No Stoplight , but Poolesville Music Is on the Move
Emerging Venues Fill the Ag Reserve with Songs
Story and Photos By Paul Tukey
Matt Partain remembers his first time . It was inside his dorm room at the University of Georgia , with a few friends watching .
“ I just started strumming an original song on my guitar called ‘ You and Me and Love ’ and my friends seemed to like it ,” he said . “ That was my first audience , and I never lost the music bug after that .”
Valaree Dickerson remembers her first time seeing Brian Jamison , too . Poolesville ’ s selfanointed matriarch of music was running an open-microphone night at Cugini ’ s , one of the town ’ s two pizza joints , when she stopped by one of the town ’ s three gas stations .
“ I happened to walk into the Liberty in the middle of summer ,” she said . “ There was a kid sitting on the floor in just a pair of shorts playing his guitar . I said , ‘ Brian , you ’ ve got one of the most beautiful voices I ’ ve ever heard ! You have to come play on Friday night !’ And he said , ‘ Yeah ? No . . . I don ’ t do that .’”
Fast forward 15 years . Brian Jamison , third-generation real estate agent by day and singer-songwriter by night and weekend , and
Matt Partain ’ s soccer dad duo with Chris Doto called “ No Stoplight ”— named for the fact that Poolesville doesn ’ t need traffic control — are just two examples of a host of talented musicians who make the wineries , restaurants , and festivals in the 93,000-acre Agricultural Reserve a hotbed of must-hear music .
“ I believe that the Ag Reserve itself manages to attract all things soulful and our music scene has become an extension of that ,” said Dickerson , a former Poolesville commissioner and long-time disk jockey , who recently became board president of the burgeoning River-
Left : Brian Jamison standing in the Old Methodist Church , set to become the Riverworks Performing Arts Center in Poolesville . Listen now at : youtube . com /@ brianj582 / featured ; above : Valaree Dickerson and Jay Summeroar sharing some conversation and Jay ’ s harmonica collection at Locals Farm Market in Poolesville .
works Art Center . “ I just feel like it ’ s such a peaceful place to be , whatever your profession . A lot of these artists aren ’ t from here originally . But once they migrate here , they quickly find that this is the kind of community that nurtures talent .”
Here is PLENTY ’ s primer on some of the musicians you can hear in and around Poolesville this spring and summer :
n THE BLUES MASTER
“ We have so many Brians and Matts around here , people who are these incredible musicians who
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