Tag: southern California

How to Help Musicians and Artists Impacted by the Los Angeles Wildfires

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Even before The Bluegrass Situation was its own entity, pre-dating the existence of this website, we’ve been proud to call Los Angeles home. From our co-founder Ed Helms’ original shows at Largo, or our first, homespun blog, Bluegrass LA, or our debut festival, the LA Bluegrass Situation, to today – boosting and presenting shows across Los Angeles County, building our new variety show, the Good Country Goodtime, and beyond, staying connected with the myriad of folks who make this place so special and vital – Los Angeles has been the perfect cradle for growing our worldwide roots music community.

Last week, we watched anxiously with the rest of the world as an rare wind event in Southern California turned into one of the most devastating series of wildfires in the nation’s history. Many of these fires are still burning, causing the destruction of thousands of homes, structures, and businesses and torching countless acres, so many precious landmarks, and irreplaceable memories. While we are incredibly grateful our team members who are based in Los Angeles are safe and sound, we’re acutely aware that so many of our neighbors, loved ones, and community members have not been so lucky.

We spoke to musician, singer-songwriter, and Mipso member Jacob Sharp – who recently moved to Altadena – about his own experiences over the last week, as his and his partner Cate’s neighborhood burned down around their home.

“I’m from a tiny town the western North Carolina foothills,” Sharp explains via email, amidst phone calls with FEMA and filing insurance claims. “I’m obsessed with cities with expansive music communities only rivaled by their even more expansive food scenes. I couldn’t believe it when I found out there are tiny towns in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains on the edge of America’s most-difficult-to-navigate city where the true wildness of nature meets the beauty of urban chaos. Altadena felt like the best kept secret in California.

“We moved out to the hills a few months ago inspired by the current creative community that calls it home, by the insane music and food hangs that casually happen here on a daily basis because of it, by its historically diverse intermingling of racial worlds (there are more historic Black homeowners in Altadena than basically anywhere else in LA), and by the ease with which you can fade from the urban landscape into some of the best hiking in Southern California. (We have friends who see a bear in their yard literally every day).”

 

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“It was everything I’d ever wanted in a community,” Sharp continues. “I’d drive back from other neighborhoods and feel my shoulders relax as the mountains came into view. Today I drove back to our still-standing but currently-unlivable home crying, seeing those same mountains now devoid of their greenery and smoldering in the hazy morning light and replaying the sequence of events that altered our little world forever.

“We could see the Eaton fire from our backyard well before the emergency notifications came rolling in. We grabbed a go-bag with a headlamp, change of clothes, toiletries, all my instruments, some comfort items for the pup, and we rolled down the hill towards safety. We spent the night in the downtown Pasadena Hilton, where we were cruelly upgraded to a ‘mountain view’ room perfectly situated for watching our neighborhood burn to the ground overnight.

“My partner Cate is a therapist. Between her community of therapists and mine of musicians we have only two friends out of 16 who live in the neighborhood that still have a home. And, we have our health. We are so, so lucky. But with smoke damage making the house currently unlivable and the National Guard standing watch on every cross street starting half a block from us, we’re realizing that whether your house is standing or not, we all have one loss in common: our beautiful community.

“We had space in our car as we evacuated, but no desire to stick around and load more,” Sharp describes leaving behind so many of their earthly possessions. “It was clarifying how easy it was to say goodbye to our physical things. They’re all replaceable.”

“Altadena was such a magic community we delayed our move back to the East Coast by a few years so we could have a kid here. We knew our neighbors, saw friends on every walk, and if you forgot your wallet while picking up coffee you could always pay them next time, because they knew you and knew you’d be back. It was that type of place. After traveling the world on tour the past 13 years wondering at every stop along the way, ‘Could I call this place home?’ I’m realizing what’s irreplaceable is having finally found that place. We’ll find our magic again, but it’s going to be a long road. There are so, so many people who could use your help if you have resources to give – below you can find some I’m giving to.”

Los Angeles is a city of makers. Of creators and dreamers, of actors, singers, writers, and poets. So many of those directly impacted by the fearsome power of these fires have been folks in our immediate roots music circles. From Altadena and Pasadena to Pacific Palisades and Malibu, this disaster has not discriminated. Whether well-known and well-loved superstars or pickers we know from the neighborhood jam, publicists and publishers and agents and managers alike; the flames burned through homes, livelihoods, histories, and futures with zero regard for name or notoriety.

