Tres Pinos
– The 13th annual Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass festival started
Friday with a little advice in a song from the Marty Varner
Band:
”
Don’t tell me your troubles, I have enough of my own, be
thankful you’re livin’, drink up and go home.
”
Been there before?
Tres Pinos – The 13th annual Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass festival started Friday with a little advice in a song from the Marty Varner Band: “Don’t tell me your troubles, I have enough of my own, be thankful you’re livin’, drink up and go home.”
Been there before?
Maybe, but when it’s a 10-year-old voice singing these words of wisdom, it’s hard not to raise a brow.
Then again, that’s the spirit of bluegrass: sadness, happiness, love and struggle. It’s also about making the most of life, said Charlotte Prater, 70, of San Jose via Louisiana.
“It has a way of transporting me,” she said. “When I was going through my divorce, it was my survival.” She abruptly jumped out of her chair, placed her hands on her hips and starting dancing under the wide sun shade between the two stages and some vending booths.
Organizers from the Northern California Bluegrass Society expect around 1,000 enthusiasts to turn out for a weekend of twanging, strumming and singing in Bolado Bark, along highway 25 south of Hollister. Twenty-five professional bands are set to play the main stage and 20 will play short sets on the “tweener stage,” a smaller spot on the side.
Many of the show-goers are musicians, and the campground tends to turn into a giant jam session after the stage music stops.
“Everyone’s here to jam. The stage is just an added bonus,” said Dwayne Campbell of Gilroy. He plays mandolin and fiddle.
“But he needs to up his tempo,” added Jody Whitney, from San Jose, who plays guitar in a group with Campbell.
“We hope to be on stage next year,” Campbell said, smiling.
Organizers set up a small FM radio station to broadcast the bluegrass performances and jam sessions throughout the campground. And if anyone needs to check e-mail or google something, the campsite is blanketed under a wi-fi wireless Internet signal.
Doug Beck made the trek from San Jose to the bluegrass festival for the 11th time.
“I think I was 6 when I first heard a banjo,” he said. “I just liked the sound of it.”
Bluegrass is a musical hybrid of sorts. Irish and English folk music, layered with some American blues, jazz and ragtime is how Mary Kennedy, editor of Bluegrass by the Bay, the bluegrass society’s magazine, describes it.
Some groups will be playing “old-timey” style, the predecessor genre to bluegrass.
“Bluegrass is more like jazz where everyone takes a lead,” said Chris Stevenson, whose band Feux Renwahs plays Sunday. “In old-timey, everyone plays the same melody.”
It’s almost anecdotal, said 10-year-old Marty Varner, who’s been playing the mandolin since he was 3 and the guitar since he was 5.
“Every song has a different story,” he said. “It’s great music – full of excitement.”
A weekend adult ticket with camping is $70. There are discounts for seniors and youth, and children 12 and younger get in for free. One- and two-day tickets are available. Limited RV hook-ups cost $15 per night. There will also be workshops for interested bluegrass musicians.
Today’s and Sunday’s shows run from 10am to noon and 2pm to 4pm.
Banks Albach covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335.
