SUMMERGRASS BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL

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[Bluegrass banjo great Sammy Shelor of the Lonesome River Band]

August 17-19, 2012
Vista, California
The Summergrass Bluegrass Festival recentlycelebrated its tenth anniversary in the rolling hills of Vista, California justnorth of San Diego. The 3-day festival presented an impressive array of localgroups alongside national acts, including some of the premiere acts in theBluegrass field. The southern California sun shone mercilessly on the crowd,but clever festival organizers had assembled a large sheer tent of silky greencloth over the main seating area that provided shade for a majority of theonlookers.



You can expect to hear “Rocky Top” at least once over thecourse of a weekend spent at any Bluegrass festival. Local favorites VirtualStrangers did the old chestnut in fine fashion during a Saturday afternoon setthat also featured a take on Poco’s “Honky Tonk Downstairs”, a song that manymay be familiar with thanks to George Strait’s rendition from several yearsago. San Diego’s Lighthouse kept the music flowing through the afternoon with aset heavy on gospel themes including the poignant “On My Mother’s Side”.
[Mike Tatar and Jon Cherry of Virtual Strangers on dobro and mandolin]

Among the youthful crews on the program were the Tuttleswith A.J. Lee, whose sound featured beautiful vocal harmonies and themind-blowing guitar work of young Sullivan Tuttle. The band’s bouncy spin on“My Window Faces The South” was a perfect showcase for Sullivan’s fluid, jazzyguitar lines. The faraway look in the young man’s wide eyes stood in sharpcontrast to his confident mastery of the fretboard as he reeled off one hotlick after another, bringing an unexpected dose of Django Reinhardt to theproceedings. The band’s set was further brightened by the inclusion of TownesVan Zandt’s “White Freight Liner” and an encore of Bill Monroe’s “White HouseBlues”.
[Lighthouse onstage at the 2012 Summergrass Bluegrass Festival] 

Another young band on the bill was Florida’s Flatt Lonesome. Their rendition of“Jackson” elicited enormous applause from the crowd, as did an excellentoriginal song of theirs called “I’m Blue”. Ben Rochester’s gospel number “TheRight Side” was beautifully embellished by the exquisite harmonies of FlattLonesome’s Kelsi and Charli Robertson.
[Flatt Lonesome]

The impressive vocal stylings on display at Summergrasscontinued with a Sunday afternoon performance by Blue Mountain Mule. The emotivevocal phrasings of Sharron Evans totally redefined “I’m So Lonesome I CouldCry”. Her voice soared above the melody, setting its own lilting pace acrossthe tempo. Unfurling plaintive blue notes galore, Evans took this countryclassic we’ve all heard a million times and made it her own.
A clear highlight of the weekend was the appearance ofBluegrass legends the Lonesome River Band, whose Sunday afternoon set includedspirited takes on “Jack Up The Jail”, “Perfume, Powder & Lead”, and “FlatBroke And Lonesome”. Thirty year veterans of the Bluegrass scene, these menhave played more stages than you could count. In spite of the summer heat, thecrowd could sense the band’s natural camaraderie and good humor onstage. Leadsinger Brandon Rickman invited fans to join them for a swim after the show,saying, “If y’all get bored, we’ll be at the pool at the La Quinta.”
[Campground jam session at Summergrass]

After closing out their set with a deftsprint through the old classic “Sittin’ On Top Of The World”, the band wasquickly called back for an encore. Rickman seized the opportunity to callattention to the great many awards and accolades that have been bestowed on theband’s legendary banjo player Sammy Shelor. Recently awarded the Steve MartinAward for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, Shelor’s singular banjo styledefines the Lonesome River Band sound. The band selected “Molly” for theirencore, showcasing a banjo and fiddle duet of stunning beauty just before thesong’s final chorus.

[Another of the many campground jam sessions at Summergrass]

Otherfeatures of the festival included workshops for adults and kids interested inlearning more about Bluegrass singing, songwriting and performance, as well asnumerous sponsors on site with booths featuring CDs, instruments, clothing, anda raffle that included two guitars, a banjo, and a mandolin among the prizes.All weekend long there were dozens of spontaneous jam sessions throughout thefestival grounds, on picnic tables, and in the concessions area. The sound oflive music could be heard coming from all around the adjacent campground, wheremany handmade instruments were being played including a large washtub that hadbeen converted into a stout little upright bass that resembled a fat brownbanjo.

[Handmade bass fiddle]

Perhaps the festival’s greatest feature isits setting on the sprawling grounds of the Antique Gas & Steam EngineMuseum. Spread over several acres of rolling hills, the museum is like a giantAmerican Folk Art sculpture garden, with several barns filled to overflowing withhundreds of vintage tractors, farm implements, steam engines, classic cars andtrucks, and a stunning variety of antique machinery spread out all over thesurrounding flatlands and hillside. It was the perfect setting for a Bluegrassfestival. Tourists and travelers planning a visit to southern California areadvised to consider the Summergrass Bluegrass Festival as their destination. Afascinating glimpse at our nation’s industrial past, the Antique Gas &Steam Engine Museum itself is worth the trip. Add a first class Bluegrassfestival to the picture and it’s Americana overload, fun-filled andfamily-friendly. I can’t imagine a summer weekend better spent.



 

Summergrass website: http://www.summergrass.net/

Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum website: http://www.agsem.com/