Dick's Bluegrass Odyssey Volume 6
(Made for Bluegrass Fans) 

Chapters 17 - 20          Chapters 21 - 25          Chapters 26 - 30

The first five chapters of this series originally appeared in the Fresno Folklore Society Flyer. It was decided to discontinue publishing them and make them available only on line.

It should be noted that information about most of these festivals has been included in my travel reports. But those pages were written for a general audience, while this series is aimed specifically at fans of folk music.

--Dick Estel, September 2026

My Bluegrass Odyssey Chapter 21                    Chapter 22          Chapter 23            Chapter 24          Chapter 25

by Dick  Estel

Late summer 2011 gave me one festival each month. I’ve discussed the Good Old Fashioned event in August. September found me back at the Kings River Festival at Hobbs Grove.

More than just a grove, Hobbs Grove is actually a large park with a number of old and new buildings. I get the impression that it's the remnants of an old farm, since it has a barn, a shed, and other unpainted buildings that appear to be from a bygone era.

Hobbs Grove is best known in the Fresno area as the location of a major Halloween event, more than just a "haunted house." But you can also rent the grounds for weddings, bluegrass festivals and presumably other wholesome activities.

The main stage area has a wide expanse of grass for audience seating, almost entirely shaded. There are several large concrete fire pits for cool-weather events. Along the entrance road, there are several acres of grass for camping.

When I first came to the 2nd annual festival in 2001, there was a large walnut grove east of the entrance road, but it's entirely gone. South of that in more recent years was a sod farm, but by 2011 it was overgrown with weeds, probably a sign of the times when anything related to construction was a bad business to be in.

North of the camping area there were still some orchards, including persimmon and peach; while south of the stage area was a plot of thick trees and old buildings.

Since I've driven as far as 450 miles for a bluegrass festival, it only made sense that I should always try to attend a festival that is only 20 miles from my house. And yet, for various reasons, I missed a few Kings River festivals over the years. However, as of 2011 I had attended four years straight..

Like the preceding year, my friend Janell Sidney joined me, and we got started about 2:30 Friday afternoon for the short drive to The Grove. We did a little setting up after we arrived, then headed to the stage area, in time to see about half the first act, the Grasskickers. This was a local group that we've seen several times before, and that seems to be really getting the right personnel and the right chemistry to be an excellent band.

There were two bands that were new to us on Friday, both competent but not outstanding. First was the Rock Ridge Bluegrass Band, who came from the Chico area. We had been anticipating the other, the Central Valley Boys, because two players were in the Dalton Mountain Gang, our favorite local group which disbanded earlier this year. The Boys were OK, but had not really worked together that much yet; their set Saturday evening, after intensive practice during the day, was better. Their approach is to do strictly traditional classics. These are songs we enjoy, but Dalton Mountain had been adding more and more intriguing original songs and the variety of contemporary and original material was sadly missed.

A group that deserves a mention is Red Dog Ash, based in Turlock. They had recently released a CD, which got a good review in the primary magazine devoted to this music, Bluegrass Unlimited. We had also seen this group a few times at the free Friday Bluegrass in the Park series in Clovis.

Another repeat we looked forward to was The Get Down Boys, who we'd seen at Parkfield. Although they sounded fine, we were certain that at least one and probably two players had not been with the group we saw last May. Their mandolin player was definitely a "fill-in," recruited at the festival. At their second show, the three "regular" members were joined by Pete Hicks of Bean Creek, and mandolinist Scott Gates, who's been playing professionally in southern California after starting out in the Kids on Bluegrass program.

Bean Creek is a group that I had seen a number of times, over the previous six or eight years. They are from the Santa Cruz area, highly popular with the crowd, but a bit of an enigma for me - I like some of their stuff, but not all. Pete Hicks was hands down the best fiddle and mandolin player at the festival. Lead vocalist Billy Petrone has a voice that worked great for some songs, and less so for others, but overall, I have always enjoyed their music.

Closing out Saturday night, as well as the entire festival Sunday afternoon was Evie Ladin & Evil Diane. Evil Diane is neither evil nor a person, but rather the group name and an anagram of the leaders name. This group was mostly new to us, although we recognized Evie as a member of the Stairwell Sisters, who we saw at Parkfield. In addition to the usual singin' and pickin', Evie dances on an amplified board. We both enjoyed their performances.

On Saturday, shortly after we went to the stage area, Janell went to sit in a more shady area, and almost immediately began feeling faint, to the extent she could not call for help. A shout-out to Ed Bell, who recognized her symptoms (related to diabetes), got her a Coke, and helped her into the hospitality tent. She spent the rest of the day just resting in the motor home. By the time of the evening performances, she felt up to going back to the stage area and was able to enjoy the rest of the festival with no further problems.

