Have you ever craved a complete escape from the noise of modern life? The 50th Annual Father's Day Bluegrass Festival in Grass Valley offers exactly that - a sanctuary where time slows down and the only notifications you'll receive come from fiddles, banjos, and mandolins calling you to the next performance.
Walking through the Nevada County Fairgrounds, the first thing that strikes you is the atmosphere - families spread across the meadow on blankets and camp chairs, children playing freely, and the unmistakable sound of virtuosic bluegrass filling the air. It's my 27th year attending this festival, and the sense of community remains as strong as ever.
The California Bluegrass Association, founded in 1974 as a non-profit volunteer organization, has created something remarkable here. From the intimate Vern's Stage (conveniently located behind the beer hut) to the main meadow stage where legends perform, music surrounds you constantly. I watched in appreciation as the Clinton Davis String Band and Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band (performing a surprisingly moving bluegrass version of Paul Simon's "Graceland") showcased why this American art form remains vibrant and evolving.
What makes this festival special isn't just the exceptional performances, though there are many. It's the opportunity to disconnect completely - to sit beneath trees listening to birds between sets, to witness families setting up tents as sunset approaches, to forget about politics and headlines and algorithms for four blessed days. The festival grounds transform into a temporary village where strangers become friends through shared appreciation of this distinctly American musical tradition.
A highlight came when the festival received the prestigious Blue Ribbon Award from the Western Fairs Association, with the CBA President accepting while wearing the hat of founder Carl Pachter - a poignant reminder of how this music creates lasting legacies.
Whether you're a dedicated bluegrass fan or simply someone seeking respite from life's complexities, join us next year. Because in these divided times, there's something profoundly healing about sitting in a meadow as the sun sets, surrounded by nothing but music, community, and the simple joys we too often forget to cherish.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi there, pats Peeps, number 281.
I hope you enjoyed our specialCalifornia Dreamin' episode.
Today I am at the Father's DayBluegrass Festival.
It's the first day here Put onby the California Bluegrass
Association.
It's one of my favoriteweekends of the year when I need
(00:25):
to get relaxed.
This is the place I go Fourdays, today through the 15th,
through this Sunday.
Right now it is a gorgeous day,it's Thursday and I'm on the
side stage.
Right now it's called Vern'sStage.
It's right behind the beer huthere at the Father's called
Vern's Stage.
It's right behind the Beer Huthere at the Father's Day
(00:48):
Bluegrass Festival.
And again, this is the sameplace.
I was just a couple of weeksback during the Strawberry Music
Festival during Memorial Day,and there was a lot of bluegrass
, to be honest, there, eventhough the bluegrass excuse me,
the Strawberry Music Festival isusually more eclectic than just
Bluegrass as a wider varietyusually, but they had a lot of
(01:10):
Bluegrass.
This is strictly Bluegrass,like the hardly strictly
Bluegrass at Golden Gate Parkused to be Bluegrass and then it
became hardly strictlyBluegrass.
Anyhow, if you can hear thebackground, this is how it
sounds.
It's beautiful.
Sounds like they're doing abluegrass version of Merle.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Haggard.
So I went down, I sing, freshmemories Take me back to the
good old days.
And to hear my mama sing therock of ages left for me.
She tried to turn me on toJesus.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I turned out to be those ways.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I turned out to be the only alma mater ever raised
Myrtle Hager, done bluegrassstyle.
So folks are out here watchingright now.
They've got the chairs set up.
They've got picnic tables redand white checkered picnic
tables which to me, I mean thatis just straight up Americana.
I love that Families are outhere.
(02:46):
You've got kids playing in themeadow.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I love the fiddle, my favorite instrument.
I like the banjo, I like themall, but I like that fiddle.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I'm standing in a spot right here where, all right
, I'm going to try to explainthis story to you.
It's not so much a story, butduring the Strawberry Music
Festival and during the Father'sDay Bluegrass Festival by the
(03:44):
way, I'd love to see you outhere.
You know, there's just so many.
There's a lot of differentpersonalities, right.
Bluegrass folks are very well,so are Strawberry Very calm
people Listen.
Very nice.
There's a certain communityspirit at both of these
(04:05):
festivals.
It's very peaceful.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Come see us at the merch booth after we're done.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Sign up for our hour, man.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
We have ten.
Now we have ten.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Okay, now.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
I can talk slower.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So I'll tell you about this guy.
He used to be out here all thetime.
You'd see him out here at bothfestivals and he was a big guy,
I'm trying to do a nice Carterfamily song.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Oh right, that's what I thought If you had 10.
Okay, maybe not.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I guess they're trying to decide whether they
have enough time on this sidestage before the main meadow
stage begins.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
It's a cool song I got from Blind Willie Johnson,
who's a great old blues singerand player.
He had a bunch of kind ofunique songs that sounded a
little different than a lot ofhis contemporaries and we got a
nice little instrumental tofinish it out with.
So thanks so much for listeningeverybody.
We're hey Lonesome.
Come see us around the Bay Area.
We got a mailing list over here, so if you feel like seeing
(05:09):
where we're gonna show up andplay again, come and sign the
mailing list.
That's all we have to offer.
Thanks so much and we'll seeyou guys out in the campgrounds.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
In the campgrounds they play bluegrass out in the
campgrounds too, which is true,which is one of the things I
love about this bluegrassfestival.
They play the, you know, a lotof times at night they'll be out
there, gathered together,playing bluegrass.
So this man was a big guy.
He had to be like 6'4", 6'5".
So, this big man, he had a big,big beard.
