2010 Live Oak Performers - Friday
Stage Too
Jamming Workshop with Rita Hosking and Cousin Jack 2:00-3:30 p.m.
This three-day, hands-on workshop is designed to bring out your improvisational side. Come fiddle, pick, sing and drum to your heart's content with these veteran teachers. Rita and her band have years of experience facilitating the talents of others. She is a regular at the Americana Song Academy while her band mates have led drum circles, fiddle workshops, school programs and sizzling hot campfire jams. Learn more about using chords and rhythm, basic improvisation, and playing well with others.
Main Stage
Riley and Aiden Foster Evans
Our longtime bagpiper, Joe Dickerson, has retired his chanter. Lucky for us, he's passing it to brothers Riley and Aiden Foster Evans, who will continue the tradition of opening and closing the Live Oak Music Festival with the clarion call. Fourteen-year-old Riley and 12-year-old Aiden were inspired to play the pipes in 2005 when they heard a storyteller's tale of how she came to play the instrument. The boys began studying and working hard and were soon awarded scholarships to attend the West Coast Piping School. Riley and Aiden have been playing with the Central Coast Pipes and Drums for the last four years and have performed for weddings, funerals, and with the San Luis Obispo Vocal Arts Ensemble.
Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside 4:00-5:00 p.m.
Kick-starting the Live Oak Music Festival with the infectious energy of early rock'n'roll, old jazz, and raw soul, this Portland, Oregon-based group brings a contemporary flair to its vintage sound. Originally from North Carolina where she grew up singing and playing guitar and violin, Sallie Ford has a throwback singing style reminiscent of Billie Holiday and Patsy Cline. She met the band's lead guitarist, Jeff Munger, when both were busking in Portland. With Tyler Tornfelt on upright bass and Ford Tennis on drums, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside will inspire you to get your Live Oak groove on.
Terri Hendrix with Lloyd Maines 5:30-6:30 p.m.
This delightfully listenable Austin songwriter combines the supple voice of an angel with smart, thoughtful lyrics and an electrifying stage presence. Known as a charming storyteller with natural believability, Terri Hendrix won a Grammy Award for her song "L'il Jack Slade," adopted by the Dixie Chicks. Multi-instrumentalist Lloyd Maines, father of Dixie Chick Natalie Maines, is a Texas music legend best known as a pedal steel player and Grammy Award-winning producer. Together they deliver tunes with grit and groove, a stunning Americana sound with elements of folk, pop, blues, country, Latin, and swing.
Vasen 7:00-8:15
With a traditional sound described as a Cuisinart of acoustic bliss, this Swedish string band plays with passion and glee. Vasen is a Swedish word meaning spirit, noise, or essence. Fluent in the international language of musical interplay, these award-winning musicians are known for sharp, blazing melodies with a sound somewhere between classical, folk, and rock. Vasen has appeared on NPR's "A Prairie
Home Companion," and performed with Mike Marshall and Darroll Anger. Whether plucked, strummed, or bowed, Vasen's unique sound blends into one voice. Visualize whirled music!
Chicago Blues Reunion 8:45-10:15 p.m.
A collaboration of music legends who defined the sound of the '60s, the Chicago Blues Reunion features a who's-who of talented veterans. Electric guitarist Harvey Mandel of Canned Heat also played with the Rolling Stones and John Mayall. Guitarist Nick Gravenites wrote "Born in Chicago" for Paul Butterfield and "Buried in the Blues" for Janis Joplin. Blues harp master Corky Siegel founded the Siegel-Schwall Band, while drummer Gary Mallaber of the Steve Miller Band also played with Eddie Money, Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison. W.C. Handy Award-winning bassist Rick Reed is known for his work with Paul Butterfield, Floyd Dixon, Lynwood Slim and many others.
Hot Licks Dance
Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside 10:30 p.m.-midnight
Sallie and her band bring their rollicking arrangements and bold, brassy vocals to the Hot Licks stage so you can keep dancing late into the night. Seth Avett of the Avett Brothers says of Sallie Ford, "Her songs have that rare quality of somehow combining fun with emotional and artistic integrity. Her voice is 100-percent her own, and she fills the room with it." So, get ready to have a great time at our late-night venue – and be blown away by this quickly rising young talent.