Saturday's musical performances included Baloney Creek, a group that seems to fluctuate up and down in my rankings. When I first saw them about 10 years earlier I liked them, and was especially impressed with the lead singer/fiddler/guitarist Delisay Richter (now Johnson). Over the years, they have often played with electrified instruments, which just does not work in bluegrass for me. They now have a new guitarist, who is less of a show-off than the previous one, and at the Kings River Festival they played acoustically, so once again I had to move them up in the rankings. Dee does not do as much of the singing as she used to, which is a loss.

The music on Sunday ended about 3 p.m., so we were able to get home nice and early.

Just two weeks later I went to my third and final Brown Barn Festival, only to discover lots of changes. For one thing, the barn was actually brown, although it was not the site of the music. The festival was a month later and three miles south of where it used to be, and it almost didn't happen. The previous location was being sold and it took a lot of work and worry before the promoters connected with the owner of Franklin Ranch in Gilroy, who had been wanting to put on an event of this type.

This was probably the strangest setting of any festival I had been to. Although it was a working ranch, with hay as the main crop, the area near where I camped and on two sides of the festival area was some sort of indescribable industrial place with lots of old vehicles (tractors, fire engines, etc); lots of shop-type buildings that seemed to be closed up and not in use, storage containers, old mobile homes, and some alpacas. Yes, alpacas.

The festival area itself was very nice, with green grass, a little shade around the edges, and a stage with a custom-built false-front barn behind it attached to an existing fence. Those who wanted electricity had to park near buildings with outlets. The building where I was plugged in was a storage room full of computer equipment.

The music was good to great, with quite a few groups that I saw in August at the Good Old Fashioned Festival, or last month at Kings River. The only group that was totally new to me was a band that specializes in old time music, Ragged but Right.

There were a number of groups that take the more traditional approach, including Highway 65 (from Porterville), the Pleasant Valley Boys, Windy Hill, and the Mighty Crows, a band that had broken up, but re-united for this event.

My favorite old-time band, Red Rag Andy was there, although Barry Schultz, the vocalist who always provided an interesting background on the group's songs, was gone from the group. And I can't help but give another shout out to  Snap Jackson & the Knock on Wood Playees, a group that was starting to get national attention, and that always gets the crowd excited.

Lots of musicians play in more than one band, and this was well-exemplified by three groups that appeared. Oak Grove is the Schwartz family band, including teenagers Nate and Max who later appeared with AJ Lee and Marty Varner in OMGG. AJ is a regular with the Tuttle family band. And just for good measure, Molly Tuttle played guitar through most of Snap Jackson's set.

Since a good part of the audience comes from fairly close by, most everyone left Sunday afternoon, but I stayed overnight as usual. I think there were three other parties that also stayed. I got a good early start Monday morning and was home shortly after noon.

Chapter 22                    Chapter 21          Chapter 23            Chapter 24          Chapter 25

The year 2012 found me at three bluegrass festivals, starting with Parkfield over Mother’s Day weekend. When I arrived on Thursday, it looked like there were not as many people as usual, but walking around the grounds on Saturday, all the camping areas seemed full. The weather was close to too hot, but there was a good breeze most of the time and it was comfortable sitting in the shade.

We had the usual mix of known and unknown bands, local, regional and national, some better than others.

In the category of pleasant surprises are two bands, one previously unknown to me. The Alkali Flats are from the Sacramento area, and are really a traditional country band. They perform with a lot of energy and fit into the bluegrass/old-time mode just fine.

Looking at the festival program, I recognized the name of the Darrell Webb Band as one I had heard of, but was not sure I had heard them. They are a very hard-driving young band from the southeast, and were a big crowd favorite. As their web site puts it, "acoustic music with electrifying energy." As it turned out I had downloaded their newest album over a year ago, so I was lucky I did not decide to buy it at the event.

In addition to these new (to me) bands, several favorites from previous shows were on hand. The biggest name is the Special Consensus, a group that's been in existence for 37 years, all under the guidance of banjo star Greg Cahill, past president of the International Bluegrass Music Association. The revolving cast of supporting players and singers is always good.

Every bit as good in my opinion is a quartet of California artists that have been performing something like a total of 120 years or so. This group, Loafer's Glory, was at Parkfield last year and is fairly new, but some of the members have performed together for 30 years or more. I could fill up several pages with their accomplishments, but if you're interested, it's easy enough to find information on line.