Luckily, that same collective of creators and makers are a vibrant and robust community – and just as we watched the fires destroy, we’re watching the people of Los Angeles rebuild in real time. There’s much to be done and there are seemingly endless needs to meet, but solidarity, mutual aid, and togetherness are not in short supply.

“It’s hard to put into words what I and so many other Angelenos are feeling right now,” BGS executive director Amy Reitnouer Jacobs shares. “It waffles between shock, anxiety, despair, and exhaustion as we watch our friends lose everything and our city burn. But amidst those feelings of grief, there is also an immense welling of hope. People are showing up for each other in unprecedented ways.”

That’s what it’s all about. As the climate crisis worsens and we re-enter an exceedingly unpredictable political reality, this kind of community action will become more and more vital. We’ve seen this is true over the past decade, through periods of racial reckonings, police violence, unrest, and growing political activism. Community-centered collective action is what will get us through. In bluegrass, in roots music, and beyond.

“I have never been so proud of this place and have never loved this city as much as I do right now,” Reitnouer Jacobs continues. “Los Angeles will always be home for me, for BGS, and for our amazing musical community.”

Below, we’ve collected a few resources from our artistic communities in Los Angeles and from mutual aid and community organizations working on the ground in southern California. If you’re able, we encourage you to donate, to volunteer, to show up however you can and whenever you can for our friends and fellow roots music lovers who have had their lives permanently altered by these wildfires.

All we have is each other, but when we support and care for each other – no matter what – that fact is always enough.

Support the Music Community

Local on-the-ground organizers have compiled THIS LIST of fundraising pages, resources, and urgent needs for musicians, instrumentalists, producers, and artists in the Los Angeles area. As of this writing, it has raised more than $6,000,000 across its various fundraisers and donation pages. Hundreds of families and individuals have been affected and are listed in the spreadsheet. If you’re looking for a way to directly support, this is a great collection of options.

Additionally, you can find a directory of fundraising pages for folks impacted by the Eaton Fire here. Plus, you can find a directory of Black families fundraising in the wake of the fires here.

Need support? Each of these directories includes instructions for submitting your own fundraiser, if applicable.
Giving support? Find countless fundraisers and offer direct support here, here, and here.

LA Times Compiles Resources

 

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The LA Times has put together a lengthy and exhaustive list of local organizations working on fire relief. From dog and pet rescue orgs to the American Red Cross to the California Fire Foundation. There are plenty of options and plenty of missions to support.

Guitar Center Foundation – Grants for LA Fires

The Guitar Center Foundation has announced that they will accept applications from musicians to replace gear and instruments lost to the fire:

“Have you lost instruments and gear?” The foundation asks via social media. “If you’ve been impacted by this week’s fires, please visit our website for information and to request instrument replacement assistance. The Guitar Center Music Foundation is committed to supporting our music community in times of need.”

Those impacted by the disaster will be able to apply for grants of replacement instruments and gear until February 28, 2025.

Need support? Get more info and apply for replacement gear here.
Giving support? Donate to fund these grants and the foundation here.

Mutual Aid LA

Mutual Aid LA has been collating and disseminating shelters, resources, and relief programs for folks actively in crisis and for folks looking for a way to give and help. You can find their spreadsheet of resources here, but you can also find more information and learn how to participate in mutual aid on their website.

Need support? Find resources here.
Giving support? Learn more here and donate here.

MusiCares

 

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MusiCares has long been an indispensable program of the Recording Academy with a mission of supporting music industry professionals in crisis or in periods of hardship. They’ve already begun dispensing emergency funds to music industry folks in need, as well as collecting donations specifically to support those impacted by the fires. You can donate to support MusiCares here. You can find ways to get help from MusiCares here.

Need support? Apply for emergency aid here.
Giving support? Donate to help fund fire relief MusiCares grants here.

Sweet Relief Musicians Fund

Sweet Relief Musicians Fund is a non-profit founded in the ’90s that provides financial assistance to musicians and industry professionals who are struggling to make ends meet. They’ve already begun accepting donations and applications following the LA fires.

Need support? Submit your application here.
Giving support? Donate to Sweet Relief here.

