For your listening pleasure, log on to your computer, sit back and enjoy, “Social Distance Jam.”

See the video.

The idea of performing virtual music concerts during the pandemic was the brainchild of Maury Rutch, owner of Maury’s Music in Coaldale.

Since the middle of March, Rutch and musicians all across the country have virtually come together to sing songs and play music that is relevant to the current chaos in America.

“We just wanted to do something we couldn’t do in real life - performing in front of live audiences,” said the resident of Coaldale, who is also a graduate of Marian High School.

A former member of “Nemesis,” a classic rock band, Rutch performed solo and as part of duets at local venues several nights a week before he began to make Martin bone saddles and sell them on eBay

“I did so well selling parts and their strings online that I asked the Martin company if I could become an authorized dealer,” he said. “After they agreed, my wife, Lori and I decided to open a store and go full time.”

See the video.

Currently, Maury’s Music is one of the top Martin guitar retailers in the country with 99 per cent of the business coming from online transactions.

“Out of 500 Martin distributors, we are in a very elite group of Certified Online Dealers" Rutch said proudly.

“Social Distance Jam” integrates the vocals and instruments of musicians who play independently from their homes.

“Each of us individually plays and sings songs covered from YouTube and then myself & Rick McLay edit all the pieces together to make it appear we were together when we performed,” Rutch said. “The whole process to edit a song takes two to three hours to complete.”

Some of the song titles from “Social Distance Jam” are, “Tell Me Why,” “Desperado,” “Crazy,” “A Little Further in the Hole,” and “That’s the Way the World Goes Round.”

Rutch said that some of more popular videos have already had 1,500 views since he began jamming.

Rutch, whose own tastes have evolved into the music of Jackson Browne, Neil Young, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, said his business was very steady until the recession in 2008.

“After the economy got better, we picked up again. In fact, this year, we had sold through much of our inventory until Covid-19 shut down the Martin manufacturing plant at the end of March. We had to close for a week in May, ourselves. We had little left to sell,” he explained. Now our shelves are starting to fill up again.

Rutch recently produced another song with Marshall Fleisher on his Facebook page, but he contends nothing can ever replace singing and playing in front of a live audience. He remains a member of a four-piece band called, “The ShellShocked Churchills” and he also performs acoustically with Tim Perry.

He has a network of over 25 musicians (and growing) that contribute to “Social Distance Jam.”

“It started with people I had previously played with,” Rutch said. ”But it’s been growing and now includes some people who have never even met each other."

Yet, he still yearns for the day he can strap on his guitar and once again play live.

“It’s just different making virtual music,” Rutch said. “You can’t feel the connection you have with a live audience.

“For me, music is therapeutic and it has been ever since I first picked up a guitar in 1985.”

With these “Crazy” times, Maury Rutch’s therapy is helping many others stop themselves from falling “A Little Further in the Hole.”