Of course, rising above all others in my opinion, was Snap Jackson & the Knock on Wood Players. I first saw them at the Brown Barn Festival in 2009, and became an instant and enthusiastic fan. Since then I had seen the group at least four more times, and was looking forward to the next time, as well as their second CD, which was  issued shortly after the festival.

The rest of the show was the usual mix of OK to great. Red Dog Ash deserves special mention - they are based out of Turlock, and had been together a few years. They had added a top level banjo player a little over a year earlier, putting them into the realm of good quality festival bands. They have a CD available on line.

Although I enjoyed the music, weather and people, I did not seem to have my usual enthusiasm for this event. I have become somewhat spoiled having my friend Janell with me at three of the festivals I've attended the last two years, but she could not make it this time. Even though I've attended the vast majority of festivals alone, it's always more fun to share it with someone.

After several music-free months, it was off to Plymouth in the northern Mother Lode country. Larry and Sondra Baker had been presenting Bluegrass in the Foothills there for ten years, and I had attended five times. On September 13 I left home for my sixth one.

The show started unofficially on Thursday night with a one-hour, mostly one-man show by Ron Spears. I had seen him a number of times, first with his own group, Within Tradition, then for a while with Special Consensus. He was now working a "normal" job, one that let him go out and play when a chance came up.

He was playing at Plymouth with a group from Arizona, but for the Thursday show he did mostly country songs, plus a ventriloquist act. This was very professional, and the entire audience enjoyed his act. At the end he played a few songs with Copper River, the group he is appearing with as a guest fiddler. (In 2023, I was sad to learn that Ron had passed away.)

Friday morning's show started at 10:30, and ran till after 10 p.m., with breaks for lunch and dinner. There were only a couple of big name touring groups on the schedule, but there were several lesser known groups from the east and of course locally. Nearly all of them were excellent

It seemed to be the year of the long names - Thomas Porter & Copper River, Mark Phillips & IIIrd Generation, and Travers Chandler & Avery County. Bucking the trend was Nu-Blu. And of course, you can't beat the elegant simplicity of a group called The James King Band. Nor could you easily beat their music - James was one of the big stars of bluegrass, and I'd seen him four or five times.

Among the "unknown to me" bands, one of the best was Thomas Porter & Copper River. I was very familiar with their banjo player, Dick Brown, who I had seen at seemingly half the festivals I'd attended, starting with Mariposa in the late 90s when he was a member of Lost Highway. Copper River was based in Arizona, and had another familiar face as a guest, Ron Spears, who I mentioned earlier.

The closing act Friday was another group I had seen a few times, The Bluegrass Brothers. This band had absolutely the highest energy level of any in bluegrass, and with a few new members, they were even better than before. One of the new guys was the hottest dobro player I'd heard in over ten years.

The next day brought more performances by many of the same bands, with a closing event that was new for this festival, and something not seen at many festivals. The final set was Cash'd Out, a Johnny Cash tribute band that was endorsed by the official Johnny Cash web site (whatever that means; Johnny hadn’t expressed his views). They were very good, with the singer sounding enough like Johnny to fill the bill, but with enough difference that no one dozed off and woke up thinking they were listening to the real thing. My only complaint with this group is that they did a lot of songs that Johnny did, but that were originally done by others, and not enough of his original songs. Why do a cover of a cover?

Much of Sunday was given over to the emerging artists program. In the past, most of these groups had been average or better, but one of this year's groups should have been sent back to wherever it emerged from. The others weren't bad, just not as good as I remember most of the groups in this program being - certainly not as good as Red Dog Ash was a year earlier when they won the competition. These bands play for free, and the winner gets a paid appearance next year.

The entire weekend was probably the hottest it's ever been at any festival anywhere. I had only 20-amp service, which sometimes will support running the A/C. When the festival ended, I had decided to experiment with running the A/C again. However when I returned to my R/V, the electrical boxes had been gathered up, and there was no power of any kind. I debated whether I wanted to run my generator for five hours or so, for cooling and watching TV, and instead decided to move to the RV park next door. I got set up, took a much needed shower, and wrote most of the original report about the festival, all in cool comfort at last.

There were several changes at this festival this year, all probably designed to reduce costs. There were fewer groups, fewer vendors, and I think fewer fans. In the early years of this event, some fans came from southern California. With gas at $4 per gallon, people were thinking twice and probably three times before driving 400 miles in a vehicle that got 10 miles per gallon or less. James King was the only really big name band. Still, the quality was as good as ever, and the groups that were booked probably get less money than their better-known counterparts.

