Sebastopol bluegrass, folk festival hits right notes

Bluegrass and folk music may sound old-fashioned, but Sebastopol’s daylong festival celebrating both styles maintained a modern cutting edge in one way.

Saturday’s 15th annual Sonoma County Bluegrass and Folk Festival was truly interactive, drawing both pickers and listeners to concerts and workshops, as well as impromptu jam sessions that spilled out of the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center and onto the lawn.

“A lot of us spend more time outside than inside,” said 60-year-old guitarist Jon Myers of Santa Rosa, hanging out with some musician friends at a picnic table behind the center.

“I think people like the music because it’s honest and pure,” said Chris Caputo, 53, a banjo player from Petaluma. “You can pick up an instrument, learn to play and meet new friends through music.”

The emphasis, as in years before, was on traditional, old-time music.

“I think we had one electric guitar last year,” Myers recalled.

Most of the people who came to play or watch were over 40, but there were younger people in the crowd, too.

“There is a big folk revival, with more blues, country and rock in it, but they’re using bluegrass instruments,” said David Thiessen, 20, of Graton, who came to jam on mandolin and guitar. “I’m into playing whatever music people want to play with me.”

However, not everyone came to play.

“I just like to listen to live music of all kinds,” said Saunda Kitchen, 41, of Sebastopol.

Inside the community center, several hundred fans from all over the Bay Area and Northern California filtered through the main hall during the day, watching half a dozen acts perform onstage or attending one of several workshop classes on music and songwriting.

All afternoon and into the evening, the insistent, intimate sounds of mandolin, fiddle, banjo and guitar filled the air.

The day opened with the Santa Cruz quartet Bean Creek, offering a broad sample of plaintive tunes about the mountains of Kentucky, losing the family farm to the bank and other classic bluegrass and folk music topics.

Anne and Pete Sibley from Monterey opened their set with an a cappella duet, “Heart Wide Open.” Singer-songwriter Si Kahn and the Kathy Kallick Band filled out the schedule, with the trio of Dan Crary, Steve Spurgin and Bill Evans set to close the festival.

The Sonoma County Folk Society and the California Bluegrass Association co-sponsored the event, said the fesitval’s director, Mark Hogan. The folk society was co-founded in 1974 by the late folksinger and songwriter Kate Wolf, he said.

Old and well-known songs like “Old Joe Clark,” “Old Home Place” and “Wildwood Flower” remain a major part of the traditional music repertoire, which makes it accessible to both lifelong devotees and newcomers, festival-goers agreed.

“The music just connects to everybody,” said Fichman, the Santa Rosa bassist. “Everybody feels it in their soul, whether they know the song or not.”

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@press?demo?crat.com.