Matt Nathanson, Colbie Caillat coming to Yountville Live festival

Napa Valley is known for its wine and gourmet restaurants, as well as some top music festivals and concert series every spring and summer.

This year, the town of Yountville plans to bring all of those elements together in one new four-day festival called Yountville Live.

Singer-songwriters Colbie Caillat, Aimee Mann and Matt Nathanson and rock band O.A.R. will perform at Yountville’s Lincoln Theater as part of the festival, which also includes tastings, gourmet meals and live acoustic music at restaurants and wineries.

The inaugural event is built around a much older and well-established tradition, the annual Taste of Yountville wine and food celebration, now in its 22nd year, which will become the centerpiece of the new festival.

Promoted by Sunset magazine and sponsored by Volvo, the festival runs through Sunday, March 19-22, with Saturday, March 21, devoted to Taste of Yountville.

“The town and our business community have always talked about how we could transition Taste of Yountville to make it a little more special and stretch it out a few more days,” said Cindy Saucerman, president of the Yountville of Chamber of Commerce.

Sunset magazine was a longtime sponsor of the Napa Valley Mustard Festival, last held in 2011, and wanted to back another Napa Valley event to boost tourism during the spring, Saucerman said.

“Sunset was interested in doing a music festival that would also include food and wine,” she explained.

The musical portion of the festival will be produced by Claire Parr and Bobbii Jacobs, who put on private concerts in small venues in Napa Valley under the name Live in the Vineyard. They also book performances for the annual Robert Mondavi Winery Summer Concert Series, including past appearances by both Cailatt and O.A.R. (short for Of a Revolution.)

For Yountville Live, the producers looked for acts that would fit the casual yet sophisticated atmosphere of the festival.

“We were brought in to help Yountville with the musical choices,” Jacobs said. “These are artists who have performed well and sold in the Bay Area. In the instance of Colbie Caillat, she’s very successful nationally, but especially on the West Coast. All these artists fall into a contemporary, mainstream, pop rock genre. They’re personable, and they’re approachable.”

The festival’s headliner concerts will be held at the Lincoln Theater in Yountville, with O.A.R. and Mann performing at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 21, and Caillat and Nathanson at 8 p.m. Sunday, March 22. Tickets cost $85-$95 per person at each concert.

The Taste of Yountville event runs from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 21, at the Yountville Community Center. Admission: $20-$85.

The festival also includes an “Afternoon of Food & Wine,” with live acoustic music, throughout downtown Yountville from noon to 5 p.m. Friday, March 20, at $250 per person.

Yountville Park will be the site of a “Gospel Brunch,” with a gourmet buffet and champagne bar, plus a performance by Atlanta rock and soul ensemble Larkin Poe, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, March 22. Admission: $175 per person.

For a full schedule and ticket information: yountvillelive.com.

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. Read his Arts blog at arts.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.