Just two weeks later was the Kings River/Hobbs Grove Festival. All the groups I wanted to see were scheduled for Saturday, so I made it a one-day event, accompanied by my friend Janell and her recently-acquired husband Ken.

I’ve written about most of the groups we saw, and I don’t want to start a new chapter with the 3^rd festival of 2012, so I’ll just touch on a couple of highlights of this event.

During the dinner break we all got food, then listened as Snap Jackson presented a ukulele workshop. Although none of us have any intention of playing, it was interesting to watch and hear him discuss playing techniques, chord patterns, etc. He was accompanied by his "regular" bass player, Brian Clark on an electric bass ukulele, which some bands use as their regular bass. I put "regular" in quotes because Brian plays a five-string model stand-up bass, putting out 25% more effort than any other bass player there.

One group we really enjoyed was Oak Grove, which is the Schwartz family (dad, mom, two sons, and sometimes a daughter). I had seen them before, and I've more or less watched the boys grow up on stage, starting with the Kids on Bluegrass show at Plymouth in 2007. Later they joined with Marty Varner and AJ Lee to form OMGG (Obviously Minor Guys and a Gal), who were at the 2009 Brown Barn Festival. Now, four years later, Max at age 14 and Nate at age 18 were right up there with the best of their age group as singers, and fully professional with their instruments. Alex Sharps, another young banjo player that I had seen at Brown Barn, joined them for a couple of songs.

After their set I talked with Max for a couple of minutes, reminiscing about the first time I had seen him and his brother in 2007, and asked if they still had the OMGG group. He said that AJ Lee had moved on, and the three guys from OMGG (Nate, Max and Marty Varner) now play with Alex Sharps as Them Boys. When I mentioned 2007, for a minute he had trouble believing that he had been performing publicly for so long.

No one has trouble believing I’ve been rambling on for so long, so I’ll shut up till the next chapter.

Chapter 23                    Chapter 21          Chapter 22          Chapter 24          Chapter 25

Another year, 2013, another Parkfield festival. I had departed from home around 10 a.m. on Thursday before Mother’s Day, arriving at Parkfield around 12:30. I got set up in about the same spot I had the previous year, took my chairs to the audience area, and took a look at the changes that had been made during the year.

First, there was a new, permanent stage, on the opposite side of the grassy area from where the stage was in the past. A number of people agreed with me that we didn't like the change all that much, especially since we could see that the sun would be in our eyes in the late afternoon. However, the new arrangement was better for the performers, and would maybe give more people more shade more of the time, so I decided to declare that particular glass half full.

Behind where the audience used to sit there had been a wooden platform. A few people could place their chairs on it, but the view was mostly blocked by trees. It had been replaced with a larger concrete platform with more room for chairs, as well as a place for the sound man. Otherwise the usually quiet, sleepy town of Parkfield was about the same as always, although more wide awake on bluegrass weekend.

The music got underway mid-afternoon, and this year there were a few more groups than usual that were new to me. As always there was a group that stood out that was either new to me or I had heard of them but not seen them in person. In this case it was the Roland White Band, which included two guest artists that I had seen at a number of festivals. Roland and his brothers were in the Country Boys, later the Kentucky Colonels, bluegrass pioneers in California. Brother Clarence had played with the Byrds.

Among the more familiar bands, none could top Snap Jackson and the Knock on Wood Players. Equally good was the Kathy Kallick Band, which I had seen in concert in Fresno and at several festivals. Kathy was one of the founders of the Good Ol' Persons in the Bay Area in the 1970s, and has been writing and performing great songs ever since. Her current band had been together with only one change for at least five years, and featured the highly acclaimed and very popular Annie Staninec, a Bay Area fiddler who has been playing since she was four years old.

The Central Valley Boys include two favorites from the sadly-departed Dalton Mountain Gang - Yossef Tucker on guitar and vocals, and John Cogdill on mandolin. The group also included Pete Hicks, who played with many groups in the Monterey/Santa Cruz/Bay Area, most notably Bean Creek.

Bands that were new to me included Rock Ridge from the Sacramento area, a good traditional band; Dark Hollow, fairly average; Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band, and the Roustabouts, a Bakersfield group that played very well in the traditional style. The Old Time Fiddle and Banjo Show played "oldtime" music and was pretty good, but in my opinion not as good as a couple of local groups in that genre, Uncle Ephus and Red Rag Andy. The thing that stood out was their female singer whose vocal style had a slight resemblance to Iris DeMent. This was Amber Cross, who I would see with her own group several times in the future.

