March BEAT

JERRY CLEMONS SR. –– THE REGION's MUSICAL TREASURE

by Ernie Thomas

    From childhood days spent watching his daddy pick guitar, through decades
of fronting a band, to finally realizing the dream of owning a music store,
Jerry Clemons Sr. has lived a life full of music.

    This son of a preacher man from Muhlemburg County, Kentucky recalls his
father preaching on local radio each week and how he and his siblings would
sit in with their father before his sermon. Jerry would shake a tambourine to
his father’s guitar picking and the whole family would sing.

    By his teens, Clemons was traveling down the same road walked by Robert
Johnson and so many others. Music had possessed his young soul and filled
his heart.

    “Dad’s guitar was always there and we weren’t to touch it,” said
Clemons, “but I’d sneak in and played it every chance I got. We never had a
lot of money, so when I got my first guitar, if I broke a string, I’d have to
pull and stretch it to make it fit back on so I could keep playin’.”

    In the late 1950’s, he traded the blue grass of Kentucky for the gray
skies of the Region. Motivated by a need to eat, Clemons, came to the
Midwest in search of work and settled in N.W. Indiana where he has remained.
The years spent toiling at a day job, was made tolerable thanks to the rich
local music scene that existed in those days.

    When the quitting whistle blew, Clemons was off to play rockabilly music
six nights a week with his band – Jerry Clemons & The Sinstars – shaking up
clubs from Hammond to Chicago throughout the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s.

    “People were really honky-tonkin back then,” he says. “There were a lot
of good bands too. When we’d take a break, we’d run down the street and
check out who was playin’ at other clubs.”

    The Sinstars began as a family trio with Jerry playing guitar and
singing, while brothers Reuben and Joe played bass and drums, respectively.
When Jerry later took to playing piano, guitarist Mark Rongers joined. “We
always let local ‘jammers’ come and sit in with us,” recalled Clemons. “A
lot of local musicians got their start sitting in on Sinstar jams.”

    Sadly, a barroom fight put an end to Jerry’s ‘Sinstar’ stage career.
“The day I stopped six bullets put an end to me playin’ the honky tonk
circuit,” he recalled.
    While they certainly altered his lifestyle, those six bullets didn’t
change Jerry’s love of music. He didn’t give up on music, he just
approached it from a different direction. “Now, I’ve seen my biggest dream
come true. I have my own store with my son, Jerry II.”

    Dynamite Music began about six years ago as a single room shop with 23
instruments – predominantly guitars and bass guitars. Since then, it has
expanded from the small single room that once housed Magma’s Pub, to four
store fronts jammed with instruments, amps, speaker cabinets, cords, and
assorted supplies. They even have a repair shop and a resident guitar maker
in house.

    There is a comfortable down-home atmosphere, complete with a fireplace in
the middle of the store and rockin’ chairs. “It’s common to see people
sitting around pickin’ and singin’,” said Clemons of Dynamite’s “general
store” ambience.

    “Since opening the store, I’ve also learned to play mandolin, fiddle and
banjo. Now I can sit-in with any of the pickers that come here. I still like
to be able to entertain. Every Saturday afternoon, we gather ‘round the
fireplace and do some playin’– country, bluegrass, gospel, and old style
rock ‘n roll. Once a month we open the store on a Sunday afternoon and hold
an ‘open mic’ jam session right in the middle of the store with a special
guest host.”

    For the last five years, Clemons has sponsored a free summer concert in
Griffith’s Central Park dubbed as “Dyna-Fest,” and last year he hosted his
first “Musical Youth In The Park” concert where musicians 21 and under can
showcase their talents.

    Jerry loves igniting a musical spark in children. “Once a kid is old
enough to get into trouble, music can be a good outlet for them. I love all
types of music, so I can identify with just about anybody. I advise kids not
to get stuck in a rut where they only listen to one type of music. I tell
them to open their minds to all styles.”

    His family is chock full of musicians. “My son, Jerry, played drums with
the ‘Sinstars’ when he was a teenager. He’s an excellent musician and plays
in the band Nick Danger now. My grandkids also play instruments and sing. I
don’t really get on the kids about music until they’re about seven or eight,
when their attention span is longer.”

    Blessed with a life rich in music, Clemons is a fine gentleman who
continues to serve as an inspiration to all area musicians.