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Strawberry Video Preview – Day 3

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Jamming in camp

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8bLjIMX3bE

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 1

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 2

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 4

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 2

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Marley's Ghost

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogyJ8sKoP-o

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

Strawberry Video Preview – Day 1

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Early morning in Music Meadow

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

A Cautionary Tale

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Camp Scorpion

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.

Revival

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Birch Lake

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.