My friend Caroline Wenger-Korn, a high school classmate, arrived during the Friday dinner break, and brought along some very good pot roast, with gravy, potatoes and vegetables. I had eaten a sausage sandwich from Southern Delight Catering some time that day, so don't recall if I ate with her Friday, but I enjoyed her cooking several times during the weekend. Since my own cooking mainly consists of pushing the right buttons on the microwave, it was great to enjoy some actual home-cooked food.

Caroline was familiar with bluegrass music, but had never attended a festival. She is always open to new things, and enjoyed the event, finding a couple of favorites among the many bands. A retired teacher still involved in education, she also observed some of the kids' workshops, with the idea of introducing some musical training at a charter school where she had been volunteering.

When I traveled with a pickup and trailer, I explored some of the roads leading out from Parkfield, but with the motor home, I was limited to the distance I was willing to walk or ride on a bike. With Caroline bringing her car, I left the bike at home, and we walked for exercise. On Saturday during the dinner break we took her car and drove out the Parkfield-Coalinga road, a very scenic route which passes a few ranches. At the end of the pavement is the V6 ranch, headquarters of the Varian family patriarch, Jack Varian. We drove about a half-mile up the dirt road, where we had a good view of the ranch and back down the valley.

On Sunday we walked out to the bridge and north on Vineyard Canyon Road a short distance. This hike took us across the creek and from the North American Plate to the Pacific Plate, so if the "big one" had come during our walk, we might not have made it back to town. Fortunately the only shaking all weekend was from people stomping and hollering in approval of the music.

Caroline had a four-hour drive to get back home, so she left after the kids’ performance, about 1:30 on Sunday. I left around 4:30 and arrived home at 7, turned up my air conditioner, and brought in the stuff from the motor home, already thinking ahead to my next festival in August.

I have wanted to write a few words about several subjects that are common to most festivals. The first draft of this chapter included another festival, and was way too long, so I decided to move that festival to the next chapter, and fill out this one with one of those items

One of my favorite memories was Dancing John, and I believe I first saw him at one of my first festivals in Mariposa. Bluegrass is nothing if not toe-tapping music, and it’s not unusual to see small children who would not know Bill Monroe from Bill the Cat dancing around in the audience area. Adults are not immune, and there will almost always be two or three who do a bit of dancing for a few minutes.

At one of those early festivals we noticed a gentleman doing a low-key dance just off the side of the stage. He was no short-term dancer; he would perform through entire sets, taking a break now and then. He always had a gallon jug of water with him, and not only drank from it, but poured some on his head on particularly warm days.

He rarely missed a festival in the areas I frequented – Parkfield, Good Old Fashioned, Brown Barn and no doubt many that I missed. I chatted with him briefly a time or two, just casual small talk, but did not inquire about his profession, age, or general purpose in life. It was obvious that many regular festival-goers were familiar with him and spoke with him now and then. At one festival I observed that he was traveling with a small pick-up camper.

I have not attended a festival since 2019, but I believe I read somewhere that John had passed away. It was always a delight to see someone getting so much enjoyment from these musical events.

Chapter 24                    Chapter 21          Chapter 22          Chapter 23            Chapter 25

The summer of 2013 continued with my second and so far last time at the Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival near Hollister. This event is a bit different from most festivals in several ways. At every other show I've attended, the major groups play two or more sets over the weekend. At the GOF, each group plays once and once only. The idea, as was explained to me when I attended in 2011, is to have as many musicians as possible on hand, to encourage lots of interaction between performers and fans, and to have lots of jamming.

They also have what is called the "Tweener Stage," a small stage at the side of the audience. While the sound man is setting up for the next main stage band, any group that wants to sign up can play a couple of songs on the Tweener Stage.

I've written before about how there is always one group that is a "revelation" - unknown or mostly unknown to me, but good enough to stand out above the rest. At this festival I discovered it works both ways - a band so bad you want to cover your ears. The MC said that this group had played the side stage, but this year was promoted to the main stage. What he didn't explain was why. I guess the most polite thing I can say about them is that I'm sure the band members are all nice to children and small animals.

Fortunately they were followed by a group that erased 99% of the bad memories. Canyon Johnson have been together for about 18 months, although most members have played for a number of years. They came together in a jamming class taught by a professional Bay Area musician, and they were rewarded with a sincere request for an encore.

