Drums are clashing. Electric guitars are riffing. Voices are belting with vibrato.

Music radiates throughout the Cats Den into the halls of the Gatton Student Center at the University of Kentucky.

The souls of the musicians Johnny Cash and Vicente Fernández are living on.

JamCats is in session. 

Trenton Upchurch, a ninth-year PhD student at UK, is also the founder and president of JamCats.

JamCats is an open mic music night club that provides the instruments and tools for people to perform. It is self-described as just a club for music lovers, according to Upchurch.

“JamCats is the last bastion of all weirdos. It’s the first stop for musicians,” Upchurch said. “It provides a space for people who can’t get loud, who can’t practice, to meet other musicians and have the opportunity to be around live music.”

Upchurch said he was inspired to start JamCats because, before the pandemic, there was an open mic but, like a lot of things post-pandemic, that went away.

“I wanted to do a talent show in the fourth grade and so my parents bought me one for that Christmas,” Upchurch said. “But I was too small to play, because they got me a full-size guitar.” 

Upchurch said when he turned 15, he started learning Johnny Cash and has been playing ever since.

In the summer of 2024, JamCats started with just a couple of students playing on an acoustic guitar. Now some sessions have up to 150 people, Upchurch said.

He said it doesn’t matter how big or small JamCats are. It was enough that anybody would be brave enough to go up on stage.

Upchurch emphasized how it is a safe place to perform, even if someone feels they are not great at it. 

One example he shared was when someone asked him to perform “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Neither of them had played it before on guitar or bass.

“We bombed it,” Upchurch said. “But there’s no booing in JamCats. It’s all about failing and getting back up and trying again and having a good time with it. I think safety is what gives students the love for music because you can’t fail if everybody is backing you.”

Upchurch said he wanted to reach out beyond UK because music isn’t just on campus. He wants to make an impact on the Lexington musical community. 

JamCats meet twice a month every month, once in the Cats Den on the first Wednesday and once at the Ethereal Slice House on the third Wednesday of every month, with more hip-hop and EDM at the sessions at Ethereal Slice House.

Upchurch doesn’t realize how much of an impact he has made on people like Ivan Trevino.

Trevino is a sophomore majoring in integrated strategic communication. He said he mainly sings mariachi from Mexican artists like Vicente Fernández because they were the kind of music he grew up with. 

Trevino performed mariachi songs like “Hermoso Carino” and “La Derrota.”

“When I was a kid at parties and weddings, I would always hear these songs, but I didn’t speak Spanish,” Trevino said. “They connected to me in a way, and eventually I began learning how to pronounce some of the words.”

Trevino said music is a very important gateway between people. Especially under a time when his people are villainized by the government, he said he feels excited when people experience his culture through music.

“My grandfather immigrated here from Mexico along with my grandmother,” Trevino said. “I never wanted to be alienated from my culture and music helps understand who we are as a people.”

Trevino said Upchurch helped him feel more comfortable and has been very supportive over the past year and a half.

“He doesn’t rush anyone offstage. He has been helpful to people who have stage fright,” Trevino said, “He’s ultimately made this feel like a much more safe place and a much more accepting place to people who may not have experience playing on a stage before.” 

One of the bands who plays regularly at JamCats is Rainbow Gravity. They have been performing covers of songs like “Where All The Time Go” by Dr. Dog.

Xander Dankhoff, a junior in mechanical engineering and the band’s drummer, has been partaking in JamCats for over three years. Dankhoff said he plays for several bands and takes any opportunity he can to play drums.

 Dankhoff said he is very thankful for Upchurch and how helpful he has been to him.

“JamCats has been his passion project for a while,” said. “It is really just monumental and a great opportunity like this band would not exist without JamCats.”

Upchurch said JamCats are the most fulfilling thing he has done.

“I’m from Columbia, Kentucky, a little hole in the wall town home of the Blue Raiders. I came to UK all alone and didn’t know anybody,” Upchurch said. “I guess that is why it’s important for me for JamCats to be that somebody for people who don’t have anybody.”