(05:45):
It was a big, black and graybeard and he always wore one of
those kind of floppy hats, youknow, like Gilligan.
So imagine a big dude.
Gilligan had big, zz top, blackand gray beard with a tie-dyed
muumuu on.
(06:05):
I'm not kidding, you know, toeach their own right, always
peaceful, always kept to himself.
But he'd have a like rememberback in the day they'd have mini
dresses and maxi dresses he hadthe maxi muumuu, big beard and
a maxi muumuu and he wouldliterally stand in one spot if
(06:26):
it was in the meadow or whetherit was out here by this side
stage, and I'm standing rightwhere this dude.
I wish I knew his name.
They had a sign up for him thelast couple of years, but I
don't see it this time.
But he would literally stand inone spot and he would dance and
(06:47):
he would shuffle his feet andthe shuffling of his feet.
I'm standing on grass right nowgrass and very thin grass, dirt
under trees, and he would weara huge area into the grass where
it would just be nothing but abig circle of dirt, because he
would be out there shuffling hisfeet the entire day and the
(07:10):
last couple of years, apparently, he passed away.
I can still feel that man'sspirit here at this place.
Look, I mean, I, you know, Imyself do not wear a maxi muumuu
.
This guy did.
And who cares If a, if a MaxMoo Moo and a Gilligan's Hat is
your thing, brother, may peacebe with you.
(07:33):
So I've moved out to the mainmeadow now and it is extremely
(08:06):
peaceful.
No one on stage.
I think we're probably oh Idon't know a half hour before
the next act comes out.
This is just an opportunity.
During the day, people go outand have something to eat.
By the way, as I mentioned inprevious podcasts here when we
were at Strawberry, there's alot of food booths out here and
(08:26):
you have a variety of things youcan eat.
A lot of people bring their ownstuff, obviously, but this is
Nevada County Fairgrounds, likeI said, grass Valley.
It's going on through Sunday,the 15th.
It's put on by the Father's DayBluegrass.
It's by the CaliforniaBluegrass Association.
This is the 50th annual andthis is my 27th bluegrass
(08:48):
festival, so I also want to givea shout out to California
Bluegrass Association.
By the way, they're anon-profit, volunteer
organization.
They were founded in 1974 topreserve the and to promote
bluegrass, to promote old timeand gospel music here in
California.
This Father's Day festivalpromises four days, according to
(09:11):
the I'm looking at their paperthey put out here, when you come
in, four days of fabulous musicon three stages jamming and
workshops, youth programs, kidson bluegrass.
That's been a part of thisevery single year.
You know the Navy BluegrassBand has been part of this.
(09:33):
You know I've seen bands likeDel McCurry out here numerous
times.
She's infamous string dusters,blue Highway there's just so
many bands that I learned aboutbluegrass music-wise coming out
to this festival and so manyothers.
But yeah, the kids on bluegrass.
(09:55):
And again, that's one thing Ilove about this is the tradition
of this music, unlike so manyother musics.
I mean, if you take a Excuse me, I get so relaxed here.
I get very relaxed.
Oh, my goodness, I'm in theshade.
I'll relax.
Kick back in my little chair.
But if you think about othergenres of music that are not
(10:16):
right in the mainstream rightnow music from the past, doo-wop
, music out of the 50s, it's notlike you're really not that I'm
aware of.
Maybe they are somewhere andI'd love to be there if they are
Like having doo-wop festivalsand kids on doo-wop and they're
up there singing doo-wop.
If you're into standards, youknow, like the old Frank Sinatra
(10:37):
, dean Martin stuff.
You know, I don't know, I'm notaware of any festivals where
they're doing standards andwhere they have kids on
standards.
Maybe they do have classical,they might have classical.
I'm not aware of that.
If they don't have that, by theway, I think they should.
Kids on classical is prettygood, but bluegrass does, and
(10:58):
bluegrass still puts out.
You know there are so manyincredible artists now, some of
which I just mentioned.
There are so many incredibleartists now, some of which I
just mentioned, of course,rhonda, vincent, alison Krauss
and Union Station.
We just saw Dan Tominski here,also part of Union Station.
You know the Steel Drivers,which is an incredible band,
(11:19):
chris Stapleton's band that hewas in prior to becoming a solo
artist.
All of these artists that youhear of, I mean these are I have
heard about them because ofBluegrass Association and great
(11:40):
radio stations, and I love thefact that they come out with new
music.
No other genre that I justmentioned beyond that does that
I don't know a lot of newdoo-wop or new.
You know, I don't knowDixieland jazz or maybe they're
coming out with that.
I don't know.
I couldn't really listen tomuch of that, no offense, but
(12:01):
bluegrass, yeah, all the time,so many artists it's.
You know that's a oh brotherwhere art thou.
That was the biggest sellingalbum a few years back, won the
Grammy.
So there is a big audience forthis.
But we are just kind of, youknow it's one of those things.
It's like I look at it as, likeyou know, I'm a Zappa fan,
(12:26):
frank Zappa, or a Grateful Deadfan, or a Bluegrass fan.
You kind of either get it oryou don't get it.
I'm sure some people I justkind of dissed on Dixieland I'm
sure people are saying, yeah,pat, you get it or you don't get
it.
So the California BluegrassAssociation, I do like to
(12:46):
support what they do.
They have Luthier's Pavilion,luthier's, of course.
They make instruments, sellinstruments, world famous Vern's
Beer and Wine Garden we werejust there, large concession
area.
I always tell you about food,drinks, crafts.
Yeah, they sell nice crafts.
