What started as a place for local musicians to hang out has turned into Tree Town's hottest Wednesday night scene.

Founded by musical pals Greg Burns and Matthew Altruda about 3 years ago, bluegrass night at Circus, part of the complex that also includes the Cavern and Millennium clubs, is now the place to be in Ann Arbor at midweek.

Be advised, though: This isn’t your grandpappy’s bluegrass. “It’s pretty vague to call it bluegrass night, but we do,” Altruda explained. “We’ve played klezmer music out there. Really eclectic music is what we look for.

“In my experience, bluegrass … captures more of the roots feeling of the people that are trying to come. These are kids that aren’t necessarily into traditional rock and roll or pop music, and calling something bluegrass doesn’t necessarily make them think of Flatt and Scruggs. It just makes them think of a banjo, or something alternative to pop music as it is now.”

As far as the crowd goes, “It’s a wild mix in here,” Altruda added. “It’s basically just Ann Arbor. You go to any coffee shop, any bar, the arcade, you go anywhere in Ann Arbor and it’s a complete melting pot. There’s people from all different places in the world. And I think bluegrass night brings them all together and they all just get down.”

The party started out slowly as a place for musicians to hang out. Even without much promotion, it’s developed a large and loyal following.

“(It was a) jam session with whoever I could drag out for that night,” Burns said. “We’re in the 3rd year now … and we’ve been drawing over a 300 people a night for the last couple of years.”

There was another goal as well.

“I think as a whole the Ann Arbor music scene has really just died over the last 10 years,” Altruda explained. “The younger kids are into DJs and they haven’t experienced enough live music. Bluegrass night was birthed with the idea of …getting people out dancing to live music.

“Live music is a drug, live music is extremely addicting, going out dancing is definitely what people’s souls need,” he said.

That works for regulars / best friends Abigail Stauffer and Joan Wolfe. The 2 jumped up on stage for some impromptu harmonizing during a recent set by Ypsilanti “crabgrass” band Black Jake & The Carnies.

“There’s live music that we can dance to,” Stauffer said. “It’s not like let’s grind your body up against each other, it’s like let’s jump around and have a good time … we usually don’t get to go up on stage at other bars.

“People here are so friendly. You end up dancing with strangers. I’ve not met a creeper here yet,” Stauffer added.

As the night has picked up in popularity the jam session concept has gone by the wayside, with different bands booked every week.

Besides Black Jake, recent acts have included East Lansing’s Steppin’ In It, The Ragbirds, Seth Bernard and Ypsitucky Colonels. The Macpodz even showed up 1 night when another band canceled.

Black Jake & The Carnies performing at Circus Bluegrass Night:

Fans who like the vibe should know there are some changes afoot. Come May, the wall behind the stage (the one with the huge Barnum & Bailey mural on it) will vanish, opening up the room beyond. Capacity will grow from 190 to 312 people, and a $2 cover charge is likely, Altruda said.

“That gives us a lot of opportunities for ticketed shows and using it as a performance space,” he observed. Although Wednesday is expected to keep its bluegrass theme, Thursday and Friday nights will also fall under their purview, with the possibility of an electronica theme on one of those nights.

Fans hope the sense of community evident on Wednesday nights won’t change.

“It’s all generally the same core of people performing, participating, organizing or attending,” said regular customer Dave Schall. “Everybody kind of knows everybody. It’s something to do, something you can count on, you know it will be the right people in the right place doing the right thing,” he said.

Roger LeLievre is a free-lance writer who covers music for AnnArbor.com.