He is reserved, humble and quiet to those that don’t know him well. But when he gets up in front of a crowd, guitar in hand, Rob Allison’s presence fills the room with that good ol’ fashioned feeling only a true musician can bring.

He has been living in Jasper for about 28 years, and sadly, is heading back to Ontario for a while – though he is already planning his first visit.

“This place has been home to me for longer than I’ve lived anywhere else,” he says. “I have lots of good friends in this town, for sure. It’s a great place to live.”

Rob has been a part of the Sunday jam day at the Whistle Stop for well over 10 years.

“Nobody seems to remember (exactly how long),” he says with a chuckle. “But it has been going on every Sunday for years and years.”

When he talks about how it all got started, Rob remembers that the Whistle Stop had a different layout and looked quite different than it does now.

“When the bar was still in the middle of this place, no windows and little red terrycloth tables, they used to have a jam night once-and-a-while and I played there a few times,” he recalls. “I’m really not positive how it got started in the new side, but more and more people kept showing up every week.”

Rob says the whole thing was kind of spontaneous.

“It just happened. I don’t think it was ever planned, that’s for sure,” he laughs. “But they kept letting us come back every week.”

The regular jam group, which Rob fondly refers to the World’s Biggest Band, is made up of a core group of friends; too many to list them all.

“Fred Lombard, Charlie Blackstock, Brian Fieber, Tim Arsenault, Monika Schaefer; you never know who is going to show up. Sometimes there is only three or four musicians that show up and sometimes there’s 13 or 14, you just never know.”

Rob, who has been playing the guitar since he was 10, says the group often plays “folky” stuff.

“But it’s whatever comes to mind. Like Randy Daniels, who does play with us quite often, he plays a little more up-tempo, rock and roll than what Fred and I do. Fred’s kind of got the country part of it and I guess I’m the old hippie part of it,” says Rob, smiling broadly.

When he thinks about his favourite kind of music, Rob says it’s anything that catches his ear.

“I don’t tend to listen to a lot of new music, but I listen to CBC a lot and I get some good ideas from them. And every once-and-a-while, someone will wander in with a new tune and we get interested in that.”

Rob says that there has yet to be a formal practise before a jam afternoon.

“We never practise. Not once. We played at the folk festival one year, we have played on Canada Day at the park and not once did we ever get together and practise, really.”

It’s hard to believe this – when the whole group gets together it sounds like they have practised for hours.

In a group of many musicians, no one belongs to a formal band.

“But we will go out to somebody’s cottage, or out to the lake and everybody brings their instruments and we all play together. We have been playing together for years, we just don’t really consider ourselves a band,” says Rob, with a laugh.

Everyone who attends the Sunday jams has a favourite they like to hear. Calls from the audience for their favourites are often heard when the group is between songs. Rob says his personal favourite is hard to pick.

“I do some Neil Young – Aurora Borealis – and there’s certain people in the crowd who would kill me if I don’t play it,” he says laughing. “We usually finish up with Mystery Train, it’s up tempo and lots of fun. I don’t have one favourite, it really depends on what the crowd wants to hear.”

They don’t play a lot of originals, but Whistle Stop Girl – a crowd favourite – is one that they usually play every time.

“That really came out of Willy [Saunders],” says Rob. “It’s actually a Rolling Stones tune that he kind of altered, and he does it really well. He’s a performer, that boy.”

Most of the group has a bit of performer in them. Rob says that everybody usually takes a turn leading a few tunes during a jam. 

“We just pass it around,” he says.

Every now and then, Rob says someone outside the core group will come in and add their flavour to the jam.

“And it’s fun when they get up there. You get to hear something different,” he says.

Rob recalls a time when a couple from England came in on one Sunday afternoon.

“They were hobbits! Neither one was much more than about four feet high. He had a big grey beard and he had this little Martin travel guitar. He was a minister in a church in England and his wife was the head of the choir. She had a set of pipes on her – it was just unbelievable – and he could play anything on that little guitar. They were a lot of fun.”

Rob says there have been many similar instances of people coming in, joining the jam and really wowing everyone.

When he thinks about his favourite part of the jams, Rob says, “There’s no better feeling than when you come down sometimes and play your heart out and the place just jumps. Knowing that it’s appreciated, and coming together.”

The group has a loyal following, with many of the same faces coming out to hear the jam each week.

“Lots of good friends, but also lots of tourists. And when you talk to them after, they’ll say ‘Oh yeah, we were here three years ago and we were hoping you guys were still here.’ That’s happened quite often too,” says Rob.

When he thinks about leaving, Rob says that the closer it gets, the tougher it feels.

“Last weekend just floored me,” he says of the second last jam. “I felt the love.”

Rob says this town is his family and he will definitely be back for a visit. He says he will miss living in the downtown of a national park and the familiarity of the town the most. 

“I have really, really enjoyed my time here,” he says. 

When he talks about what the jams mean to him, Rob says it’s a tearjerker leaving them behind.

“It’s tough, when I thought about it when I first planned to do it, I thought ‘It’s not a big deal’, but now that it’s time to go, it’s going to be really tough.”

Rob will say goodbye to Jasper this week, and says it won’t be easy. When asked what he would say to each of those he has jammed with, become friends with and known over the years, he says, “I love them all. Each and every one of them. They are great friends and nobody could have better friends.”