You know all the clothing andthe jewelry and all of that kind
(13:09):
of stuff and you can find somereally cool, unique things out
here.
Don't forget, excuse me, kvmrRadio always supports these
festivals.
Love community radio, love KVMR.
You've got the fiddle guy outhere.
You've got clothiers,rennington jewelers I'm just
(13:31):
kind of taking a look aroundhere artist merchandise.
I love to support all of thisstuff and I get so relaxed and
they're asking to make this yourorganization and learn about
the many benefits of being partof the CBA community.
And certainly that's why Icontinue to support them, this
your organization and learnabout the many benefits of being
part of the CBA community.
And certainly.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
That's why I continue to support them will continue
to support them.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Mother and child walking by I mean kids playing
together.
It's just beautiful.
Let's just take a look realquick at some of the artists.
They're going to be here at the50th annual CBA Father's Day
Bluegrass Festival.
Let me see if you know what.
I probably don't know any ofthem.
I might know some of them, butagain, I'm always learning.
(14:15):
Crying Uncle Blue, crying UncleBlue's grass band, that's
pretty good.
I don't know them, that'spretty good.
Clinton Davis string band,mm-mm.
Junior Sisk Band, aj, that'spretty good.
I don't know them, that'spretty good.
Clinton Davis string band,mm-hmm.
Junior cyst band, aj Lee andBlue Summit All the travel of
(14:39):
McCurry.
So that must be.
That is Del McCurry, who I'vementioned when mentioned.
I've seen numerous timeswhether it's here and it's
strawberry.
I it's Strawberry and he'salways on Sirius XM Channel 77,
the Bluegrass Station, daleMcCurry I think he might have
his own show on there, but theyplay a lot of him.
But this is, I think, hisfamily, his brother's, ronnie
(15:00):
who's on Mandolin.
This is the McCurry brotherswho are playing here, the
traveling McCurys, but Ronnie onMandolin and Rob on the McCurry
brothers who are playing here,the Traveling McCurys, but
Ronnie on Mandolin and Rob onBanjo are brothers Born into the
bluegrass tradition.
Like I said, the traditionmoves on.
Their dad is Dell.
Dell McCurry is one of thesegood old boys.
He's one of these guys whoreminds me of like right out of
(15:22):
the 60s or 70s I don't know howto describe it, dude, that looks
kind of like Porter Ragnar, ifanyone knows.
You know they used to havethese old bluegrass, remember.
Does anyone remember this?
This just I just flashed onthis.
Oh my God, that is a flashbackI just had when they used to
have, like it'd be on weekendmornings, it seems like, and
(15:43):
they'd have like like abluegrass competition and it'd
always be someone that lookedlike Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
with these suits on and they'dkind of match and they'd have
numbers on, like number 25, youknow, or whatever the number was
, and they would be competing.
Oh my God, I just thought aboutthat.
But the good old boys you know,del McCurry reminds me of those
(16:06):
kind of guys, a different era.
Hi, there, he has that voicelike this and like he knows
everyone, he's up on the stagenow.
Oh, thank you very much.
Thank you for tuning up here.
Hey, everybody, it's good tosee you.
Well, hello, dottie.
Dottie, it's always good, hank,how you, hank?
Now I got a little joke aboutHank.
Now let me go back.
Like he knows everybody in theaudience, he got a joke or a
(16:28):
story.
Now, hank, you don't mind metelling the story, do you Hank?
Well, hey there, dolores, goodto see you, dolores.
Oh, yeah, anyhow, dale McCurry,a throwback.
So it'll be the TravelingMcGurys tonight.
Lori Lewis and Kathy Kallick,the Alum Ridge Boys and Ashley,
(16:52):
bob Ikes and Trey Hensley Idon't know, I'm losing my place
here.
Sorry, I don't know who theseare.
Who else we got here.
Okay, laurie Lewis, in theright hands.
Alright, laurie Lewis, I'veseen Laurie Lewis several times.
(17:14):
The Gibson brothers, who I haveseen numerous times, and then
they have all these otherbluegrass festivals Bowers,
bluegrass, any of them.
So that's what's happeninghere'm in the meadow.
It's nice and peaceful.
I'm gonna go grab something toeat, perhaps oh, who knows, a
couple of things to drink, ifyou know what I mean.
And we'll be back for somemusic, sitting on the meadow,
(17:39):
and this guy comes up with his,with this gal, and they sit in
front of me and I recognize themfrom the band that I was just
seeing on the side stage acouple of minutes ago that we
were playing, and I said it'sover on the Verns stage and I
said, hey, I got you on mypodcast, I got you a good
(18:02):
mention on my podcast, pat'sPeeps podcast.
I introduced myself, heintroduced himself and we got to
chatting there and I said, hey,man, good stuff.
I said you played a Merle, Ithink a Merle Haggard song,
(18:22):
right.
And he looks at me and theylook at each other and I was
actually Johnny Paycheck.
I'm like, oh, dang it, that'sright, it was Johnny Paycheck,
not Merle Haggard, that's right.
And I told him, you know, so Ijust wanted to correct myself.
So any of you out therelistening are going no, no, no,
pat, that's Johnny Paycheck.
Yeah, absolutely right.
(18:43):
Sometimes it's hard to tell, youknow, when they're doing a
bluegrass version of it, becauseit sounds so different than the
original.
The last time I was out here,there was a bluegrass band on
the stage and they were doing asong and it caught my attention
and I asked my cousin Nick andmy friend Hefe.
(19:04):
I said what song is that?
Come on, what song is that?
Oh man, I don't know, I don'tknow.
Well, I said listen, justlisten, come on.
