Get Your Groove On Festival Weekend
More than ever, musicians will play a larger part in our festival (excuse the pun) with shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday. From wild dance parties, soothing melodies and everything in between, local and regional musicians will get your foot tapping.
For you night owls, find our late night music at the Haven Underground. Professor Burns & the Lilac Field open for the Railflowers on Friday night 10pm-12am. This captivating trio of sisters weaves a folksy Americana groove with guitar, banjo, mandolin and a bit of the eggshaker. The Railflowers blend soothing three part harmonies to create a tapestry of memories and experiences that have inspired their lives. Growing up, Hannah, Beth and Ellen Knight began singing together in the living room to their mom’s favorite musicians including: Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, and Joni Mitchell. Tickets are $20 online, at headquarters, and at the door.
“Definitely headed to great places,” writes the San Francisco Chronicle about roots-folk singer-songwriter Professor Burns. With a rich history as a poet, community organizer and university professor, Burns is a rare bird of a songwriter. His tunes crack open the heart and mind with vivid narratives and infectious melodies drawing comparison to the likes of Iron and Wine, Ben Harper, and Neil Young. His recent collaboration with amazing singer-songwriter Courtney Browne has been stunning California audiences.
Let loose Saturday night at the Haven Underground from 10pm-1am with the Dead Winter Carpenters, opened by Brett Shady. Hailing from North Lake Tahoe, Dead Winter Carpenters 
represents everything the American west stands for. With an unbridled spirit, and an authentic approach to the art of songwriting, the five-piece roots-rock band captures the freedom of the road with the kind of energy that is made of legends. In just one short year on the road, the project has already found considerable national success and with top level festival and theater dates booked around the country. Local favorite Brett Shady will be opening the evening. Separate ticket required. Tickets are $20 online, at headquarters, and at the door.
Brett Shady follows in a long line of rock musicians whose later years led them away from the outward-bound excess of rock and punk to the introspective songwriting of folk and Americana. He has recently left Los Angeles to return to his hometown of Nevada City, California. The Hyperbolium.com review wrote of Brett Shady’s music, “It all tumbles out so seamlessly as to make it look simple; but making music that’s both familiar and new – catchy to the ear on first spin but without feeling like a rehash of something you’ve heard before – is a nearly impossible trick, and one that Shady has managed on his first solo outing.”
Prior the films screening on Friday evening, all venues will have musicians opening the festival. Enjoy music from Silver Wings, Past Due & Playable, Norm & Tubby’s Hot Club and Maren Metke & the Blackbird Quartet among others.
Friday Evening during the Native American film session enjoy music throughout the session, by Goodshield Aguilar & Mignon Geli and the Nenna McNair Family Singers. Goodshield Aguilar is a Turtle Island Native Oglala Lakota and Pasqua Yoeme heritage. From a young age, art and music played a major role in his observations and expressions of the world around him. Music has taken him all over Turtle Island, introducing him to the beauty and diversity of the many nations across this land, and also the struggles and plights continuing today, from sacred site desecration, to revoked water rights, to contamination of the environment, and the slaughtering of buffalo. He has devoted his music and energy to speaking for the buffalo in Yellowstone and the salmon on the Klamath River in Northern California. For Aguilar music is a way to bring awareness and consciousness rather than just entertainment. Aguilar’s styles range from traditional drumming to acoustic melodies with spoken word, from funky dance grooves to hard rock. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing drums, guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, flute, and piano. For this event he will be joined by Mignon Geli on flute.
As the festival wraps up on Sunday, end the weekend with style at the National Hotel! Join local favorites The Belfry Brothers for some raucous old-timey music and dancing in the bar at the historic National Hotel. Sunday, 9pm. $3 at the door. Re-uniting for this special occasion, The Belfry Brothers will lead us on a journey with old time favorites played with new …time flair. Don’t miss this rare occasion!
Also on Sunday, The Center for the Arts presents Los Lobos, for an evening of storytelling and songs. Held at the Center for the Arts in Grass Valley at 7.30pm, $35 for Center for the Arts members, $40 for non-members, Hidalgo and Perez of Los Lobos offer a departure from the larger scale Los Lobos shows and aim focus on the songs and the process of their creation.
For over thirty five years, Hidalgo and Perez have been creating songs that have made Los Lobos one of the most innovative and critically acclaimed groups in the world. Rolling Stone recently wrote: “with the exception of U2, no other band has stayed on top of its game as long as Los Lobos.”
David Hidalgo and Louie Pérez started writing songs together when they were in high school, way before they ever became members of that group known as “just another band from East L.A.”: aka Los Lobos. As the main songwriters in one of the world’s most solid and long-lasting roots-rock enclaves, they’ve accumulated an outstanding collection of tunes. But Pérez and Hidalgo had never offered fans a chance to hear those songs in their purest, elemental form. Until now.
Experience a very rare and special duet performance of favorites from their 4 decade collaboration, delivered along with stories about how those songs were born – and how they evolved into the versions you know and love.
We hope these concerts offer a change of pace after our film sessions. For more information, visit our music page. See you on the dance floor!
