By Derek & Jean Brandon

We've visited Gilroy before and been enchanted by the all-pervading perfume; not surprising considering Gilroy is justifiably self-styled "Garlic centre of the World." So how could we resist a further visit when we heard of that a new bluegrass festival was to be founded there? Gilroy is situated some miles south-east of San Jose in the Bay Area of California and holds an annual Garlic Festival where one can savour the likes of garlic-flavoured wine, garlic-flavoured ice cream and other such delights. The smell is everywhere near Gilroy but, happily, the festival venue was several miles east of Gilroy at Casa de Fruita, on Highway 152 to Banos (near the junction with the 156).

The venue turned out to be absolutely ideal for a smallish festival: lots of parking, good, grassy, level camping with lots of trees and shade, excellent toilets and other facilities, and surrounded by dimpled, tree-studded hills. A high, metal fence that provides reasonable security encloses the whole festival site. There are sensible site rules, including a controvertial one about pets. Mike hall has previously explained this one in great detail. (See the "No Dogs Rule")

There is a well-set-up, quality performance area covered by a black net sunscreen. There was plenty of space, what with it being the first event, and it was not claustrophobic. Paul Knight provided the really excellent, quality sound system and worked the desk. He is a musician himself and knew what was required. And it showed.

The stage area was bordered on one end and one side by surrounded by the concessions, which provided nice food at very reasonable prices (Vendors: don't use that as an excuse to jack them up...) as well as the usual instrument and hat shops. There was no alcohol on sale so BYOB! Alternatively you can buy good wine at the close-by Casa de Fruita Winery. The other side was tree-covered parkland where folks could just sit or lie back, picnic and enjoy it.

We could only manage the one day (Saturday) but Friday evening and night were reported to be very good with lots of picking. On Saturday and Sunday there was a Children's Program of Events which included wreath making, kid's music, painting and craftes, a petting zoo, bird walks, stories, magic, and more. There were full programs for Friday and Sunday also.

The performers on Saturday

Festival 3-day bandlist

Vicki Simmons & Dale Anne

First band on in the afternoon was Dale Anne Bradley & Coon Creek. They were awesome as usual with great songs and superb musicianship. Michael Cleveland... well, yee-haw! We've never been disappointed by this band, which was an excellent choice for a first-time festival with limited funds. They presented a great mix of tradgrass, gospel songs and contemporary songs, including the U2 number XXXXX. Also a selection of self-penned offerings such as We're Only Passing Through and Grannie Kat. Previous gig reports: | 2003 | 2004 |

Lone Prairie

Lone Prairie was reminiscent of The Blue Sky Boys (a band often featured on radio in the 50's) who produced a mixture of western swing, yodelling and old-style country ballads. They were good yodellers and vocalists and even did harmony yodelling! Excellent!

Larry Hosford's Band

Larry Hosford's Band played traditional bluegrass numbers with good trad-sounding vocals. But Larry had odd ideas like, "Grab a waltz, double time it in 4/4 time and that's bluegrass!" illustrating it with That was Before I Met You. But are three guitars and no banjo an improvement over one banjo?

Donner Mountain Bluegrass Band

First impressions of the Donner Mountain Bluegrass Band were Wow! and Wow! again. They are a very good young-person band not counting bass player Dave Gooding. Amazingly enthusiastic fiddle player Annie Staninec [ see gig report ] is 18, Tom Kingsley (mandolin) is 26 and guitarist Tom Davies is 24.

They normally have no banjo but today 13-year-old Frankie Nagle joined them and hey! What a contribution she made, picking like a pro while gazing round at anything but her banjo. They effortlessly ripped up the bluegrass classics but were lacking in the vocal department - not in quality but in number. And they had only two speeds in their gearbox - very fast and warp speed - but they'll moderate as they mature. Band website

We've given them two photos because they deserve the exposure.

The Done Gone Band Reunion

The Done Gone Band Reunion (Ed Neff, fiddle; Tom Bekeny, Mando; Steve Potier, bass; Mark Hogan, banjo and Don Humphries, guitar/lead vocals) was together for the first time since 1976. They played good, solid, standard bluegrass numbers such as Take Me In Your Lifeboat, Sittin' On Top Of The World, Katy Daley and Don't Let Your Deal Go Down (superb, that one!). They presented good, solid musicianship all round with nice vocals and harmonies.

The Kathy Kallick Band

As the sun was setting The Kathy Kallick Band started off with Jimmy Martin's Rock Heart as a tribute to him as he had just died, "Playing with the angel band'" as Kathy put it. Kathy is a seasoned pro and it shows in her presentation. She covered all speeds and several styles, with the impeccable vocals one expects of her. She sang several of her own compositions such as Rustler's Moon and I'm The One Who's Walking In My Shoes.A highlight was a wonderful version of Angelina Baker started off with fiddle and banjo as a duet with a great lift as the rest of the band jumped in later. Avram Seagal played banjo but his stance on stage suggests "Sigmoid-Seagal" as a nickname.  Concert report

All the bands sounded good due not only to their own efforts but we must mention once again soundman Paul Knight, who worked his socks off to get the best out of the excellent equipment. The sound quality really was very good.

The Papermill Creek Rounders

The Papermill Creek Rounders included soundman Paul on bass, old rocker David Nelson (guitar/vocals); Banana (sic) (banjo); Ed Neff (mandolin) and Paul Shelasky (fiddle). This was the second of the Ed Neff quads, with the other two playing in following bands. Or was it the same Ed Neff in several bands? They opened with You're No Longer A Sweetheart Of Mine followed by a good mix of very traditional songs with the odd instrumental. Part way through they invited up young Frankie Nagle who picked her banjo and sang a piercing, high-lonesome rendition of Lost Highway.

Dale Anne Bradley et.al. played another wonderful set with highlights such as powerful, emotional fiddle on Sweetheart Of The Pines and Dale Anne's In The Land Where We'll Never Grow Old.

Perfect Strangers

By now it was getting late and a lot of people had left to go picking, so the audience was a bit thin for the final band, Jodi Stecher's Perfect Strangers, with Laurie Lewis (bass), Chis Brashear (fiddle), Bob Black( banjo) and Peter McLaughlin (guitar). Jodi sang a lovely song he had written for his mum, who is suffering from dementia; it was very emotional, from the heart and a real tearjerker. They played some good bluegrass with Jodi on both mandolin and banjo (but not simultaneously... that would have been good!)

Having fun at Cactus Bob's

All good things come to an end - we had to leave after that for the long drive back to San Francisco so we missed most of the sessions fun. Maybe better next time.

The whole performance was real-time direct-edited to DVD by CMAP.

This festival deserves more support; it had a lovely atmosphere and was very well organised. But please, chaps, don't get too ambitious and lose the charm - there are enough bigger festivals that have already done that! One word of warning to potential visitors: read the festival rules - especially with reference to pets.

We had to leave before the picking sessions had gained full steam and arrived back in San Francisco in the early hours, worn out and exhausted after a great day out. Many thanks go to the Northern California Bluegrass Society.

Derek & Jean Brandon, Chester, England.