It’s a beautiful weekend for some old-time music 

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Bluegrass aficionados have gathered this weekend at the San Benito County Historical Park for the 30th Annual Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival. Founded in 1994, the event draws musicians and fans from all over California for four days of camping and music that began on August 8 and will continue through the 11th.

Northern California Bluegrass Society President Michael Hall said that the Tres Pinos event is one of the smaller bluegrass festivals, usually attracting only about 800 attendees but keeping it small helps to keep it fun.

“A lot of people like the informal picking that goes on in the campground as much as they like the stage shows,” he said. “Music goes on in the camp to all hours of the night with everyone participating.”

Besides the communal picking and the top-notch bands booked to perform, an open mic area has been set up this year near the main stage so amateur players have a chance between professional acts to perform before an audience.

“It is first come, first serve,” Hall said, and everybody gets to play three songs in front of everybody.

Joy Louise Williams, traveling from Lake Havasu in Arizona, was playing the festival for the first time. She became interested in bluegrass when she went with her grandmother to her first Oldtime Fiddler’s Camp at five years old.

“I was so enthralled with all the guitars and all the music,” Williams said. “People told my grandmother, ‘You must take her to a bluegrass festival.’ And when I heard the professionals up on that stage, I thought, ‘This is what I want to do.’”

Confessing to “having the bluegrass bug pretty bad,” Williams said she is willing to drive as far as it takes to play at an event. 

“I like the culture,” she said. “There is something in it that just resonates with me. It is accessible and real, with three-part harmonies, good picking arrangements, and great songs about life.” 

Williams performed a solo set as the opening act on August 9, the first full day of music. She described herself as a flat-picker and singer and said her relationship with her guitar is deeply personal.

“It’s just that the guitar is just wood and strings,” she said. “There’s no electrification to change your tone or make it louder. Depending on how you play it, how you hold the tone, what kind of pick you use, and all that, it changes the outcome, and it makes it what it is. You feel the vibration of the guitar against you it just feels alive.”

Bay Area Special, a bluegrass band from the San Jose and Oakland areas, also played the festival for the first time on the 9th, making their debut appearance as a group. Fiddle player Danny Clark said the band had only been around for about six months and came down to the Historical Park out of love for the music and the kinship between players.

“We know a lot of people out in the audience,” he said. “And there are members of other bands that we have known for years. So we have been playing for a bunch of familiar smiling faces.”

Clark said that kind of camaraderie is one of the things he loves best about festivals like this one.

“You get together, and you form tight bonds,” he said.  “We are like a bunch of traveling troubadours going from Festival to Festival,  jam to jam, getting to see all your friends again. It’s like a family reunion, except that everybody gets along.”

Not all the spectators in attendance came empty-handed. For avid bluegrass fans, it is unthinkable not to bring your instruments and a tent and spend the festival jamming with the performers all day and into the late night hours. For many, that is the real fun of the event.

Karen Fishman, who attended the festival with Mitch Kay,  just came to hear the bands, but she brought her stand-up bass to allow her to join in the fun.

“I came for the picking and the lovely people,” she said. “They are the nicest people you’d ever want to meet.  We all have the same common language and it’s fun to come and hang out, play music, and see your friends on stage.”

The Historic 30th Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival is being held through Sunday at the San Benito County Historical Park at 8300 Airline Hwy, Tres Pinos.

Remaining performances: 

August 10:

10:00 am — Bluegrass Holiday

11:00 am — Mission Blue

12:00 pm — Salty Sally Band

1:00 pm — Lunch Break & Workshops

2:00 pm — Lucas Lawson

3:00 pm — Trouble Town

4:00 pm — The Goat Hill Girls

5:00 pm — The Storytellers

6:00 pm — Dinner Break & Workshops

7:00 pm — Sunny Side Of The Mountain

8:00 pm — Red Dog Ash

9:00 pm — Bean Creek

August 11:

10:00 am — Honey Run

11:00 am — Kids On Stage

12:00 pm  — Water Tower

1:00 pm — Lonesome Still

2:00 pm — Whole Hog

Tickets:
2 Day (Saturday-Sunday): Adults-$110, Seniors-$105, Youth (13-17)-$70

1 Day (Saturday): Adults-$75, Seniors-$70, Youth (13-17)-$50

1 Day (Sunday): Adults-$45, Seniors-$40, Youth (13-17)-$30 

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