Life & Work with Anni Beach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anni Beach.

Hi Anni, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
The Jam Pak Blues ‘N’ Grass Neighborhood Band started in my front yard with six little neighbor kids in 1994. I was a substitute for Chandler Schools and also learned to play the bluegrass mandolin. I took the mandolin to any classroom and practiced and played. Two little boys from Galveston School came by after my day in their second-grade class and wanted to play more music with me.

Well, the following week, with the help of my husband Vincent Beach, Jam Pak was born. We built our first instruments called “canjos” after connecting with the creator Herschel Brown in North Carolina. The band grew large very quickly and yet it was four years before our traditional bluegrass was taken seriously. The instruments began arriving through donations and we had to pivot and engage people to teach. This was all done with volunteers.

We played our first bluegrass festival in 1998 and after that, there was no denying that Jam Pak was “for real”! The goal and philosophy evolved: The goal was and is “to make people and ourselves happy with our music.” Everything we do revolves around that goal.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Leadership had to be firmly established. Engaging parents as co-leaders or managers simply did not work. There must be one leader to whom all answer. Transportation was a major issue once we started traveling to festivals or even for getting to practice. Most of our parents either worked or couldn’t drive.

Coordination was difficult in this realm. We solved this problem by purchasing our first motor home for $1500. Never a smooth road. Break downs! Funny stories. In 2004, after one more breakdown, the 1988 Winnebago was purchased. But the transport was more secure and we went to lots of places, even to San Diego.

All of these years until 2017, my husband and I were financing the band along with unsolicited gifts from fans and some stipends for performance. I was strongly encouraged that I must create a non-profit to help sustain the work. This, although a lot of moving parts to take care of, actually made the band much more visible and easy to operate.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I left my professional life behind years ago. I hold an advanced degree as an Education Specialist and worked in the boarding system on the Navajo Reservation from 1969 through 1986. My titles ranged from Supervisory Guidance Counselor to Activities Specialist to Homeliving Specialist. My skills and passions were uniquely suited to this work.

I love projects and could do just about anything I wanted from landscaping the impossible desert area to designing and having playground equipment built for my school, designing and securing funding for an automotive education program for the Aneth, Utah Community. Everything was always fraught with obstacles, red tape, and many, many visits to the powers in charge. But I was most noted as a person who got things accomplished.

After my husband retired as the principal at Kinlichee Community School near Ganado, Arizona, we moved permanently to Chandler. I no longer needed to work full-time and began the adventure of coordinating the Religious Education Programs for the Chapel at Williams Air Force Base until it closed in 1993.

That was fun and I was able again to get a lot of people involved, work through more red tape, and establish a good program. I was also a substitute teacher from 1986 until 2003 when I began caregiving for my husband. My tenacity kept that part going, too. I am proud that I am in my 80th decade and going strong!

How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
First of all, communication is the greatest key to accomplishment. To delegate responsibilities there has to be good communication. For me, trust is built on that one thing. I am working on that pretty diligently as one day I will have to step away. I involve the children as much as possible so that they learn what it takes to run a band of 30.

I have great parents that provide support and encouragement. And best of all, everyone gets along well. The band itself is a strong music community. I need to do more delegation on projects such as festival production. I am working on this as I know it’s vital to the sustainability of the band.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jampak.org
• Facebook: facebook.com/JamPakBluesNGrass
• Youtube: @Jam Pak Blues “N” Grass Neighborhood Band

Image Credits
Aeryun Kinder, Fran Denancourt, and Justin Mizer