You can hear the music before you walk into the Country Cabin Cafe in Savannah, Mo. You can hear it as you snake your car through the crowded parking lot — cars are parked two deep in some spots — and as you walk toward the cafe.

It’s 6 p.m. on Saturday, and the weekly Country Cabin Cafe Jamboree is in full swing.

Eight to ten musicians, representing five area opries, gather here to play old country and western music, gospel and bluegrass. The jamboree draws in as many as 100 people on the weekends, filling all the tables and chairs and sometimes leaving standing room only.

During the songs, the dance floor is filled with people doing line and square dances and two-stepping.

“They’re pulling in more and more people,” says Sandra Ashler, a jamboree regular. “They pack in like peas in a pod.”

The jamboree became so popular that cafe owners Ross and Rhonda Calloway had to tear down one of the walls to make room for everyone.

“I didn’t think it was going to get this heavy,” says Mrs. Calloway.

The jamborees became popular quickly, which surprised area musician Jerry Huffman, who came up with the idea.

“I thought we’d just have to advertise for about a year before we’d get anybody here,” he says, “but they were here and they’ve been coming ever since.”

Deanna Funderburg is one of those who has been attending the jamborees since the beginning.

“I miss it if I don’t come,” she says.

She says people like the fact the jamborees are no drinking and no smoking, just good clean fun. And Mrs. Ashler says even though the jamboree draws in people from across Northwest Missouri — including Pickering, Bethany, Graham, Oregon and St. Joe — everybody knows everyone. It’s a camaraderie you can’t find at other places.

“It’s like a family,” she says. “Everybody comes and gives you hugs.”

The jamborees are lead by Mr. Huffman, who tells jokes and stories in between songs. His fellow musicians sing and play guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, harmonica and drums. They represent four area opries, including the Northwest Opry in Maryville, the Countryside Opry in Cameron, the Fillmore Opry and the opry in Bethany.

“Those are the ones that really make it, I just kind of guide it along,” says Mr. Huffman. “If it wasn’t for them, people wouldn’t come.”