Entertainment Community Fund

Geared more towards actors, performers, and film industry and entertainment workers the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund) has compiled a list of resources and organizations working on fire relief here. Entertainment professionals impacted by the wildfires can apply now for financial assistance and through the ECF can already access a variety of programs and aid.

Need support? Apply here.
Giving support? Donate here.

Photos by Amy Reitnouer Jacobs.

Basic Folk: Raye Zaragoza

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

The headline for Los Angeles-based Raye Zaragoza’s new album Hold That Spirit is that after she broke off her engagement, she used her wedding budget to fund the recording. She wrote the songs the year she turned 30 while she was thinking of the expectations placed on women in society to have everything together at a certain age: marriage, kids, career, etc. She’s decided to let those expectations go and live in the joy that life offers, and explores her newfound freedom and indigenous identity in these new songs. She’s moving forward as a role model in Los Angeles’ indigenous community, which she has been a part of since she was 14 years old.

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We go through the album track by track covering topics of social justice, eating disorders and perfectionism. She worked exclusively with female collaborators on Hold That Spirit, which allowed Raye a vulnerability in her writing sessions and studio time that she had yet to experience. She found co-writing with other women an easy space to feel emotionally safe. Working with like-minded feminists and activists fueled this album, which has allowed Raye to begin to break through those unfair expectations society places on women. In our conversation, Raye is thoughtful and serious, yet fun and playful even with such heavy topics addressed. Thank you, Raye!

Photo Credit: Bolora Munkhbold

California Duo Mapache Draw From a Dog’s Life on an Easy Breezy Album

Posted on by Editor

Since the friendship between Clay Finch and Sam Blasucci began as kids, Blasucci’s Boston Terrier Roscoe has been in the picture. So, when it came time to record their third original album, the duo that make up California jam-folk band Mapache felt it was only right to pay tribute to their four-legged friend and sometimes tourmate. Roscoe’s Dream, out June 10 on Innovative Leisure, finds Finch and Blasucci zeroing in on the dreamy, sun-drenched California sound that reared them in La Cañada Flintridge, a small town north of Los Angeles at the foot of the Verdugo Mountains. Golden State influences like the Grateful Dead and The Byrds can be heard in Mapache’s loose guitars and warm harmonies, a tailor-made soundtrack for barefoot dancing and frosty beers.

Roscoe’s Dream is a jampacked double album that begins and ends with, well, Roscoe. The coming-of-age love letter “I Love My Dog” and the sweet instrumental title track (complete with Roscoe’s bark) bookend a collection of tunes that range from romantic, Spanish-language swooners like “Nicolette,” soft folksy ones like “Tend Your Garden,” and twangy stoner grooves like “Pearl to the Swine.” Two covers, Bo Diddley’s “Diana” (1962) and Gabby Pahinui’s “Kaua’i Beauty” (1973), though far apart in terms of genre, come together as album highlights under the Mapache sound umbrella.

BGS: This album feels, in a celebratory way, like festival music. It’s really jammy and there’s a real easy breezy California aesthetic. How much does California—being from there and now making most of your music there—impact your sound?

Sam: The environment and the landscape is probably the biggest thing that would influence how your music sounds, other than the actual music you listen to. So where we live, geographically, sort of is unescapable when we’re trying to write music because you can’t really write anything other than that. It just comes out in a way that’s affected by what you see all around you, where you live.

Clay: We’ve also embraced that culture. We really love it, the environment and the culture. We were fortunate enough to grow up here and it’s something we’ve embraced because we love it. I think Grateful Dead is a pretty quintessential California sound and that’s definitely been a big part of our friendship and musical development. But there’s so many bands you would put in that classic California category and those have all been artists that are important to us, too.

There are a few Spanish-language songs on the album, which also feel emblematic of the California sound. Are you both fluent in Spanish? How did those songs come together?

Sam: We’re pretty good. I’m fluent because I lived [in Mexico] for a couple years. Living [in Southern California] you get pretty good at Spanish either way if you’re out there talking to people. As far as using language goes, it opens up a lot of doors that are sort of inaccessible when you just speak in the one language that you grew up speaking. Because words have different meanings, or double meanings, and also the way the words are pronounced as far as phrasing and writing melodies and just stringing poetry together, it’s a lot broader when you have a whole other language to use as a vehicle.

What is your relationship to bluegrass music, if any? Do you count it as one of the influences in your sound?

