We played the Auburn Bluegrass Festival this weekend.

[DruLeeParsec]

Wow, what a weekend.

It started Friday night when I had to phone in to do a radio interview for KFBK, the biggest station in Sacramento. Saturday morning I did another interview for KAHI radio in Auburn.

After a bit of disorganization and panic we got the Pickin' & Fiddlin' contest going. I was surprised at the number and quality of contestants. We had a tough time judging the winners.

Then my band, The Sierra Swing Conspiracy had to go play to open the festival. The morning was cold and we had absolutely no time to warm up. I literally opened my case on stage, checked my tuning and started playing. And those kids in my band started playing SO DANG FAST! Ok, we were excited and I probably started it off too fast. But somehow, even with a few glitches, we pulled it off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF0wySwWc38&NR=1

Our whole set is now up on Youtube. All the links are here:
http://seanscottrobinson.com/sierra-swi ... uegrass-ii

But I think my favorites are

Minor Swing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN0STbRRZnw

All of Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIk1_gN00M8&NR=1

Douce Ambiance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t97jHx-RQ3E

And Swing 48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV2q--y_R9s

As the set went on we were warming up and it was sounding better and better.

After a half hour set that felt like more like 5 minutes it was time for me to do my mandolin seminar. We had a pretty good turn out. As I was teaching a reporter from the Auburn Journal came by to talk to us and take some photos and we made the front page of the Sunday paper.
http://auburnjournal.mycapture.com/myca ... thispage=1

Somehow, I found time to sit back and relax while watching at least one band (Sidesaddle & Company). Then it was time to lead a jam session. It always seems that when I go to a bluegrass festival I end up playing rather than listening to bands.

As it was getting dark the pizza decision was made and we all headed out to Auburn Pizza for dinner. After stuffing ourselves with pizza and beer we were ready for more Jamming. One of the new things we tried this year was to set up jamming at 4 local venues (Restaurants, coffee shops, etc). Each venue had jamming lead by one of the bands from the festival. We hung out with Sidesaddle & Co.

As the night moved on folks were starting to fade out and we decided to pack it in. Sidesaddle & Co. were saving money by staying at the homes of some of the volunteers so we had Lisa, their bass player, Lianne, their fiddler and Rob, the banjo player at our house. When we got home I built a fire in the wood stove and we all sat around and chatted for a while before bed.

What a day. It was an amazing time but I'm also glad it only happens once a year.

[J Castwell]

How great! Congrats! Spent a few years in music ourselves; fine folks.

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

Very nice! I sure enjoyed that.

Thanks for the links.

Which one are you?

[TyroneFly]

I like that! Are those students of your in your band? The music and the venue reminds me of when I lived in Shingle Springs (Cameron Park). My friends and I would find ourselves in many of the small town listening to bluegrass, country and cowboy music. Thanks for the links.

[DruLeeParsec]

which one are you?

I'm the guitar player.

Sean, the mandolin player was my student for 3 years. I took him from a brand new mandolin player to pretty much where he is today. Although I'd really like to work with him to about playing too fast. He's 16 and he just wants to play as fast as possible. This particular gig really suffered a bit because of the glitches that came from him overplaying.

Ethan is 24 (maybe 25 by now) and he's another teacher at the same place where I teach. He's awesome.

By The Way, here's a link to my blog that has the whole set in order.
http://www.brouelette.com/cgi-bin/blosx ... 8#20071008

It was a fun day. In fact, we've been asked to be a fully sponsored band next year instead of a volunteer band that opens the festival (although we did get paid a bit for this gig).

[rainbowchaser]

I only had a moment and just played All of Me but I know I'll be playing the rest tonight. The interesting blend of jazz standard with bluegrass had me trying to hear Billie Holliday's vocal in my head. I wonder what she would have done with that.