Sunday was the last day of the 22nd Annual Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival, which kicked off on Aug. 6. The music started at 9 a.m. and ran through 5 p.m. Aug. 9, with bands playing every hour.
“We’ve had a lot of good bands. It’s going very well and everyone’s having a good time,” said Michael Hall, past president of the Northern California Bluegrass Society. “It’s the last day of a fabulous festival. Everybody will have to say goodbye at the end and promise to get back together next year and see all their friends once again.”
“We support local bands in California,” said Elicia Burton, also a past president of the Northern California Bluegrass Society. She added that the festival encourages fans to get to know the artists and follow their careers.
In describing the history of the event, Eric Burman, one of the festival’s co-founders, said, “Bluegrass music was considered decent only if it came from back East. I saw a void where people here were not being represented. So a group of us got together and started this thing, and that’s the way it’s been.”
After that start with five bands, Burman said, “It’s given people a space to come and love the music. And we all walk out of here rejuvenated just from the experience of being here.”
This year, the festival-goers have already had two days of stage performances, and one day of jamming and socializing prior to the Sunday finale day.
The community atmosphere of Bluegrass music was alive and well, as Hall noted, “There’s a lot of good jamming in the camp.” He said that musicians were playing into the night, well past 1 a.m. Socializing was part of the first evening, even with the stormy weather that swept through.
“It was the most amazing weather I’ve ever seen, here in Bolado Park,” said Burton of the Aug. 6 thunderstorm. “It was outstanding fireworks from God. We all hung out together and had a good time and watched it.”
“The bands don’t go home. They stay here,” said Burman. “So when the music stops on stage, we have 150 musicians walking around with their instruments. That’s when the magic happens. The jamming goes on literally all night.”
The rest of the festival shifted to add stage performances to the mix.
“We had a very popular band close the show last night called the Mighty Crows,” Hall said of the Friday lineup. “They did a really fine job.” He explained the band had been together for about five years before breaking up. “This was a reunion set for them. They are very popular, and were previously voted by our members as band of the year.” He noted is was a happy sight to see Mighty Crows back together.
A local band hit the stage on Saturday evening: Sidesaddle & Co. were led by Hollister’s Kim Elking.
The stages rotated every hour, with a main performance for the first 45 minutes of each hour on the main stage, followed by 15 minutes of performance on the adjacent “tweener” stage that had a more open mic feel.
“Every hour, someone gets 15 minutes to go up there and do whatever they want,” said Burman. “A third of the bands that are here are people that have never been heard before. Brand new bands. Festival promoters from all over come here to hear the new talent.”
“The vibe here is friends and extended family and a whole bunch of loved ones,” Burton said. “We take care of each other and give each other that shot of confidence that we need when we’re playing.”
When asked about new band reaction, Burton said, “What happens is, they start getting more excited. And then they release their own material. And pretty soon they have albums and all sorts of bigger things coming out.”
While there were plenty of new bands on stage, Burton said there also were repeat bands, some spanning all 22 years of the festival’s history. The direct interaction that bands and fans are able to have helps to not only create a social atmosphere, but also provide support for new and local bands.
“It’s really wonderful to have good feedback,” said Burton, who plays the fiddle. “If you see a good band out there, tip them and make sure that you appreciate them. Write their names down and go out and buy their albums.”
“This is a wonderful festival,” said Dave Field. “The audience here is knowledgeable. We have probably more musicians per capita in the audience. Most of us, when we’re not on stage, are listening to each other. It’s a very supportive place and a fun place.”
“When I look out in the audience, I know that 50 percent of them know how to play my instrument better than I do,” said Burman. “And when I walk off stage and people come up and say, ‘that was incredible,’ I’m good for the rest of the year.”
Field, when asked about his reaction immediately after coming off stage performing with Rogue River, said, “It’s such a rush. Like any entertainer knows, it makes all the work worthwhile. Seeing all the people smiling in the right places. Seeing people listening intently.”
The feel of a reunion at the festival plays a part with the active bands, themselves.
Rogue River was one such band, with members coming from Santa Cruz, Long Beach, and La Grange. “If we got together all the time, it wouldn’t have the same exhilaration of getting to play with these folks,” Field said.
Saturday also had numerous workshops, held in the early afternoon and evening.
“Everybody loves to learn something new,” said Penny Godlis, one of the co-founders of the festival. “Some of them are hands-on like the banjo workshop. Some of the other ones are mostly instructional or sing-alongs. People like to increase their interest and ability with certain instruments.”
Godlis said her own experiences with the workshops have been positive. “I love learning new things from people who are a lot better than I am,” she noted.
The workshops help to provide an increase in skill that could encourage growing artists to take the next step. Godlis said, “There are beginners who have never played before and go home and decide, ‘I really like that instrument. I think I’ll pick it up.’”
When asked about encouraging new artists, Field said, “Do as much as you can in front of people. Give yourself the time to work through the shaking of the legs.” He played a song about stage fright, which drew on his experiences with shaking legs and hands at his first gig. “When I did that first one, the whole half hour I was shaking. Now, I do it for a living.”
Some of the performances planned for the final day of the festival were the youth bands. One youth band, 35 Years of Trouble, was scheduled for the morning. At 1:15 p.m., the 15 to 20 participants of Kids on Stage hit the stage in a one-hour set with different band configurations.
“That’s all the kids at the festival that want to participate and play an instrument,” said Hall. “They’ve been rehearsing for a couple days.”
“It’s amazing how they can take kids from all over and get them to play together,” said Burman.
Mizlinda Hinschaw-Kramm, a former board member of the Northern California Bluegrass Society, said, “They practice everyday and they work on their set list. They decide what songs they’re going to do and who’s going to play what. It’s really intimate and small and people go around and jam,” said Hinschaw-Kramm of the festival.
“This is a wonderful crowd. They’re very safe,” said Burman. “Everyone wants to play their instruments, so there’s no wild drunken parties going on. Everyone is very conscious of being able to play their instruments. It’s a safe place to bring children.”
“It’s a wonderful way to be known, to be seen, to be heard, and to know each other,” Field said of the overall festival. “They say music is a universal language. It is. It’s a way that we reach each other.” He added, “This Bluegrass Festival allows us to stretch the traditional, narrow definition of bluegrass music to let other interpretations in.”
When asked about next year, the 23rd for the festival, Hall said, “We’re looking forward to it.”