Sonoma County Bluegrass & Folk Festival comes to Sebastopol next weekend
22nd annual festival set for March 14 at Sebastopol Community Center
Few things are more American than bluegrass music, and few musical genres emphasize harmonizing and appeal to a wider age range than the string instrument repertoire of the Appalachian Mountains with its old-time lyrics about trains, rivers, farms and sweethearts.
All together this makes it sound like some big doses of bluegrass music are exactly what our tattered and divided America could use right now.
And as fortune would have it, Sebastopol and other local folks can look forward to a full day of bluegrass music when the Sonoma County Bluegrass & Folk Festival takes place on Saturday, March 14, at the Sebastopol Community and Cultural Center.
Laurie Lewis and Nina Gerber, two of bluegrass and folk music’s most versatile and vibrant standard-bearers, will headline this year’s festival. The full day of music also will feature several traditional bluegrass bands, top banjo and mandolin players, harmony singers, a set by youthful all-stars, a South of the Border treat by a musical and poetry ensemble and an all-comers square dance to end the day.
The Sonoma County Bluegrass & Folk Festival is co-sponsored by the California Bluegrass Association (CBA) and the Sonoma County Folk Society. Last year’s festival sold out, but tickets are still available for this year’s event. All-day tickets are $50, and children under age 12 are free. Food and beverages will be available on the grounds of the Community Center. The Sebastopol Kiwanis Club is one of the main vendors for the day. Everyone is encouraged to bring their own musical instruments if they like.
The festival runs from 12 noon to 9 pm with seven featured performances on the main stage, plus two organized workshops and lots of other festival mischief.
For many past festival goers, many of the day’s highlights come from the impromptu jam sessions, song circles and conversations that ebb and flow throughout the day while the featured performers take their turns on the main stage.
“It’s always been a picker’s festival,” said Ted Kuster of the CBA. “That’s the one thing the original founders of the festival really got right. There’s lots of authenticity and ‘rootsiness.’” Semi-officially, this is the 22nd annual bluegrass and folk festival that was started by the Sonoma County Folk Society, which is celebrating its 41st year as an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization.
Lots of bluegrass and folk history
All the years and chronicles seem to run together when you’re doing so much picking and harmonizing. Many of the festival’s veteran volunteers tell different accounts of the earlier years — and how many there have been. For instance, everyone knows that both Laurie Lewis and Nina Gerber have played at multiple past festivals with lots of various fellow performers. But it seems even Nina and Laurie might not have an official count of how many performances they’ve given from the festival stage. (Lewis played at last year’s festival with Kathy Kallick.)
“It’s so great to be playing with Nina for the festival,” Lewis said during a recent radio interview on KRCB (104.9), who guessed she’s played the festival “a half dozen times.” The two women have shared songs and stages for almost 40 years, and Lewis said, “Nina might know my songs better than I do.” Gerber is a longtime west Sonoma County resident who got her musical start as guitarist with fabled folk singer Kate Wolf. Lewis has lived in Berkeley since the 1970s, and, in addition to her songwriting and singing, she is a former California bluegrass fiddle champion.
Opening the festival will be Pulso de Barro, who play “Mesoamerican sounds.” “I really, really recommend these guys. They play what is called Son Jarocho music which is Spanish for ‘tunes from Veracruz,’” said Kuster. “Although they play music of South America, you can hear the same roots of bluegrass music. It’s a different country and language, but it’s a lot of the same music.”
Just before Laurie Lewis and Nina Gerber take the stage at 6:35 p.m., a group of “hot” session musicians from rural Virginia and Nashville will perform. Five Mile Mountain Band is currently on tour, and one of the members is making sort of a homecoming. The group’s mandolin player is Josh Gooding who grew up in the North Bay.
Another touring band, Monroe Crossing will make a stop in Sebastopol during their long winter tour away from the frigid confines of their home state of Minnesota. “They play bluegrass that is ‘straight down the middle,’” says Kuster. Much of their repertoire stays very faithful to the music and styling of Bill Monroe, considered the “father of bluegrass music.”
Rounding out the bill are the Evie Ladin Band, Jesse Appelman’s West Coast Stringband Project, and the Manning Music Youth Spotlight. Two familiar faces, banjo player Christine Wilhoyte and guitarist Yoseff Tucker will join Jesse Appleman’s group for the festival.
Immediately after the final session by Laurie Lewis and Nina Gerber, the main floor of the Community Center will be cleared, and K.C. Heil and Evie Laden will provide the music and calling for a community square dance. (Half-price “dance only” tickets will be sold at the door.)
The Sebastopol festival is one of the main events hosted by the California Bluegrass Association each year, which also hosts other festivals around the state.
“What we mostly do at CBA is coordinate jams and workshops throughout the year,” said Kuster, a Petaluma resident. “We meet at bars, church basements and people’s living rooms.”
In a similar spirit, the Sonoma County Folk Society hosts a folk music and stringed instrument jam every fifth Sunday of the month at the Sebastopol Grange. (It’s also a potluck meal.) Folk Society members also host monthly “picking sessions” at the Occidental and Sebastopol arts centers. (Check their website for upcoming dates, socofoso.com.
For tickets and information to the Sonoma County Bluegrass & Folk Festival, visit https://californiabluegrass.org/cbaevent/sonoma-festival/.
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