Clay: It’s definitely an influence on our sound. We both grew up listening to it, and even though there might not be too much straight-ahead bluegrass music on the most recent record, it’s definitely a large part of what we digest, or have been, over the last 15 years of listening to music.

Sam: The Stanley Brothers were really big for both of us.

Tell us about Roscoe, the album’s namesake. Does he like the new songs?

Sam: I think so, yeah. I’ve had him for 15 years now and—this is Jack, another dog that we love.

(They pan the phone camera to a dog sleeping deeply on the floor beside them.)

Clay: Oh yeah, this is Jack. This is Roscoe’s archnemesis.

Sam: I think “I Love My Dog” and the general public appreciation for Roscoe came from just trying to be as honest with the songwriting as possible… It was sort of the most honest thing to say at that time, was how much we loved the dogs because they were so present in our lives.

Clay: Maybe more than our love of music is our love of laughing at dogs and pictures of dogs making funny faces. And Roscoe is a hilarious dog, so it was an opportunity for us to continue sharing pictures of him, but now on a broader level. Sam, since he was like 13, has been showing me funny pictures of Roscoe mid-conversation.

(Sam pulls out a photo of Roscoe posing like it’s school picture day.)

Yeah that’s a human in a dog costume.

Clay: Bringing him closer to the music is mostly just an extension of our greatest love, which is the joy of laughing at dogs.

Sam: Someone said the other day, “That’s the dog from ‘I Love My Dog!’”

What can you share about the sound effects on the record, like cards shuffling (“Así Es Le Vida”), something that sounded like dolphins or seals (“They Don’t Know at the Beach”), and Roscoe’s barks at the end?

Sam: Roscoe does that whenever someone knocks on the door anywhere, so we had someone record him and then put it at the end of that last song.

Clay: The other sound effects are a secret. It’s seals, but we can’t tell you where they came from. We don’t want to get in trouble with animal rights people.

You recorded at your usual spot, Dan Horne’s Lone Palm Studio in Echo Park, Los Angeles. Is that home for you at this point?

Clay: We used to live there, at the studio. For a couple years we lived in the house where the studio is.

Sam: That’s a quality that is kind of rare in recording studios and environments where everything is go, go, go, and get as much done as you can because time and money is limited. But with Dan it was always taken at a pace that was really organic, which I think made all the songs work the way they did.

Clay: We had so much time because we were actually in a pod. That was gnarly pandemic times so we couldn’t break the pod and we had nothing else to do besides hang out with Dan. He couldn’t record anybody else. We feel really comfortable there and Dan is one of our best friends. He’s almost like another member of the band, too, with all he’s contributed recording and then also playing bass on a lot of stuff. The relationship is easy, as opposed to some random guy you don’t know named like, “Eric” or something. And you’re like, “What’s his name again?” Sometimes it moves a little bit slow because we’re buddies. Like maybe “Eric” would set some shit up beforehand or not bail to go feed his children or something.

Sam: “Eric” if you’re listening, you can contact us.

Sam, you recently moved up to Ojai, and Clay, you moved to Malibu. How has it been living apart and still finding time to play and write together?

Clay: Mostly it’s just draining our bank accounts. We still see each other a lot but we just have no money because we’re constantly filling up our cars to drive across Southern California.

Maybe that could be good meditative time to write.

Sam: The 405 is great, bumper to bumper.

Clay: The new angry album from Mapache.

Sam: The road rage album.

This album seems like it will be a blast to play live. What’s the setup looking like for the tour?

Clay: We’ve been doing one acoustic set, then taking a short break, and then playing with the band. That’s something we’ve always wanted to do and it’s something that a lot of artists that we’ve looked up to have done. Mostly it’s the best way to try to play all of that music. There are some songs that we want to play acoustic still, that we don’t want to put into a whole band format and vice versa. For example, some of the Spanish songs, we don’t want to play them with an electric band. It just wouldn’t sound the way we would want it to sound. And then we’ve also been playing some of the older acoustic songs with the electric band so we can breathe some new life into songs that we’ve been playing four or five years. It just gives us a lot to play with, having two different sets like that. We’re not the kind of band that wants to dial in a perfect show that is rehearsed and rehearsed. We try to do a different set list every night.

