By Rusty Nixon Correspondent
PLYMOUTH — While America frets over who will be this year’s American Idol, some young musical hopefuls will be showing their chops this weekend in Plymouth.
The Knights of Columbus Hall will host the third Jam-A-Thon featuring music students from Wagoner’s Music Shop. The show starts at 6 p.m. and runs about three hours and is free to the public. As with the previous three Jam-A-Thon’s the musical styles run the gamut.

“We have everything from bluegrass to heavy metal,” said the events organizer Randy Jones. “The exciting thing is that this is the third time we’ve done this and the talent is just getting better and better.”
Jones devised the event to help students at Wagoner’s get a taste of playing live in front of an audience.
“You take so much time to learn your instrument and it can be a really intimidating experience to get up in front of a group of people for the first time and play,” said Jones. “I know it was for me the first time when I was 16. Now kids are able to get that experience when they’re seven or eight years old.”
Unlike previous shows where some students simply got onstage with their instrument, each act will be in a “band” setting with backing instruments.
“We really wanted to get everybody into a ‘band’ situation to get a feel of just what that is like,” said Jones. “You know when I was first coming up we had to go out and hustle our own gigs. This gives everybody a chance to get up there and go full speed.”
Maybe the most interesting act of the night will be a bluegrass ensemble that includes mandolin, dobro, banjos and guitar and musician ages ranging from eight to 55.
“It’s just about sharing the music,” said Jones. “It doesn’t matter what age you are or what you play, you can jam with anybody.”