The group that followed them defied description, but here’s what I wrote at the time:  “The magazine Bluegrass Unlimited has a category in its CD review section called ‘On the Edge,’ which I interpret as having gone so far from traditional bluegrass that they are in danger of falling off the edge into something completely different. The Creak is such a band, playing what might be considered ‘newgrass’ or maybe ‘jamgrass.” In any event, if you like that sort of thing you'd enjoy this band, because they were very skillful. It was just not my cup of moonshine, and I went back to the motor home for a break.”

The Tweener Stage bands were mostly good amateurs, with a couple of standouts, particularly a trio from Napa Valley that went over big with the crowd.

The final band of the day, the Naked Bootleggers, was a substitute for a group that had to cancel (they were actually fully clothed). They were an energetic band with some non-standard instruments (harmonica and washboard), sometimes reminding me of Snap Jackson.

On Saturday a group called Houston Jones performed with electrified acoustic guitars, loud drums and keyboards. I was pretty sure they were here two years earlier, and looking up my report from 2011, I discovered that I found them "quite interesting, with lyrics that made you sit up and take notice." This year they made me stand up and walk away. I think there are two possible reasons: Possibly last time I was sitting farther back, and they did not seem so loud; or possibly I was two years older and grumpier.

Just to clarify, I don't object to groups like this being on the schedule. I think everyone, including me, needs to try new things. Sometimes we'll like them, sometimes not. When I first saw Snap Jackson, my first reaction was "wow, that's really different." My second reaction was "wow, that's really GOOD!" I know many people in the audience liked these non-traditional, pretty much non-bluegrass groups, even if I did not.

The rest of the evening was worth the entire weekend price of admission. The Central Valley Boys, who sometimes had seemed pretty average, really connected with the audience, and the crowd and the band clearly had an outstanding time. Sidesaddle & Co. had grown on me over the years, and they also put on an excellent set.

Finally, Snap Jackson & the Knock on Wood Players put on a show that kept the crowd glued to their seats. I had seen this group at least ten times, and I thought this was the best set they have done. Since it was the last act of the night, instead of the 45 minutes allotted to other groups, they played a full hour and twenty minutes, and left with calls for "one more"..."four more"....etc. Although it was late and getting cooler, I don't think one person left the audience during their performance.

The Sunday bill was a mixture of typical regional groups of varying quality. One high point was seeing Ella Naiman, a member of the late lamented Dalton Mountain Gang, filling in with two groups, The String Slingers and Sidetrack. In fact, three of the four other members of the DMG were also there - Yosef Tucker and John Cogdell with the Central Valley Boys and Ella's Dad, Tom, playing banjo with a group on the side stage.

Sidetrack played music that was more or less "oldtime," but their most impressive number was a cowboy song, The Brazos River, which they said mentions every river in Texas. Back home I added it to my iTunes program.

The standout group of the day was Carr Creek Crossing. Although they had a small drum kit, it was unobtrusive, and most of the time the drummer played the banjo. This group did a number of non-bluegrass songs in a very entertaining style, not really converting them to bluegrass. This included songs by Greg Brown, Robert Earl Keen and the Youngbloods, as well as a heart-breaking song about the Mann Gulch Fire, especially poignant in view of a recent firefighter tragedy in Arizona.

With Good Old Fashioned in the rear view mirror, up next was the 2013 Hobbs Grove (AKA Kings River) Festival. The location is about 20 miles from my house, so I had started making this festival a one-day event with no motor home.

All of the groups on the program were from California, mostly the central valley, central coast, or Bay Area, and I had seen quite a few of them in the past. I'm always looking for a group that stands out and is also one I have not heard before. There wasn't really any band that met this criterion, but a number of them did offer some individual aspect that was above average.

For example, the Poor Valley Band, from the Turlock area, included a very good female singer, who used the handle "Little Annie," when she hosted a bluegrass show on the Cal State Stanislaus station, KCSS. She sang an outstanding version of that old bluegrass standard, Summertime, written by the Bill Monroe of Broadway, George Gershwin.

One of our local groups that I'd seen many times, Grassfire, impressed me with good harmony, and did an excellent job on a modern day cowboy song, Night Rider's Lament, which has been recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker, Nancy Griffith and many others.

The final band of the morning displayed the best energy level yet. Dim Lights is essentially a family band, consisting of Avram Frankel, his wife Vicki, and 14 year-old daughter Dana, plus two others. The young lady is very good on the fiddle, not bad vocally but still has that "young kid" sound. She sounded exceptionally good harmonizing with her father. Frankel has played in other bands in the Bay area, and I had seen this group at the Good Old Fashioned festival in August.