Photo Credit: Nick Walker

WATCH: Abby Posner, “Low Low Low” (Featuring Constellation Quartet)

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Abby Posner featuring Constellation Quartet
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Song: “Low Low Low”
Album: Kisbee Ring
Release Date: November 12, 2021

In Their Words: “Whenever I have an opportunity to collaborate with a string quartet, the experience is transformative. Strings take you to a zen-like space where everything feels just right, perfect for the song, and what I wanted to convey. ‘Low Low Low’ is about depression, anxiety, and learning how to be kinder to the darkness within, so working with Constellation Quartet was the sonic hug this song so desperately needed to feel complete. Constellation Quartet are currently making a name for themselves as both performers and collaborators, working with the best of the Los Angeles musician scene through their residency at the Garden Concert Series in Redondo Beach. The video was shot live during sunset deep in the Malibu hills with a battery-powered setup, hikers passing by, and a reverence for the creative process.” — Abby Posner

String arrangements: Max Mueller (cello). Cinematography: Ian McIntire.
Photo credit: Rollence Patugan

The Show On The Road – Leslie Stevens

Posted on by Chris Jacobs

The Show On The Road is back with cosmic California country singer-songwriter, Leslie Stevens.

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Host Z. Lupetin speaks with the deeply intuitive songwriter and cosmic country singer. On her much-awaited solo album, Sinner, Stevens has been creating viscerally vulnerable songs that, with her shimmering voice, seem to ache right through the speakers.

John Jorgenson Revisits His Southern California Bluegrass Roots

Posted on by Editor

John Jorgenson is not only a man of many talents, he’s a musician with many interests. Perhaps you’ve heard his gypsy jazz, or remember when the Desert Rose Band — a neo-trad country group that included Jorgenson, Chris Hillman and other luminaries of the California country and country-rock scene — was riding high at radio, or perhaps you saw him playing an indispensable role in Elton John’s touring band. As Jim Reeves might have put it, he’s done a lot in his time.

Even so, you might not know that John Jorgenson is also a bluegrass guy — unless, that is, you saw him on the road with Earl Scruggs during the legend’s final touring years, or happened to buy his 2015 box set, Divertuoso, which included a disc of bluegrass alongside one of gypsy jazz and another of eclectic, electric music. Earlier this year, that disc was issued as a standalone album, From the Crow’s Nest. Featuring the regular (and equally eclectic) members of the John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band (J2B2) — Herb Pedersen, Mark Fain and Jon Randall — it’s a delicious collection that scatters well-known songs (Pedersen’s “Wait a Minute”; Randall’s “Whiskey Lullaby” co-write; and the Dillards’ “There Is a Time”) among a trove of newer material, much of it written or co-written by Jorgenson.

From the Crow’s Nest ought to go some distance in alerting wider audiences to a new standard-bearer for a style of bluegrass that, while its roots trace back to the early 1950s, hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. Though Southern California is a long way from the Grand Ole Opry and other spawning grounds for the original bluegrass sound, it served in the post-World War II years as a magnet for job seekers from both sides of the Mississippi River, and that meant bluegrass pickers, too — and so, when we met up, that made for a good starting point for our conversation.

Listening to your album reminds me that you are a product of a Southern California roots music scene that included bluegrass from early on. How did you get exposed to it?

Probably the first time was when a band came to my high school and I thought they were from another planet, because I’d never heard anything so fast in my life. I played music already — I played classical music, and rock — but that was sort of an anomaly, and then I didn’t really see it again for a while.

I came to it sort of in a backwards way. I had a scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival. They brought me in as a jazz bass player; they wanted to start a jazz program. And I accepted the scholarship as long as I could also be in their classical program, playing the bassoon. Well, I had my tuition paid for, and my room paid for, but I didn’t have money for meals. So I needed to figure out how to make some money, and then I saw an ad that said: Wanted: strict jazz player for immediate gigs. So I checked out an upright bass from the school and went to this audition. And they weren’t playing jazz — what they were playing was David Grisman’s first album. This was the summer of 1978, so this album was new. I’d never heard it.