Saturday
Morning Hot Licks
Jade Jackson 8:00-8:45 a.m.
Eighteen-year-old Jade Jackson has only been playing guitar for 5 years, but in that time she has written more than 80 original songs chronicling life from the perspective of a young woman with wisdom beyond her years. Jade began performing at local coffee houses and restaurants before graduating to wineries and, eventually, opening for well known artists like the Charlie Daniels Band, Merle Haggard and Billy Currington. Inspired by performers ranging from Bob Dylan to Mazzy Star, she has a style that's impossible to corner into a single genre. Her band includes Jeff Bedrosian (guitars), Denny Carvalho (drums), and Charlie Kleemann (bass).
Sparrows Gate 9:00-9:45 a.m.
Drawing inspiration from John Steinbeck and the Western landscape, Central Coast alt-country quartet Sparrows Gate makes music that feels like today, but will remind you of yesterday. When 20-something front man Zebedee Zaitz sings in his raspy tenor, “Most of the time I'm livin' in 1961,” you believe him. The twangy slide guitar, tight harmonies, soulful organ and that occasional jingle jangle sound are reminiscent of 60's folk rock like the Grateful Dead, the Byrds or Crosby Stills and Nash, but delivered with fresh, young energy and style. Zeb's guitar and vocals are backed up by his brother Anthony on bass, Joel Tolbert on organ and slide guitar, and Josh Barnhart on drums.
Main Stage
Rita Hosking and Cousin Jack 10:00-11:00 a.m.
Award-winning country-folk songwriter Rita Hosking has an intense voice that grips you and doesn't let go, like a soulful howl from the mountains. Her latest recording was nominated for Best Country Album in the 2010 Independent Music Awards. With a childhood spent in rural Shasta County, California, her
lyrical love for the mountains and the lives they envelop shines through in her evocative songs. Rita Hosking fronts a stellar band known as Cousin Jack, featuring Sean Feder on banjo, dobro, bass, and guitar, Andy Lentz on fiddle, and Bill Dakin on bass and guitar.
The Sweetback Sisters 11:20 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
Harkening back to the golden era of silver-screen cowgirls, the Sweetback Sisters dish up rollicking country swing spiced with honey-like harmonies. Sassy and fun, this Brooklyn-based honky tonk band has been featured on NPR's "A Prairie Home Companion." Singer Emily Miller grew up singing and performing Americana tunes with her family in Hong Kong, while her surrogate sister Zara Bode immersed herself in the Bay Area music scene. The two women met in Europe in 2005
while touring with a world music choir. With their off-kilter humor and winking irreverence, the Sweetback Sisters infuse the early country classics and rocking originals with youthful joy and a modern edge.
Stage Too
Jamming Workshop with Rita Hosking and Cousin Jack 12:00-1:30 p.m.
This three-day, hands-on workshop is designed to bring out your improvisational side. Come fiddle, pick, sing and drum to your heart's content with these veteran teachers. Rita and her band have years of experience facilitating the talents of others. She is a regular at the Americana Song Academy while her band mates have led drum circles, fiddle workshops, school programs and sizzling hot campfire jams. Learn more about using chords and rhythm, basic improvisation, and playing well with others.
Main Stage
Frank Vignola's Hot Club 1:00-2:15 p.m.
Considered one of the best guitarists on the planet, virtuoso Frank Vignola knows Gypsy jazz inside and out. He's toured with Madonna, Leon Redbone, and Ringo Starr, plus his own Hot Club of France Tribute band, as well as recording with Donald Fagan, Mark O'Connor, and Wynton Marsalis. His latest recording, "100 Years of Django," was recorded in a church as a tribute to his hero, Django
Reinhardt. A dedicated educator, Frank Vignola writes guitar instruction books and DVDs, and
performs at clinics all over the U.S. His band shatters the barriers between pop and jazz to create a high-energy wall of sound.
Hot Licks Kids Show
The Roullard Family with Jan Grigsby and Nina Ryne 3:00-4:00 p.m.
