BGS is proud to partner with Woollystar Music Festival for a series of new video sessions. We launched in August with a special performance of Margo Cilker’s “Little White Cross,” and we have many more videos to come in the months ahead.
Festival curator Avery Hellman notes, “Woollystar began as a vision, and a responsibility. Six years ago, I imagined an event where people could enjoy high quality roots music in an intimate setting, where the arts are respected, and where attendees were not treated like sheep. Given my family’s background in music festival business, I felt it was my responsibility to create another opportunity for the myriad of gifted musicians who deserve an attentive audience. I also wanted to present this event amongst the high peaks along a clear river, in a far flung corner of California, serving the reclusive locals as well as the intrepid traveler.”
Avery Hellman also performs and records as ISMAY. They took a moment to reflect on the story behind a new song, “American Flag.”
“During the COVID era, I did something very dangerous — I started browsing pet adoption sites. While scrolling through wild mustangs, I stopped on a single image that made my heart take a leap. It was a paint mare with one blue eye and one brown eye. She had long legs and stood like some halfway-there Studio Ghibli character. At that moment I decided to try something I had long considered, gentling a wild horse. I brought her home from Nevada and named her Ozanna. I worked with her for one month, entering her pen each day, and getting a little closer. After tedious hours that went on endlessly, at last I was able to touch her mane with the tip of my hand. As we worked together in that pen, I envisioned her as a rodeo horse, carrying the American flag around the arena to cheering crowds in the stands.
“However, after my gentling work plus a year with talented trainers in Nevada, I concluded that she could never be fully safe to handle. She didn’t soften to close human presence. The trainers allowed Ozanna to roam free in their ‘back 40’ where she lives to this day. This song “American Flag” is about the expectations we place on other creatures and ourselves, and how we must reconcile those expectations with present reality.
“In terms of writing, the song came to fruition in a little red farmhouse at my cousin’s place on the California coast. I almost felt myself having some kind of Wilco-esque utterance with the first words, ‘she was supposed to wave an American flag.’ Immediately my cousin, the guitarist, and the drummer perked up. I knew that simple sentence floating above a G and F chord worked for some reason. My cousin Matt Gibbs offered the chord changes for the chorus, and my partner Andy chimed in as well to create the bridge.
“In this video, we are performing ‘American Flag’ at Woollystar, and I used the festival as our album release show. With Jeff Kissell on the bass, Jeff Wilson on the drums and Andy Allen-Fahlander on the electric guitar, the song took off and fly like those hangliders on alpine mountaintops. My paint mustang couldn’t wave the American flag at the rodeo, but we found our way to prance and perform.”
Recorded live at the Markleeville General Store in partnership with Woollystar Music Festival, June 13, 2026
Vocals and Acoustic Guitar: Avery Hellman
Bass: Jeff Kissell
Electric Guitar: Andrew Allen-Fahlander
Drums: Jeff Wilson
Song written by Avery Hellman, Matthew Gibbs, and Andrew Allen-Fahlander
Videography and Editing: Brad Wagner
Sound Engineering and Mixing: Juan M. Soria