So they’re playing all instrumental stuff and I thought, OK, I really like the sound, especially of that mandolin. I liked the flatpicking guitar, too. I was already a guitar player, but I just loved the mandolin. When I got home that summer, my neighbors had a Gibson A model and I borrowed it. Not too long after that, I ran into a friend who had been instructed to put together a band that could play bluegrass and Dixieland to cover two different areas of Disneyland. And he asked, “Hey, do you know anybody that could play bluegrass fiddle and Dixieland cornet?” And needing a job at the time, I said, “I can play mandolin and clarinet.”

And then I kind of learned backwards, whatever I could. I learned from New Grass Revival, and then Bill Monroe, and Flatt & Scruggs, and the Stanley Brothers, and the Osborne Brothers. And all the others — Tony Rice, Sam Bush, the Bluegrass Cardinals, whoever was playing around at the time. Larry Stephenson was playing with the Cardinals at that time, and I remember I was — I don’t want to say shy, but I’m shy around people I don’t know. And to me at the time, they were real bluegrass musicians and I was a pretender. I sort of felt an attitude from some people, too, but he was not like that at all. He was really friendly.

Did playing bluegrass at Disneyland motivate you to build connections with the larger bluegrass scene, or was it a standalone kind of gig?

Actually, when we first started, we were terrible! We learned three songs and then we’d play those, move to a different place and play them again. But everyone was ambitious, so we all practiced; we learned songs, we got better. And then we started to play out around Los Angeles. I think the first time we played out as an act, we opened for Jim & Jesse at McCabe’s [Guitar Shop]. There was also a venue called the Banjo Cafe, with bluegrass every night, on Lincoln [Boulevard] in Santa Monica. So the Cardinals played there; Berline, Hickman & Crary would play there; and touring acts, too — Ralph Stanley would play there. And a young Alison Brown, a young Stuart Duncan.

I know that there are a lot fans of Desert Rose Band among bluegrassers, and some gypsy jazz fans, too, but for a lot of people, you came onto the radar when you were going places with Earl Scruggs — 15 years ago, maybe? How’d that come about?

Actually, it was because of Brad Davis. He was playing with Earl, and we were kind of guitar geek friends. We ended up sitting next to each other on a plane one time, and were chatting, and he said, “I’m playing with Earl Scruggs,” and I said, “I’d love to do that.” He said, “You know, they like to have an electric guitar, maybe there might be a spot.” He really set that up for me.

I said, “OK, I’m happy to play electric guitar, but I would really love to play the mandolin.” So I would bring both, and if I played too much mandolin, Louise [Scruggs] would say, “John, don’t forget that electric guitar.” Then they said, “Don’t you play saxophone? We used to have that on a song called ‘Step It Up and Go.’” So I said, “What about the clarinet? It’s not quite so loud.” And as it turns out, Earl said his favorite musician was Pete Fountain, and he loved the clarinet. So every time after that, Gary Scruggs would call me up: “Dad says don’t forget the moneymaker.”

The J2B2 record was originally part of a box set — a disc of gypsy jazz, one of bluegrass, one of electric stuff. So you have these different musical itches, and some musicians would choose to try to synthesize these things into something new and different and unique, but you seem to have an interest in keeping them each their own thing. Why is that?

It’s because, to me, the things that I love about bluegrass are what make it bluegrass. I love the trio harmony, I love these instruments, the way each instrument functions in the band. And I love gypsy jazz, and some folks might say they’re closely related — they’re string band music, they both have acoustic bass and fiddle and acoustic guitar, and each instrument has a role. There are a lot of similarities, but the things that I like about each one are what make them different. I think each music has an accent, and a history and a perspective, and I really want to be true to those, because those are the elements that touch my heart.

I feel like what I do and what this group does is quite traditional, compared to a lot of people. It’s not jamgrass. It’s not Americana. It’s bluegrass. There are folk elements, and all those other things, of course. But really, my touchstones for that style of music are all the classics: the trio harmonies of the Osborne Brothers, and the slightly softer Seldom Scene and Country Gentlemen sounds, the early Dillards, the Country Gazette, and the whole Southern California sound… you don’t think of Tony Rice’s roots as Southern California, but they are.

And probably at one point, if I could have sounded like I was from Kentucky, I wouldn’t have minded that. But at the end of the day, well, I love Bill Monroe as much as the next guy, and I’m going to take inspiration, but I feel like I’m part of a lineage of bluegrass that’s just as viable as any other, and why not have that sound be a part of me?

