Doing the Strawberry Stroll - Fall 2009

The Strawberry Music Festival is a Central Sierra tradition that goes back 30 years. The festival takes place twice a year – over Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends – at Camp Mather, just outside of Yosemite National Park. The performers are diverse, the setting spectacular and the festival-goers are now into their 3rd generation.

Since I always like to check out the performers who I haven’t heard before, I thought I’d share videos for each of the 22 bands that will be playing at the Fall festival. My family and I look forward every year to spending four days immersed in “The Strawberry Way”.

Sunday, 9/4/2011

12:45 Dala

2:15 Martyn Joseph

5:15 Dan Crary and Thunderation

6:45 Greensky Bluegrass

8:45 David Grisman Bluegrass Experience

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 1

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 2

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 3

Jamming in camp - Fall 2009

The Strawberry Music Festival is a Central Sierra tradition that goes back 30 years. The festival takes place twice a year – over Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends – at Camp Mather, just outside of Yosemite National Park. The performers are diverse, the setting spectacular and the festival-goers are now into their 3rd generation.

Since I always like to check out the performers who I haven’t heard before, I thought I’d share videos for each of the 22 bands that will be playing at the Fall festival. My family and I look forward every year to spending four days immersed in “The Strawberry Way”.

Saturday, 9/3/2011

11:00 Joe Craven Trio

12:15 Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan

1:45 California Honeydrops

5:15 The Wailin’ Jennys

6:45 David Lindley

8:45 Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 1

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 2

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 4

Marley's Ghost at the Sunday Revival - Fall 2007

The Strawberry Music Festival is a Central Sierra tradition that goes back 30 years. The festival takes place twice a year – over Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends – at Camp Mather, just outside of Yosemite National Park. The performers are diverse, the setting spectacular and the festival-goers are now into their 3rd generation.

Since I always like to check out the performers who I haven’t heard before, I thought I’d share videos for each of the 22 bands that will be playing at the Fall festival. My family and I look forward every year to spending four days immersed in “The Strawberry Way”.

Friday, 9/2/2011

11:00 Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers

12:15 Dave Gunning

1:45 Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk

5:15 Marley’s Ghost

6:45 Preservation Hall Jazz Band

8:45 Tower of Power

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 1

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 3

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 4

Early morning in Music Meadow

The Strawberry Music Festival is a Central Sierra tradition that goes back 30 years. The festival takes place twice a year – over Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends – at Camp Mather, just outside of Yosemite National Park. The performers are diverse, the setting spectacular and the festival-goers are now into their 3rd generation.

Since I always like to check out the performers who I haven’t heard before, I thought I’d share videos for each of the 22 bands that will be playing at the Fall festival. My family and I look forward every year to spending four days immersed in “The Strawberry Way”.

Thursday, 9/1/2011

5:00 Buster Blue

6:15 Nathan Moore

7:30 Rose’s Pawn Shop

9:00 Hot Buttered Rum

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 2

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 3

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 4

Joe Pug told this story onstage at the fall Strawberry Music Festival, about a conversation he had not long ago with Steve Earle. Seems Joe was strolling around backstage with an unlit cigarette tucked behind his ear.

Steve (pointing at cigarette): You better quit those things if you want to last 20 or 30 years in this business.

Joe: I know I should, but I just love it so much.

Steve: Yeah, I felt the same way about heroin.

Birch Lake

Sunday mornings at Strawberry Music Festival involves a lot of walking.  First thing after crawling out of my sleeping bag is to hoof it down to Music Meadow to do the “Strawberry Stroll”, during which you stand in line with a couple of hundred fellow Strawberians, waiting to lay out blankets, tarps and chairs for the day.  The gates open at 7 am and by 7:30 we’re all situated and headed back to our camps.

Since it’s Sunday, I’ll grab another blanket and head on down to Birch Lake, for the Revival that starts at 9 am.  Revival is a long-standing tradition at Strawberry and it’s often a challenge for the musicians who enjoyed the “Strawberry Way” late into the evening the night before.  Many bluegrass festivals have a gospel show on Sunday mornings but that doesn’t quite describe the Revival.

Rather than an invocation, we start with a story, often told by Strawberry’s resident storyteller, B.Z. Smith.  Whatever the subject, these stories always provoke a profound sense of gratitude and togetherness among the several hundred souls gathered there on the grass.  And then the music begins.

It’s a different feeling from the main stage at Music Meadow.  Bands that blazed though their sets the night before play with a bit more thoughtfulness (or so I imagine).  And, yes, there are more gospel numbers and they are welcomed.  The paid ticket holders have been here for three days now, the volunteers one or two days more.  Just about everyone is in need of a little revival to make it through the last day of the festival.

The closing act is the Del McCoury Band.  He and his band, including his sons on mandolin and banjo, are dressed in suits and ties, as they are for all their shows.  This year, Del is celebrating his 70th birthday and 50th anniversary playing bluegrass music.  At this announcement, he receives a prolonged standing ovation from a crowd that looks much different from those in his native North Carolina but  who are no less appreciative.

One of the songs performed by Del McCoury that morning is the gospel standard, Get Down On Your Knees and Pray, performed in this video at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, in 2002.  I’m here to tell you, Del hasn’t lost a step or a note in the past seven years.  Just imagine yourself listening to those harmonies under the birch trees on a cool September morning in the Sierras.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otV_k-K5oN8

Joe Craven is a master musician, gifted teacher and all around fun guy. I had the pleasure of attending his workshop on folk music at the Strawberry Music Festival, this past Labor Day weekend. Joe makes a strong case that everyone can make music, once we overcome our preconceived notions about what it means to be a “musician”. We are, in fact, already making music that we don’t often recognize. If we can listen just a little bit differently, we will find rhythm in our walking and melody in our speech.

Of course, all of this talk was accompanied by lots of music, most of it supplied by Joe playing fiddle, mandolin, jawbone (a real one), trash can, various kitchen items and himself. It’s hard not to be awed by such ease and facility at producing music and after the workshop ended, I hung around to ask him this question: Where does mastery enter the folk music process?

His answer was (and here I’m paraphrasing wildly), that mastery is the ability to remain a student, anticipating continued learning. He told the story of cellist Pablo Casals, who told an interviewer, at the age of 90, that he woke up every morning and looked across the room to where his cello, chair and music stand stood. And it was his curiosity about what he would learn that day that got him out of bed and drew him to sit down to practice the instrument he had played since the age of eleven.

At the time I thought that Joe, zen-like, had kind of danced around my question. However, I think what he wanted to get across was that it takes something besides 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery. It takes a frame of mind in which you are open to all that is possible, coupled with the curiosity and courage to try whatever comes to mind, even though it may not work.

Here’s a short clip of Joe Craven in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reyxxHslPc4

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