Under the shade of the trees next to the Ecology Building pond, four professors play old-time and bluegrass music.

Five years ago, Richard Daniels, Mike Conroy, Mike Wimberly and Tommy Jordan – three of them from the Warnell School of Forest Resources and one from the geology department – started meeting during lunch for jam sessions and to improve their playing skills.

“We play most Tuesdays and Thursdays when other events don’t interfere, like the weather or our jobs,” said Conroy, a professor of wildlife biology.

The group is occasionally joined by other faculty and local musicians.

Jim Wilson from the math education department, Ned Gardiner from the geology department, Christian Lopez from the Christian Lopez Band and Andrew Heaton from the Packway Handle Band sometimes play with the professors.

Wimberly, who teaches Landscape Ecology and Spatial Analysis, found out about the group three years ago.  

He said playing gives him the midday break he needs.

“We spend so much time in our offices thinking inside our own heads,” Wimberly said. “When you play, you think differently, you use a different part of your brain; it’s mentally refreshing.”

The professors do not limit their love of old-time to just one instrument – Daniels plays guitar, mandolin and bass while Jordan plays five instruments including the mandolin and banjo.

They also play music they learned from records, songbooks and other people, passed down from one player or singer to another in the folk tradition, said Daniels, a Silviculture and Forest Measurements and Modeling professor.

Students take breaks at the Ecology Building pond and listen to the faculty members.

“It is well-known around the (Forestry) School,” Wimberly said. “We often see undergrads and grads come out and listen during lunch.”

Members don’t limit their musical talent to campus, though. Some are involved in local bands that participate in old-time and bluegrass festivals.

Tommy Jordan, the associate director of geoinformatics at the University’s Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science, is a veteran guitarist of 40 years who has played old-time and bluegrass music for 15 years.

He is a member of the band String Theory, which includes Conroy, Gardiner and Daniels. String Theory is a name used when booking gigs, Daniels said, but is composed of a pool of local musicians in addition to the professors.  

They also play at a nursing home each month and Bluegrass Thursday at Athens Steam Company Pub at the Foundry Park Inn every once in a while.

Whatever their musical ventures away from campus, the professors always gather on Tuesdays and Thursdays for plain old fun and relaxation.  

“I enjoy the music and the company,” Conroy said. “Anyone is welcome (to listen or play).”