Thursday nights at Sawstone Brewing Company in Morehead regularly feature lively jazz music. Glenn Ginn, Associate Professor of Music at MSU said he originally approached the owners of Sawstone in 2019 to set up a regular gig, and while the COVID pandemic put a pause on performing for a short time, jazz night started back up in 2021 as a regular occurrence.
“It’s also just nice to have a performance opportunity right here in town because typically we, you know on weekends we have to drive to Lexington, or we drive up to Cincinnati to play,” said Ginn. “And it’s just really nice to have something right here. I just come straight from my office over on campus on Thursday’s and I only live seven miles from here.”
Regular performers in the Glenn Ginn Trio include MSU professor of jazz studies, Ryan McGuilicuddy on bass, Rowan County Middle School Band Director, Nick Diedrichsen on drums, and Ginn on jazz guitar. However, there are occasionally special guests.
“Periodically, especially the students that are preforming in the jazz band, we’ll have them play here, on a Thursday night,” said Ginn.
The group doesn’t play the same music every night, but instead has a set chord progression, and the musicians build on it as they see fit. Ginn said this pushes him to learn new techniques which he strives to improve week after week.
“Another good thing about it from the point of view of musicians, since it is a regular weekly thing, and the same people tend to show up each week, it’s a motivator for me to continually try to learn new material,” said Ginn.
Bartender Erica Hickman has worked at Sawstone since 2024, and she said her favorite shift is on Thursdays. She said it’s a privilege to listen to live music while she works and it makes time pass quickly.
Hickman said getting to have conversations with her regulars makes her feel like she is getting paid to have fun.
“I just love seeing the same faces every week, and I like seeing new faces too, but it almost feels like the jazz crowd is a little bit like a jazz family,” said Hickman.
Hickman said the experience has taught her many things, but in her opinion, the most important thing is to never judge a book by its cover. Patron Carter Abshire agreed.
“I’ve met college professors, I’ve met firefighters, blue collar, white collar, people of all different kinds of walks of life, beliefs, but I’ve never met anyone here who I couldn’t have a conversation with,” said Abshire.
Sawstone Brewing Company is located at 175 East Main Street, and more information can be found on their Facebook page.