Come on Now.
Not everyone knows music to thesame level I do, I guess.
I mean, I guess that's true.
People tell me that all thetime, but I thought for sure,
being rockers, that they wouldknow this.
But they didn't.
Anyhow, they were doing PinkFloyd Fearless Bum, bum, bum,
(19:29):
bum, bum, bum, bum Off of metal.
Oh God, I love that song.
Originally I was actually goingto use that as the closing song
every night on my radio show.
Then I realized it's sodramatic and I don't want to be
dramatic every night and I wantto do something different all
the time.
So, anyhow, so is JohnnyPaycheck, not Merle Haggard.
(19:53):
I stand corrected.
I just have to say, witheverything going on in this
world and all the negativethings that you hear about,
listen to the birds.
I don't know.
(20:13):
There's something about beinghere, like I said earlier, that
just relaxes me.
I don't want to hear anythingabout looting or immigration or
any of it, any of it.
It's such a blessing to getaway from all of that for four
(20:35):
days.
Right now I'm sitting here andI'm watching a couple and
they're trying to put up theirtent.
You know it's things like that.
You know there's all these tentcampers and it's just innocent,
other things like that.
But sometimes we tend to forgetabout the simple things in life
life pitching a tent, setting upcamp, getting away from it all.
(20:58):
Whatever it is that you do inyour life to get away from it,
to make you feel better, to makeyou relax.
I truly believe that weoverlook that sometimes, that we
overlook that sometimesEverything is so important, you
(21:21):
know it's all so important.
You know we better get back tothe stress.
You know we better startdividing based on politics and
all of this stuff.
Just listen to the peacefulnesshere.
The sun's going down.
I don't mean to be boring onthis podcast and I hope I'm not.
(21:43):
Time just passes by, you know,and I just know, and not to get
too heavy, I know already thatat some point when I look back
in my life and I think about themost special moments in my life
(22:06):
not to oversell it it's goingto be things like this this is
what I'm going to think about.
I'm not going to.
I'm going to think about myfamily and these golden moments
where I don't know.
It's almost like a.
You know, when we used to go toStrawberry Music Festival out in
(22:28):
Yosemite off Evergreen Road, itwas like an eight mile road,
not in the main part of Yosemite, an offshoot to Yosemite and it
was out far enough where no onecould communicate on their
phones, like you couldn't callhome, you couldn't really log on
and check all the websites, andI think this was before a lot
(22:49):
of the apps and things I mean.
But it hasn't been that longago.
It's only been a few years agosince they have not had that out
there.
It hasn't been.
It's not ancient times.
But the point is you reallydidn't spend time on your
devices.
I'm doing this right now, butI'm standing here trying to
share my experience with you.
I'm not trying to look atvideos, I'm not trying to check
(23:12):
the news, I don't want to knowwhat's happening in politics.
I'm simply trying to relate toyou and hopefully share with you
the peace that I feel out hereand I pray that some way,
whatever way it is that everyonefeels that and can find that
some way, even if it's just fora few days.
(23:33):
Hey, they got that little tentalmost up over there and good
for them.
It's one of those little pop-upkind of tents they're climbing
in right now.
Good for them, good job.
Hey, good job.
That's great anyhow.
So there's all kinds of tenttent campers out here.
I just happen to be out heretalking to you, so the next
(23:56):
thing I'm going to do is I'mgoing to bring you some music
from Music Meadow.
I said that last time.
I thought they were startingsooner, but now I know they're
out there on stage just starting, so let's go check them out.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Last December.
Oh, I remember when I wentblue-cold.
Now baby, now I'm in blue-cold.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Clinton Davis String Band.
Oh, that was awesome.
Oh, that sounded really good.
I like that.
The audience really liked them.
It's hopping at the meadow now.
Sun is getting ready to go down.
Yeah, that was that reallysounded good.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
Oh, thanks everybody for sticking around.
That's the Clinton Davis StringBand.
They should be over there.
We are going to have a veryquick moment.
A special guest come up here,the CEO and the president of the
Nevada County Fairgrounds for aquick presentation.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
All right time for a quick presentation.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Good evening.
I hope you all are having awonderful time tonight.
My name is Tom Browning.
I'm the president of the NevadaCounty Fair Board.
Andrew Trigg is our CEO and weare excited tonight to present,
in conjunction with the WesternFairs Association, the Blue
(25:48):
Ribbon Award to the CaliforniaBluegrass Festival and the
Nevada County Father's DayBluegrass event that has been
going on for 50 years on thislocation.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
All right, Can y'all hear me?
My name is Teresa.
I'm president of theassociation.
I'm gonna be a tiny bitemotional for accepting this,
because this fairgrounds hasmeant a lot to this organization
(26:23):
for 50 years.
Many of us have been comingmyself 30, but there's people
here who have been all 50,including the person whose hat
is on my head, which many willrecognize as Carl Pachter.
The founder and member numberone of the CBA had hoped to be
here for the 50th.
He didn't quite make it, hepassed away a couple years ago,
(26:43):
but I am very emotionally happyand grateful to accept this with
his hat on my head on behalf ofthe CBA.
Thank you very much,half-bucket.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Thank you very much.
Alright, there you go, the CBA.
More from the meadow coming up.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
Everyone here has been coming to this festival
since they're about seven oreight years old.
It's so exciting.
You could kind of call them theCalifornia Bluegrass
Association's hometown heroes.
If you will, right fromCalifornia, please help me
welcome the Crying UncleBluegrass Association's hometown
heroes.