The next group, Sagebrush, put the blue back in bluegrass, with some excellent work on a resonator slide guitar (like what is commonly called a National steel, but a different brand). This instrument rings out with a loud, powerful sound. I thought this band overall was better instrumentally than vocally.

The Valley Oak Band was three Fresno area musicians, Kent and Jack Kinney and Charlotte Allen (Jack and Charlotte both being 17). Her father is the promoter of the festival, and both kids have been playing for a number of years. Jack has become very good on banjo, mandolin, and fiddle, while Charlotte plays bass. Kent Kinney is a good vocalist and the kids are developing their vocal talents. Perhaps the hottest guitar player in the valley, Eric Antrim of Snap Jackson's group, joined the band for a couple of numbers.

Next up was a northern California fixture that I'd seen many times, Bean Creek from the central coast. The heart of the band were Pete Hicks and Billy Petrone, both long-time musicians who sing and play at a highly professional level. A special treat was Jim Minton on Dobro; whether he had joined the band or was a temporary substitute was not made clear.

The evening program finished out the day with three up and coming bands and one California institution. First was a band mostly from Fresno, the Grasskickers. Lead vocalist Bob Garcia has a nice soft voice, pitched in traditional bluegrass "high lonesome" register. Banjo man Tom Naiman has a unique singing style that fits very well with the songs he sings, including Merle Haggard's Working Man Blues. Dan Stein sings and plays guitar, and is very good; and Bearrr Murray fills out the group on the U-base, an electric bass ukulele. Eric Antrim joined the group for one song.

Next up was Red Dog Ash from Turlock, a band that's played at the free Bluegrass in the Park series in Clovis for several years, and which has been steadily improving and getting more attention and more bookings. They did their usual good job, playing a number of songs from their two CDs, a nice mix of originals and standard bluegrass songs.

The stage was brightened up considerably by the next band, Central Valley Boys, who are known for their brightly colored matching suits. Check the You Tube video for their most subdued look, and my photo for the super red look they presented at Kings River. Their forte is traditional bluegrass, and they are quite good at it. The members are from various locations in California, with mandolinist John Cogdell a Sanger resident and lead singer Youseff Tucker a former valley resident from Caruthers.

The festival headliner, Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands, finished out the evening, and were scheduled to appear again the next day. Laurie was a pioneer of the Bay Area bluegrass scene back in the 1970s and has won national acclaim and recognition. She's been a favorite of mine since I first saw her in the late 1990s at the Mariposa festival. Her current band included her singing partner of nearly 30 years, Tom Rozum, and one of the state's finest banjo players, Patrick Sauber, who also plays with Loafer's Glory and other bands. Patrick provided the banjo music heard in the movie A Mighty Wind.

I have several of her bluegrass CDs, one Tom & Laurie CD, and I can recommend everything she does. Although she is a noted fiddler, lately she has mostly played guitar in performance, turning the fiddle duties over to another very excellent player.

The final set ended around 10 p.m., so I was on the road in a few minutes and back home by 10:30. In some ways I enjoyed this one-day event as much or more than some of the full three-day festivals. Eating was a little less convenient, and I missed the civilized full bathroom facilities of the motor home. On the other hand, I did not have to pick up the motor home from storage and load stuff in and out. And of course, I had only a 20-mile drive and was home sleeping in my regular bed when it was over.

Chapter 25                    Chapter 21          Chapter 22          Chapter 23            Chapter 24

The year 2014 was the 16th annual Parkfield Bluegrass Festival, and my 13th time to attend. I was looking forward to the trip more as a getaway from the usual routine, because last year's festival had some negative aspects, mainly the very hot weather.

I arrived about 20 minutes before the show was to start. As soon as I had backed into my parking spot, I took my lawn chair to the audience area, and got one of the best spots I've had for several years, right in the middle, about eight rows back, and with an unobstructed view of the stage.

There were scattered clouds, keeping the temperature comfortable throughout the afternoon. In the evening it cooled off enough that I added a long sleeve T-shirt and eventually a sweat shirt. The clouds continued into the evening, but there were bright stars and a half moon visible from my chair.

Most of the bands were good to excellent, including some I had seen and some I had not. The "revelation band," one that was unknown to me but turned out to be excellent, was Jeff Scroggins & Colorado. Jeff is a national banjo champion, playing in a unique style. His 20-year old son Tristan is the mandolin player, and he was one of the best and most powerful players I've seen - I expected that he would be winning "player of the year" awards soon. The lead vocalist and guitar player, Greg Blake, was also outstanding, and the bass and fiddle players were equal to the rest of the band.