Photo credit: Mike Melnyk

Huck Finn Jubilee Makes Big Return for 41st Year of California Bluegrass

Posted on by Editor

For bluegrass fans in Southern California, Huck Finn Jubilee has been a destination for more than 40 years.  After a two-year hiatus, the long-celebrated family event returns to Ontario, California, on Oct. 5-7. This year’s lineup features headliners such as the Infamous Stringdusters, Yonder Mountain String Band, and The Lone Bellow, and BGS will be on site all weekend to present the BGS House Party jam after the main stage sets wrap up…

Leading up to next weekend, the festival’s new owners, Roger and Nikki Malinowski, chatted with The Bluegrass Situation.

Don’t miss our special video sessions highlighting some of the acts you’ll see on the lineup below!

Fans can discover music in so many ways now. What is it about a music festival that is special?

The wonderful thing about music festivals is that they’re shared experiences. They bring people together. Those moments when the audience sings together with the artist, and each other, or when you literally feel the music move you – times like those can’t be beat. Music festivals create communities where neighbors can meet, families reunite and spend time together, where we can get away from it all for just a little while.

What have you learned about the process of booking festivals that has really surprised you?

We’ve been surprised by the amount of love and support from the Huck Finn audience. The festival has a 40-year-plus history, yet it almost ceased to exist. I remember when we made the announcement on Facebook that Huck was back, the messages of gratitude were overwhelming. We’ve also found that putting on a festival of this size is a significant amount of work. The time, energy and effort behind pulling off an event of this size is enormous. The support and love from the bluegrass community and fans of Huck Finn continues to motivate us to create the best experience we possibly can.

When you are selecting artists, do you have a certain audience in mind? In other words, is there a common thread that runs through your lineup and/or your ticket holders?

Absolutely. We want to take our audience on a musical journey. It is important that we honor the traditions of bluegrass music while ensuring that we give space for the evolution of the music. Our hope is that our younger audience gets exposure to the roots of bluegrass and appreciates the amazing musicianship, harmonies and tradition of the genre. We also hope that the entire audience will enjoy how the music itself is progressing, exploring the unique textures and sounds of acoustic instrumentation in more modern takes on the style.

For someone who has never been to Ontario, California, and the area, how would you describe it to them?

Ontario is essentially a suburb of Los Angeles. It has all the amenities one might want in traveling to a new place: great places to eat, drink, shop and stay. It has a small airport and a great number of hotels in the area. The park where Huck Finn is held is a little oasis tucked away within the city. It is absolutely beautiful with two stocked lakes for fishing, a zero-depth splash play area, a sizable playground for kids, and plenty of quiet shaded areas to relax and unwind. There is ample parking, great spots for tent camping and expansive area for RVs. It’s easy to get to, yet far from the busyness of LA. Ontario provides all the conveniences for anyone looking to spend a single day or the whole weekend with us.

People get hungry! How did you choose the vendors for Huck Finn?

The word that has driven all of our decisions this year has been ‘balance.’ We want to accommodate for all tastes, simple and more refined. We wanted to provide the types of foods you might expect at a festival, but also provide some more elevated offerings as well.

What do you hope that attendees will take away from the Huck Finn experience?

We hope to forge connections, ultimately. Connections to the music and the artists performing. Connections to each other, and to their families, neighbors and friends. We hope that people come with an open mind, enjoy a great lineup of music that spans the bluegrass genre, and get to put the stresses and worries that they might have behind them. I hope that they smile at each other and meet new people during the show, eat great food, spend undistracted time with their loved ones and make it something that they will want to bring their friends and family to for years to come.

You can still purchase tickets to HUCK FINN JUBILEE here.

 

WATCH: Face to Face, “All for Nothing”

Posted on by Editor

Artist: Face to Face
Hometown: Southern California
Song: “All For Nothing”
Album: Hold Fast (Acoustic Sessions)
Label: Fat Wreck Chords

In Their Words: “‘All For Nothing’ is a song about misplaced obsession, commitment, and sacrifice for the things that ultimately destroy us. It’s about how we lie to ourselves to ignore what’s real. I wanted the music video to be melancholy while capturing a sense of isolation and loneliness but with some of the culture that is the background from the band being from Southern California. The image of the ocean is a metaphor for the unrelenting power of the things we cannot control in our lives.” — Trever Keith, frontman of Face to Face

Photo courtesy of the artist.