Walking down the sidewalk on Main Street in Vardaman on selective Tuesdays you can hear the strumming of a guitar and the smell of some good cooking.
Just inside the doors of the “Music Room,” located on the north end of the street, a few doors down from the town’s “Front Porch” facility, tables are filled with patrons enjoying a good meal provided by Steve Long on this particular night.
“We always eat,” said Tommy Scarbrough. “You have to eat somewhere on a Tuesday, why not come here and let it go for a good cause?”
Scarbrough hosts these charity events the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. It’s open to anyone who wants to come and enjoy a good meal and good music.
A different sponsor covers the cost of the food each time so any funds raised can go toward the designated charity.
Around 7 p.m. the band cranks up in the back room. It’s a motley crew of guitar pickers, keyboard players, and vocalist of all styles. They perform everything from Chuck Berry to Johnny Cash, and perform it well.
“We have some talented musicians around here,” Scarbrough said.
He doesn’t count himself among them, although he does pick some guitar and sings on occasion.
Scarbrough didn’t start playing until he was 45 years old.
“I always had a garage I could go in and play,” he said. “When I bought this place from the town, I could see it was full of junk, but that it was going to become my new garage.”
His friend Eddie Bollinger, a well known musician around Calhoun County who he met at church, began coming over and playing with him. Throw in J.D. Long, Tommy Reedy, Aaron Sims, Steve Long, Jordan Crawford and a number of other regulars and the unofficial band started coming together.
“Suddenly we had more and more friends coming over and playing with us and people coming to listen and it’s just blossomed,” Scarbrough said. “Nobody gets paid for coming and playing. They just enjoy doing it.”
Music Room Tuesdays are now filling a void for people who want to come enjoy a good meal, listen to good music and help their community as well.
Scarbrough has always looked for sources to help fund the scholarship at Vardaman High School in honor of his father – Tom Scarbrough Sr.
“We gave out three $1,000 scholarships last year,” he said.
The scholarship fund is the default for their Tuesday sessions when they don’t have another designee, but that’s not often.
“We just look for wherever there is a need and do what we can,” Scarbrough said.
They’ve already raised significant funds for Operation Christmas Child, the Dog Lovers League in Bruce, the Vardaman football team, Vardaman fire and police departments.
The police department was the benefactor this particular night.
“It’s hard to put into words what this means to have so many to come out and contribute in this way,” Vardaman Police Chief Kenneth Scott told the audience to open the show.
Then with the quick strum of a guitar it was “Folsom Prison Blues” to kick off a fun night of music. Nearly three dozen people sat in folding chairs along the wall, stood in corners, clapping along to the beat.
The official concert typically lasts from 7 p.m. until around 8:30 p.m., but sometimes the “after party” jam session can go on well into the night.
“We just try to have a good time for a good cause,” Scarbrough said.