Two other bands would have qualified as "revelations" with lesser competition. Steep Ravine is a Bay Area group whose strongest feature was great vocal harmonies. The lead singer has a nice tenor voice, not a traditional bluegrass style, but very still good.

Another San Francisco band, Front Country, had been together just since 2011, but had won awards at major festivals, including Rockygrass and Telluride. This six-member group was easily number two of the bands that were new to me.

There were a number of groups that I've seen several times, at Parkfield and other festivals, but of course, none of them could top my favorite California band, Snap Jackson & the Knock on Wood Players, making their fifth consecutive appearance. Like at least half the bands there, they are not strictly bluegrass, but are 100% entertaining and exciting from the first note. They recorded both their sets for a live CD, so if you buy it, you will hear me applauding.

I also enjoyed the Cache Valley Drifters from the Santa Barbara area. I saw them at the first Parkfield festival I attended, in 2001, then again in Paso Robles in 2004. I've enjoyed them a little more each time, and this was no exception. They are a three man group, with electric bass, guitar and mandolin, and certainly not bluegrass, but they have two excellent singers, and do some nice harmonies.

Finally there was the headliner, Peter Rowan. Rowan is widely known and well respected in the world of bluegrass and acoustic country music. He was a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, and played with many other bands, leading his own group at various times. In the 1970s he was part of Old and in the Way along with Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, and wrote many songs, most notably "Panama Red" and "Midnight Moonlight."

He came on stage alone and did a couple of songs accompanying himself on guitar, then was joined by Patrick Sauber who played bass and sang harmony. After another two songs, Patrick moved to banjo and three other top level California musicians joined them to make up the standard bluegrass configuration of guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin and bass, and they played for a full hour.

Frankly I was a little under whelmed. Peter was in good voice, but they didn't play with the energy I'd expected, even on some up-tempo bluegrass standards. Still, it was good to see a true legend of the business, keeping it going at age 72. (He’s still going strong at 84 and was scheduled to play in Monterey in September of 2026.)

Many festivals, including this one, ask attendees to fill out an evaluation form. Those who know me well are aware that if you ask me a simple question, I will respond with a long, complicated answer, so a short form just doesn't do the job. After the event is over, I usually send a long detailed email to the festival promoter, written in a way that is intended to be positive and constructive.

This year for the first time they asked us to rank the bands. I started doing this, then realized how silly it was. Snap Jackson was #1, but Jeff Scroggins was a close #2 and could have easily been #1. The Creak, a talented group that plays something that is not bluegrass, and something I can't listen to, was #14. If I ranked another band #13, it would imply that I liked it just a little more than The Creak, but in fact, I liked every band a lot more than The Creak.

Also, somewhere in the middle there were about eight bands that were pretty much equal. To rank them would take hours of careful concentrated listening, something that's not possible in a festival setting. And to rank one of these band #4 and another #11 would be just ridiculous. Therefore, I came up with the first annual Rick Mason Awards. I will not make my long-suffering readers suffer any more by repeating the entire list, but I'll provide a brief excerpt:

Best vocal harmonies: Steep Ravine, Cache Valley Drifters

Best lead vocal: Snap Jackson, Greg Blake (of Jeff Scroggins band)

Best mandolin: Tristan Scroggins

Best non-bluegrass song: Minor Swing by Steep Ravine

And so on....

I arrived at the festival in a slightly negative mood, because last year's event had not been up to par. I was even thinking that I might not attend after this year. Thankfully, the weather, the band lineup, and the camping conditions caused me to change my mind, and I planned to be back the next year. Incidentally, this year's event had possibly the largest attendance ever. This was in spite of the fact that we had lost a lot of the regulars who used to attend from southern California. They were probably not thrilled about driving 400 miles in a vehicle that gets eight to ten miles per gallon. (Twelve years later, gas prices are even worse.)

With only one festival this year, there’s time to discuss one of those things that’s common to most festivals – the program. With only one exception, every festival I attended provided a program. Sometimes it was just a single folded sheet, but the better festivals had full color multi-page programs that left you with a nice souvenir of the event.

Of course, they all included the stage schedule – who was playing and when. There would almost always be a schedule of workshops and any other activities that were not formal stage presentations. Usually the first page or two were devoted to rules and guidelines. There were also lots of ads, to help pay the cost of the publication and the event itself. The many volunteers it takes to put on these events are acknowledged and sponsors and donors are recognized.

Perhaps the most interesting section was the band biographies. These usually included a brief history of the band, a listing of members, and their backgrounds. Here’s where you could learn that Snap Jackson had been named Northern California Male Vocalist of the Year, a well-deserved honor.