If you will, right fromCalifornia, please help me
welcome the Crying UncleBluegrass Band Woo.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
The Mississippi Delta shining like a national star.
What a great song I amfollowing the river, down the
highway, through the cradle ofthe Civil War.
I'm going to GracelandGraceland, memphis, tennessee.
(27:51):
I'm going to Graceland, thisTennessee.
I'm going to Graceland Fourboys and pilgrims with families,
and we are going to GracelandTraveling companion is nine
years old.
He's the child of my firstmarriage.
(28:14):
I have reason to believe weboth will be received in
Graceland Alright.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
It's a nice take on this song.
All right, I'm going to leaveit at that.
That's Pats Pe, number 281.
In a mellow mood, that's whatthe bluegrass does for me.
I love it.
We'll see you tomorrow for daytwo of the California Bluegrass
Association's Father's DayBluegrass Festival.
(29:11):
Happy Father's Day weekend toall of you fathers out there.
Hi there, pats Peeps, number 281.
I hope you enjoyed our specialCalifornia Dreamin' episode.
Today I am at the Father's DayBluegrass Festival.
It's the first day here Put onby the California Bluegrass
Association.
It's one of my favoriteweekends of the year when I need
(00:25):
to get relaxed.
This is the place I go Fourdays, today through the 15th,
through this Sunday.
Right now it is a gorgeous day,it's Thursday and I'm on the
side stage.
Right now it's called Vern'sStage.
It's right behind the beer huthere at the Father's called
Vern's Stage.
It's right behind the Beer Huthere at the Father's Day
(00:48):
Bluegrass Festival.
And again, this is the sameplace.
I was just a couple of weeksback during the Strawberry Music
Festival during Memorial Day,and there was a lot of bluegrass
, to be honest, there, eventhough the bluegrass excuse me,
the Strawberry Music Festival isusually more eclectic than just
Bluegrass as a wider varietyusually, but they had a lot of
(01:10):
Bluegrass.
This is strictly Bluegrass,like the hardly strictly
Bluegrass at Golden Gate Parkused to be Bluegrass and then it
became hardly strictlyBluegrass.
Anyhow, if you can hear thebackground, this is how it
sounds.
It's beautiful.
Sounds like they're doing abluegrass version of Merle.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Haggard.
So I went down, I sing, freshmemories Take me back to the
good old days.
And to hear my mama sing therock of ages left for me.
She tried to turn me on toJesus.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I turned out to be those ways.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I turned out to be the only alma mater ever raised
Myrtle Hager, done bluegrassstyle.
So folks are out here watchingright now.
They've got the chairs set up.
They've got picnic tables redand white checkered picnic
tables which to me, I mean thatis just straight up Americana.
I love that Families are outhere.
(02:46):
You've got kids playing in themeadow.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I love the fiddle, my favorite instrument.
I like the banjo, I like themall, but I like that fiddle.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I'm standing in a spot right here where, all right
, I'm going to try to explainthis story to you.
It's not so much a story, butduring the Strawberry Music
Festival and during the Father'sDay Bluegrass Festival by the
(03:44):
way, I'd love to see you outhere.
You know, there's just so many.
There's a lot of differentpersonalities, right.
Bluegrass folks are very well,so are Strawberry Very calm
people Listen.
Very nice.
There's a certain communityspirit at both of these
(04:05):
festivals.
It's very peaceful.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
Come see us at the merch booth after we're done.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Sign up for our hour, man.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
We have ten.
Now we have ten.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Okay, now.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
I can talk slower.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So I'll tell you about this guy.
He used to be out here all thetime.
You'd see him out here at bothfestivals and he was a big guy,
I'm trying to do a nice Carterfamily song.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Oh right, that's what I thought If you had 10.
Okay, maybe not.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I guess they're trying to decide whether they
have enough time on this sidestage before the main meadow
stage begins.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
It's a cool song I got from Blind Willie Johnson,
who's a great old blues singerand player.
He had a bunch of kind ofunique songs that sounded a
little different than a lot ofhis contemporaries and we got a
nice little instrumental tofinish it out with.
So thanks so much for listeningeverybody.
We're hey Lonesome.
Come see us around the Bay Area.
We got a mailing list over here, so if you feel like seeing
(05:09):
where we're gonna show up andplay again, come and sign the
mailing list.
That's all we have to offer.
Thanks so much and we'll seeyou guys out in the campgrounds.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
In the campgrounds they play bluegrass out in the
campgrounds too, which is true,which is one of the things I
love about this bluegrassfestival.
They play the, you know, a lotof times at night they'll be out
there, gathered together,playing bluegrass.
So this man was a big guy.
He had to be like 6'4", 6'5".
So, this big man, he had a big,big beard.
(05:45):
It was a big, black and graybeard and he always wore one of
those kind of floppy hats, youknow, like Gilligan.
So imagine a big dude.
Gilligan had big, zz top, blackand gray beard with a tie-dyed
muumuu on.
(06:05):
I'm not kidding, you know, toeach their own right, always
peaceful, always kept to himself.
But he'd have a like rememberback in the day they'd have mini
dresses and maxi dresses he hadthe maxi muumuu, big beard and
a maxi muumuu and he wouldliterally stand in one spot if
(06:26):
it was in the meadow or whetherit was out here by this side
stage, and I'm standing rightwhere this dude.
I wish I knew his name.
They had a sign up for him thelast couple of years, but I
don't see it this time.
But he would literally stand inone spot and he would dance and
(06:47):
he would shuffle his feet andthe shuffling of his feet.
