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For musicians, jam sessions can be a moment of clarity, when the pressures of the world are drowned out and they can commune with other people through music. That's part of the idea behind a new effort that seeks to bring people on the autism spectrum together through bluegrass. LAist's Robert Garrova reports.
ROBERT GARROVA, BYLINE: John Frizzell has a long and successful career as a Hollywood music composer.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN FRIZZELL'S "THE ANTONIA GRAZA")
GARROVA: If you've ever seen the 2002 cult horror classic "Ghost Ship," you've heard his work.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN FRIZZELL'S "THE ANTONIA GRAZA")
GARROVA: As a multi-instrumentalist, Frizzell became interested in bluegrass later in life.
JOHN FRIZZELL: I kept noticing at so many bluegrass events that there just seemed like a lot of people on the spectrum.
GARROVA: Frizzell says he has an adult diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.
FRIZZELL: There's something about bluegrass, about maybe the patterns. It's such pattern-oriented music. It's such detail-oriented - the hyper focus is so effective in practicing and learning bluegrass. It just seems like a natural fit.
GARROVA: That got Frizzell thinking about what an inclusive group for fellow musicians on the spectrum might look like, so he started a new venture dedicated to connecting autistic and other kinds of neurodiverse people through bluegrass music. It's called Spectrum Bluegrass. The idea is something that made perfect sense to co-founder Steve Sidney, whose 43-year-old son Joel Sidney is an avid bluegrass player and has autism spectrum disorder.
STEVE SIDNEY: You know, people with ASD oftentimes tend to get an obsessive disorder. At 9 years old, he became obsessively interested in bluegrass music 'cause he reads everything about it.
GARROVA: Spectrum Bluegrass has had a few meetups at festivals and other events, with more than a dozen people participating in jam sessions over the past year or so. This past spring, the Spectrum Bluegrass band performed at LA's Greek Theatre. It was part of a fundraising concert hosted by the autism advocacy group Autism Speaks. They were in good company, with performances from Neil Young, Cat Power and others. Joel Sidney got to play guitar on stage with the Spectrum Bluegrass Band.
SPECTRUM BLUEGRASS BAND: (Singing) I had to follow you, my darling.
GARROVA: Sidney says being part of the bluegrass community has been extremely important for his son's social life. Playing bluegrass with other people has been very soothing and centering for Joel.
SIDNEY: To me, he was clearly pleased. He looked...
FRIZZELL: He was smiling a lot, I tell you.
SIDNEY: Yeah, he was. And he was - looked very happy and relaxed onstage.
GARROVA: Elizabeth Laugeson is a pediatric psychologist who specializes in autism at UCLA. She says it's no secret that music can be a really powerful form of communication.
ELIZABETH LAUGESON: But this can be particularly true for those who have difficulty with spoken language or social interactions, which is true for many autistic people.
GARROVA: And Laugeson says the benefits of playing with a group can stick around long after the jam session.
LAUGESON: For a lot of autistic individuals who've experienced peer rejection or social exclusion, you know, difficulty connecting with other people, participating in a group with some sort of shared purpose, like music making, can be very empowering.
GARROVA: Frizzell says they're just getting started, but that's really the goal for Spectrum Bluegrass.
FRIZZELL: I'd love to look back in 10 years and go, hey, you know, there's this many hundreds or this many thousands of people on the spectrum who had a great time playing bluegrass and just can - clocked in a lot of beautiful hours of feeling good.
GARROVA: Their next meetup is slated for this fall at the South State 48 music festival in Carlsbad, California.
For NPR News, I'm Robert Garrova in LA.
(SOUNDBITE OF TENNESSEE RIVER AUTHORITY SONG, "MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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