THIS PAST JUNE 17-20, the 24th festival was a terrific success. The festival, known as ‘Grass Valley’ takes place in the tall shady pines of the Nevada County Fairgrounds of Grass Valley, CA. This year’s event was particularly enjoyable due to the extremely pleasant weather.

This 4 day event has come to be well known as a picker’s festival with hundreds of parking lot player’s getting together in groups all over the fairgrounds. Vast numbers of payingcustomers don’t even bother viewing the main stage musical activities in favour of days of impromptu jamming.

Regardless of the presence or lack of attendance at the main stage by the aforementioned, there was indeed wonderful Bluegrass music resonating in the pines all weekend long.

The standout band at this year’s festival was IIIrd Tyme Out featuring award winning vocals and terrific picking. Other acts on the bill included The Osborne Brothers, Mac Wiseman, Larry Sparks& The Lonesome Ramblers, the Sand Mountain Boys, the Witcher Brothers, Pacific Northwest, Kathy Kallick, Special Consensus, Country Ham, Tim Graves & Cherokee, Dave Evans & River Bend and the Bay Area’s rising Bluegrass stars, the Crooked Jades.

Old Timey, Gospel and hard driving bluegrass styles were all present at this years fest along with terrific workshops by the likes of such Bluegrass luminaries as Wayne Benson (Mandolin for IIIrd Tyme Out) and Tim Graves (the nephew of Josh Graves on Dobro). Dozens of workshops led by members of all the performing acts as well as luthiers, sound engineers and songwriters took place all weekend long making this festival a treasure trove of resources for the Northern California Bluegrass community.

There is a real family emphasis at this festival. Young pickers were to be found throughout the campground and on Saturday night they were permitted the opportunity to perform on the main stage. For the younger toddlers, a kids stage showcased numerous activities as well as Bluegrass for children all weekend long. Several of the main stage bands took a turn on the youth stage to entertain the youngsters.

The CBA’s Annual Father’s Day Weekend Bluegrass Festival is highly recommended to any North-West Bluegrass News readers who travel to California during the summer months to pick and/or participate in one of the many US Bluegrass festivals held throughout year. If you do plan to attend make sure to bring along your musical instrument of choice as this is really a great place to meet new picking pals.

Ted Silverman, San Francisco.Write to Ted

Ted is Mandolinist with The Chazz Cats

6th Sept 1999