I'm standing on grass right nowgrass and very thin grass, dirt
under trees, and he would weara huge area into the grass where
it would just be nothing but abig circle of dirt, because he
would be out there shuffling hisfeet the entire day and the
(07:10):
last couple of years, apparently, he passed away.
I can still feel that man'sspirit here at this place.
Look, I mean, I, you know, Imyself do not wear a maxi muumuu
.
This guy did.
And who cares If a, if a MaxMoo Moo and a Gilligan's Hat is
your thing, brother, may peacebe with you.
(07:33):
So I've moved out to the mainmeadow now and it is extremely
(08:06):
peaceful.
No one on stage.
I think we're probably oh Idon't know a half hour before
the next act comes out.
This is just an opportunity.
During the day, people go outand have something to eat.
By the way, as I mentioned inprevious podcasts here when we
were at Strawberry, there's alot of food booths out here and
(08:26):
you have a variety of things youcan eat.
A lot of people bring their ownstuff, obviously, but this is
Nevada County Fairgrounds, likeI said, grass Valley.
It's going on through Sunday,the 15th.
It's put on by the Father's DayBluegrass.
It's by the CaliforniaBluegrass Association.
This is the 50th annual andthis is my 27th bluegrass
(08:48):
festival, so I also want to givea shout out to California
Bluegrass Association.
By the way, they're anon-profit, volunteer
organization.
They were founded in 1974 topreserve the and to promote
bluegrass, to promote old timeand gospel music here in
California.
This Father's Day festivalpromises four days, according to
(09:11):
the I'm looking at their paperthey put out here, when you come
in, four days of fabulous musicon three stages jamming and
workshops, youth programs, kidson bluegrass.
That's been a part of thisevery single year.
You know the Navy BluegrassBand has been part of this.
(09:33):
You know I've seen bands likeDel McCurry out here numerous
times.
She's infamous string dusters,blue Highway there's just so
many bands that I learned aboutbluegrass music-wise coming out
to this festival and so manyothers.
But yeah, the kids on bluegrass.
(09:55):
And again, that's one thing Ilove about this is the tradition
of this music, unlike so manyother musics.
I mean, if you take a Excuse me, I get so relaxed here.
I get very relaxed.
Oh, my goodness, I'm in theshade.
I'll relax.
Kick back in my little chair.
But if you think about othergenres of music that are not
(10:16):
right in the mainstream rightnow music from the past, doo-wop
, music out of the 50s, it's notlike you're really not that I'm
aware of.
Maybe they are somewhere andI'd love to be there if they are
Like having doo-wop festivalsand kids on doo-wop and they're
up there singing doo-wop.
If you're into standards, youknow, like the old Frank Sinatra
(10:37):
, dean Martin stuff.
You know, I don't know, I'm notaware of any festivals where
they're doing standards andwhere they have kids on
standards.
Maybe they do have classical,they might have classical.
I'm not aware of that.
If they don't have that, by theway, I think they should.
Kids on classical is prettygood, but bluegrass does, and
(10:58):
bluegrass still puts out.
You know there are so manyincredible artists now, some of
which I just mentioned.
There are so many incredibleartists now, some of which I
just mentioned, of course,rhonda, vincent, alison Krauss
and Union Station.
We just saw Dan Tominski here,also part of Union Station.
You know the Steel Drivers,which is an incredible band,
(11:19):
chris Stapleton's band that hewas in prior to becoming a solo
artist.
All of these artists that youhear of, I mean these are I have
heard about them because ofBluegrass Association and great
(11:40):
radio stations, and I love thefact that they come out with new
music.
No other genre that I justmentioned beyond that does that
I don't know a lot of newdoo-wop or new.
You know, I don't knowDixieland jazz or maybe they're
coming out with that.
I don't know.
I couldn't really listen tomuch of that, no offense, but
(12:01):
bluegrass, yeah, all the time,so many artists it's.
You know that's a oh brotherwhere art thou.
That was the biggest sellingalbum a few years back, won the
Grammy.
So there is a big audience forthis.
But we are just kind of, youknow it's one of those things.
It's like I look at it as, likeyou know, I'm a Zappa fan,
(12:26):
frank Zappa, or a Grateful Deadfan, or a Bluegrass fan.
You kind of either get it oryou don't get it.
I'm sure some people I justkind of dissed on Dixieland I'm
sure people are saying, yeah,pat, you get it or you don't get
it.
So the California BluegrassAssociation, I do like to
(12:46):
support what they do.
They have Luthier's Pavilion,luthier's, of course.
They make instruments, sellinstruments, world famous Vern's
Beer and Wine Garden we werejust there, large concession
area.
I always tell you about food,drinks, crafts.
Yeah, they sell nice crafts.
You know all the clothing andthe jewelry and all of that kind
(13:09):
of stuff and you can find somereally cool, unique things out
here.
Don't forget, excuse me, kvmrRadio always supports these
festivals.
Love community radio, love KVMR.
You've got the fiddle guy outhere.
You've got clothiers,rennington jewelers I'm just
(13:31):
kind of taking a look aroundhere artist merchandise.
I love to support all of thisstuff and I get so relaxed and
they're asking to make this yourorganization and learn about
the many benefits of being partof the CBA community.
And certainly that's why Icontinue to support them, this
your organization and learnabout the many benefits of being
part of the CBA community.
And certainly.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
That's why I continue to support them will continue
to support them.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Mother and child walking by I mean kids playing
together.
It's just beautiful.
Let's just take a look realquick at some of the artists.
They're going to be here at the50th annual CBA Father's Day
Bluegrass Festival.
Let me see if you know what.
I probably don't know any ofthem.
