When strolling through Coolidge Park in the warmer months, you may hear familiar tunes carrying through the air. Maybe it’s a Beatles, Elvis or Creedence Clearwater Revival classic. Maybe it’s something by R.E.M. or Radiohead. Maybe it’s a throwback to another time from legends like Hank Williams, Patsy Cline or Johnny Cash. Whatever the song, you’re sure to find yourself drawn to the sound, and as you make your way to the underside of the Market Street Bridge, you’ll find a group of musicians partaking in the pleasure of playing.
Chattanooga Musicians, Singers and Songwriters is a meetup group of non-professional musicians who gather every other week under the cover of the Market Street Bridge to play their instruments (acoustic only, due to noise ordinances). Sitting in a circle, the group members will decide on a song, play it and then rinse and repeat. It’s easy to get caught up in listening to them, and you’ll see park-goers walking by, turning their heads and tuning into the music.
“It’s fun to play songs with folks,” Brian Kelly, the group’s founder, says. “I try to curate a list of songs that people know and don’t even realize that they know, but I also make sure that it’s somewhat accessible — that most folks can come and join and play pretty easily.”
Kelly, a Mentone, Alabama-based software engineer, has been a musician since childhood, starting off with piano lessons, then playing saxophone in high school and dabbling in other instruments over the years, he says. He taught himself to play guitar in high school and had a band in college.
Kelly started a musician meetup group while in New York, where he’s originally from, in part because he wasn’t satisfied with other groups. But this also gave him the opportunity to get out of the house and play music with others.