all of the gatherings were outside in a variety of locations — but always next to a walking path. So that’s the “Trail.”
And the “Jams”? The first handful of people who gathered played American old-time tunes, and in the old-time tradition those gatherings are called jams. Later the group began playing Irish tunes, and in the Irish tradition those gatherings are called sessions. But “TrailJams” has stuck. It rolls off the tongue, and it carries the spirit of the thing — even when there’s no trail, and what’s happening is definitely a session.
TrailJams and Your Tune Journey
Ready to explore? Here are a few good places to start:
Browse the tune collection — Pick a tune that interests you — one you’ve heard before, one whose name intrigues you, or one that’s been played at a session you attend. Each tune page lets you hear master musicians play it, read about its background, learn it with sheet music and play-along tracks, and follow links to lessons and tutorials. Irish & Celtic Tune List
New to Irish sessions? Start here. The Core Irish Tune List is 52 carefully chosen tunes — enough to build a real repertoire, but not so many as to overwhelm. It’s the fastest path to being ready to play at a session. Core Irish Tune List
Get the free newsletter — A weekly Tune of the Week, a featured tune set, upcoming session events in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, and items of interest to traditional music players worldwide — recordings, books, podcasts, and more. Free to subscribe, easy to unsubscribe. Get the Newsletter
Try TrailJams Tune Camp — Learn more efficiently with Soundslice “living” sheet music that combines learning “by eye” and “by ear.” TrailJams Tune Camp
About Jonathan Lay
I’ve been a musician my whole life, starting with singing and gradually adding instruments — guitar, harmonica, tin whistle, bodhrán, mandolin, banjo, and piano. Voice has always been my primary instrument, and I love the hearty tradition of sea chanteys and pub songs or a nicely-ornamented ballad.
Since 1992 I’ve been half of the maritime folk duo Shanghaied on the Willamette, with four albums released over that time. I’ve also played with the maritime-folk-blues band Spinnaker, written and recorded songs of my own, and served as president of the Portland Folklore Society.
Irish music came to me gradually. I was lucky enough to be taught bodhrán by Tommy Hayes — one of the finest bodhrán players in the world — and as I came to know the tradition more deeply, I discovered that Portland had an unusually strong Irish music community, shaped in part by members of The Bothy Band who made this city their home. I’m currently a board member of Comhaltas Oregon, the local branch of the international organization that promotes Irish traditional music and culture.
It was only in recent years that I turned my attention to playing melodies. I’d been playing guitar and bodhrán to accompany Irish, contra, and old-time music — as well as folk songs and sea chanteys — since around 1980, so the tradition was deep in my ears long before I took up the tune. I was finding my footing as a session melody player when the COVID pandemic shut everything down in 2020. That led me to invite people to play outdoors together — and eventually to build TrailJams, as a way of supporting that community and my own continuing musical growth.
This website and all of its content is copyright Jonathan Lay, 2021-2026 unless otherwise noted.