I might know some of them, butagain, I'm always learning.
(14:15):
Crying Uncle Blue, crying UncleBlue's grass band, that's
pretty good.
I don't know them, that'spretty good.
Clinton Davis string band,mm-mm.
Junior Sisk Band, aj, that'spretty good.
I don't know them, that'spretty good.
Clinton Davis string band,mm-hmm.
Junior cyst band, aj Lee andBlue Summit All the travel of
(14:39):
McCurry.
So that must be.
That is Del McCurry, who I'vementioned when mentioned.
I've seen numerous timeswhether it's here and it's
strawberry.
I it's Strawberry and he'salways on Sirius XM Channel 77,
the Bluegrass Station, daleMcCurry I think he might have
his own show on there, but theyplay a lot of him.
But this is, I think, hisfamily, his brother's, ronnie
(15:00):
who's on Mandolin.
This is the McCurry brotherswho are playing here, the
traveling McCurys, but Ronnie onMandolin and Rob on the McCurry
brothers who are playing here,the Traveling McCurys, but
Ronnie on Mandolin and Rob onBanjo are brothers Born into the
bluegrass tradition.
Like I said, the traditionmoves on.
Their dad is Dell.
Dell McCurry is one of thesegood old boys.
He's one of these guys whoreminds me of like right out of
(15:22):
the 60s or 70s I don't know howto describe it, dude, that looks
kind of like Porter Ragnar, ifanyone knows.
You know they used to havethese old bluegrass, remember.
Does anyone remember this?
This just I just flashed onthis.
Oh my God, that is a flashbackI just had when they used to
have, like it'd be on weekendmornings, it seems like, and
(15:43):
they'd have like like abluegrass competition and it'd
always be someone that lookedlike Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
with these suits on and they'dkind of match and they'd have
numbers on, like number 25, youknow, or whatever the number was
, and they would be competing.
Oh my God, I just thought aboutthat.
But the good old boys you know,del McCurry reminds me of those
(16:06):
kind of guys, a different era.
Hi, there, he has that voicelike this and like he knows
everyone, he's up on the stagenow.
Oh, thank you very much.
Thank you for tuning up here.
Hey, everybody, it's good tosee you.
Well, hello, dottie.
Dottie, it's always good, hank,how you, hank?
Now I got a little joke aboutHank.
Now let me go back.
Like he knows everybody in theaudience, he got a joke or a
(16:28):
story.
Now, hank, you don't mind metelling the story, do you Hank?
Well, hey there, dolores, goodto see you, dolores.
Oh, yeah, anyhow, dale McCurry,a throwback.
So it'll be the TravelingMcGurys tonight.
Lori Lewis and Kathy Kallick,the Alum Ridge Boys and Ashley,
(16:52):
bob Ikes and Trey Hensley Idon't know, I'm losing my place
here.
Sorry, I don't know who theseare.
Who else we got here.
Okay, laurie Lewis, in theright hands.
Alright, laurie Lewis, I'veseen Laurie Lewis several times.
(17:14):
The Gibson brothers, who I haveseen numerous times, and then
they have all these otherbluegrass festivals Bowers,
bluegrass, any of them.
So that's what's happeninghere'm in the meadow.
It's nice and peaceful.
I'm gonna go grab something toeat, perhaps oh, who knows, a
couple of things to drink, ifyou know what I mean.
And we'll be back for somemusic, sitting on the meadow,
(17:39):
and this guy comes up with his,with this gal, and they sit in
front of me and I recognize themfrom the band that I was just
seeing on the side stage acouple of minutes ago that we
were playing, and I said it'sover on the Verns stage and I
said, hey, I got you on mypodcast, I got you a good
(18:02):
mention on my podcast, pat'sPeeps podcast.
I introduced myself, heintroduced himself and we got to
chatting there and I said, hey,man, good stuff.
I said you played a Merle, Ithink a Merle Haggard song,
(18:22):
right.
And he looks at me and theylook at each other and I was
actually Johnny Paycheck.
I'm like, oh, dang it, that'sright, it was Johnny Paycheck,
not Merle Haggard, that's right.
And I told him, you know, so Ijust wanted to correct myself.
So any of you out therelistening are going no, no, no,
pat, that's Johnny Paycheck.
Yeah, absolutely right.
(18:43):
Sometimes it's hard to tell, youknow, when they're doing a
bluegrass version of it, becauseit sounds so different than the
original.
The last time I was out here,there was a bluegrass band on
the stage and they were doing asong and it caught my attention
and I asked my cousin Nick andmy friend Hefe.
(19:04):
I said what song is that?
Come on, what song is that?
Oh man, I don't know, I don'tknow.
Well, I said listen, justlisten, come on.
Come on Now.
Not everyone knows music to thesame level I do, I guess.
I mean, I guess that's true.
People tell me that all thetime, but I thought for sure,
being rockers, that they wouldknow this.
But they didn't.
Anyhow, they were doing PinkFloyd Fearless Bum, bum, bum,
(19:29):
bum, bum, bum, bum Off of metal.
Oh God, I love that song.
Originally I was actually goingto use that as the closing song
every night on my radio show.
Then I realized it's sodramatic and I don't want to be
dramatic every night and I wantto do something different all
the time.
So, anyhow, so is JohnnyPaycheck, not Merle Haggard.
(19:53):
I stand corrected.
I just have to say, witheverything going on in this
world and all the negativethings that you hear about,
listen to the birds.
I don't know.
(20:13):
There's something about beinghere, like I said earlier, that
just relaxes me.
I don't want to hear anythingabout looting or immigration or
any of it, any of it.
It's such a blessing to getaway from all of that for four
(20:35):
days.
Right now I'm sitting here andI'm watching a couple and
they're trying to put up theirtent.
You know it's things like that.
You know there's all these tentcampers and it's just innocent,
other things like that.
But sometimes we tend to forgetabout the simple things in life
life pitching a tent, setting upcamp, getting away from it all.
(20:58):
Whatever it is that you do inyour life to get away from it,
to make you feel better, to makeyou relax.
I truly believe that weoverlook that sometimes, that we
overlook that sometimesEverything is so important, you
(21:21):
know it's all so important.
You know we better get back tothe stress.
You know we better startdividing based on politics and
all of this stuff.
Just listen to the peacefulnesshere.
The sun's going down.
I don't mean to be boring onthis podcast and I hope I'm not.
(21:43):
Time just passes by, you know,and I just know, and not to get
too heavy, I know already thatat some point when I look back
in my life and I think about themost special moments in my life
(22:06):
not to oversell it it's goingto be things like this this is
what I'm going to think about.
I'm not going to.
I'm going to think about myfamily and these golden moments
where I don't know.
It's almost like a.
You know, when we used to go toStrawberry Music Festival out in
(22:28):
Yosemite off Evergreen Road, itwas like an eight mile road,
not in the main part of Yosemite, an offshoot to Yosemite and it
was out far enough where no onecould communicate on their
phones, like you couldn't callhome, you couldn't really log on
and check all the websites, andI think this was before a lot
(22:49):
of the apps and things I mean.
But it hasn't been that longago.
It's only been a few years agosince they have not had that out
there.
It hasn't been.
It's not ancient times.
But the point is you reallydidn't spend time on your
devices.
I'm doing this right now, butI'm standing here trying to
share my experience with you.
I'm not trying to look atvideos, I'm not trying to check
(23:12):
the news, I don't want to knowwhat's happening in politics.
I'm simply trying to relate toyou and hopefully share with you
the peace that I feel out hereand I pray that some way,
whatever way it is that everyonefeels that and can find that
some way, even if it's just fora few days.
(23:33):
Hey, they got that little tentalmost up over there and good
for them.
It's one of those little pop-upkind of tents they're climbing
in right now.
Good for them, good job.
Hey, good job.
That's great anyhow.
So there's all kinds of tenttent campers out here.
I just happen to be out heretalking to you, so the next
(23:56):
thing I'm going to do is I'mgoing to bring you some music
from Music Meadow.
I said that last time.
I thought they were startingsooner, but now I know they're
out there on stage just starting, so let's go check them out.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Last December.
Oh, I remember when I wentblue-cold.
Now baby, now I'm in blue-cold.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Clinton Davis String Band.
Oh, that was awesome.
Oh, that sounded really good.
I like that.
The audience really liked them.
It's hopping at the meadow now.
Sun is getting ready to go down.
Yeah, that was that reallysounded good.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
Oh, thanks everybody for sticking around.
That's the Clinton Davis StringBand.
They should be over there.
We are going to have a veryquick moment.
A special guest come up here,the CEO and the president of the
Nevada County Fairgrounds for aquick presentation.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
All right time for a quick presentation.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Good evening.
I hope you all are having awonderful time tonight.
My name is Tom Browning.
I'm the president of the NevadaCounty Fair Board.
Andrew Trigg is our CEO and weare excited tonight to present,
in conjunction with the WesternFairs Association, the Blue
(25:48):
Ribbon Award to the CaliforniaBluegrass Festival and the
Nevada County Father's DayBluegrass event that has been
going on for 50 years on thislocation.
Speaker 6 (26:03):
All right, Can y'all hear me?
My name is Teresa.
I'm president of theassociation.
I'm gonna be a tiny bitemotional for accepting this,
because this fairgrounds hasmeant a lot to this organization
(26:23):
for 50 years.
Many of us have been comingmyself 30, but there's people
here who have been all 50,including the person whose hat
is on my head, which many willrecognize as Carl Pachter.
The founder and member numberone of the CBA had hoped to be
here for the 50th.
He didn't quite make it, hepassed away a couple years ago,
(26:43):
but I am very emotionally happyand grateful to accept this with
his hat on my head on behalf ofthe CBA.
Thank you very much,half-bucket.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Thank you very much.
Alright, there you go, the CBA.
More from the meadow coming up.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
Everyone here has been coming to this festival
since they're about seven oreight years old.
It's so exciting.
You could kind of call them theCalifornia Bluegrass
Association's hometown heroes.
If you will, right fromCalifornia, please help me
welcome the Crying UncleBluegrass Association's hometown
heroes.
If you will, right fromCalifornia, please help me
welcome the Crying UncleBluegrass Band Woo.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
The Mississippi Delta shining like a national star.
What a great song I amfollowing the river, down the
highway, through the cradle ofthe Civil War.
I'm going to GracelandGraceland, memphis, tennessee.
(27:51):
I'm going to Graceland, thisTennessee.
I'm going to Graceland Fourboys and pilgrims with families,
and we are going to GracelandTraveling companion is nine
years old.
He's the child of my firstmarriage.
(28:14):
I have reason to believe weboth will be received in
Graceland Alright.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
It's a nice take on this song.
All right, I'm going to leaveit at that.
That's Pats Pe, number 281.
In a mellow mood, that's whatthe bluegrass does for me.
I love it.
We'll see you tomorrow for daytwo of the California Bluegrass
Association's Father's DayBluegrass Festival.
(29:11):
Happy Father's Day weekend toall of you fathers out there.
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