John Roullard and Amber Roullard Mueller join their adult son Christopher in a celebration of folk music. Christopher's guitar and Amber's bass rally around John as he shares some of his favorite songs from the American experience. Amber will also play some spirited fiddle tunes with her husband, Jim Mueller. Jan Grigsby and Nina Ryne blend their harmonious voices with guitar and various other instruments to present a lively and interactive performance of songs and stories.
Stage Too
The Sweetback Sisters 2:45-3:30 p.m.
Here's your chance to see the Sweetbacks up close and personal. Request your new favorite tune from this morning's main stage performance, ask them exactly what chicken is if it ain't chicken, and find out where they get those matching dresses. Learn how to honky and tonk and sing along with the Sisters' tight harmonies.
Frank Vignola's Hot Club 3:45-4:30 p.m.
Your jaw dropped when you saw their fingers flying on the main stage, and now let it drop even further in this intimate performance by the river. Guitar virtuoso Frank Vignola and his band celebrate Django Reinhardt's 100 birthday year by immersing themselves in the music of the gypsy jazz legend. Learn more about the genre the French call “jazz manouche,” the unique rhythm that defines it, and the history of the Romani who played it.
Main Stage
Los Cenzontles 5:00-6:00 p.m.
The gutsy soul of Mexico's rural roots music infuses the powerful contemporary American sound of Los Cenzontles (the Mockingbirds, in the Nahuatl language). The group has its origins in Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center in the Bay Area, which was established by Grammy-nominated producer Eugene Rodriguez to train youth in traditional Mexican music, dance, and crafts. Mixing electric bass and drums with traditional Mexican instruments including jarana, vihuela, requinto, and pandero, Los Cenzontles bring creativity and cultures together. Their latest CD, "American Horizons" with David Hidalgo and Taj Mahal, tells a timely and moving story of immigration, work, and the American dream.
Los Fabulocos 6:45-8:15 p.m.
With a vibrant musical style called "Cali-Mex"-incorporating a Southern California goodtime groove with the traditional music of Mexico-Los Fabulocos are straight out of East L.A. Their high-octane, dance-ready tunes mix up Mexican styles with blues, R&B, surf, rockabilly, zydeco, and country, inspired by the
likes of Doug Sahm and Rockin' Dopsie. Kid Ramos, searing guitarist with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, James Harman, and the Mannish Boys, learned to play bajo sexto just for Los Fabulocos. He's joined by Jesse Cuevas on accordion and vocals, James Barrios on bass and vocals, and Mike Molina on drums. Just try to sit still!
The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker 8:45-10:15 p.m.
Known as Nashville's most capable soul outfit, this powerhouse 10-piece band mixes the soul grooves of a bygone era with the passion of deep funk. Soul-shouting front man Charles Walker has been compared to James Brown with his lively energy. These accomplished musicians all have their origins in funk, soul,
blues, and jazz, and the dazzling brass section ignites the multilayered sound. With the Dynamites and Charles Walker, the bottom line is dance with a capital D. The aptly-named Dynamites blow the roof off with their explosive mix of old-school soul and 21st-century funk.
Hot Licks Dance
Los Cenzontles 10:30 p.m.-midnight
Vaqueros and senoritas! The fiesta continues at the Hot Licks stage with this muy sabrosa Mexican-American Roots band. Their highly danceable sound is influenced by Tejano music, country, rock ‘n' roll, and traditional Mexican regional music like Son Jarocho and boleros. Kick up your boots, throw your sombrero in the air, grab a partner and baile!
Sunday
Morning Hot Licks
John Batdorf 8:00-8:45 a.m.
This singer-songwriter's passionate vocals and guitar-playing landed him his first major record deal in the 70's and he has continued to develop and grow as an artist since then. Mostly self-taught, his earliest musical influences were his dad and uncle, but it was the British Invasion that he says "changed everything for me." John began honing his craft and developing his style as the song-writing and lead-vocal half of the duo Batdorf & Rodney. Later, as part of the group Silver, he toured with the likes of America, the Doobie Brothers, and Poco. John keeps busy today working as a session musician, composing TV soundtracks, and recording his own work.
Cache Valley Drifters 9:00-9:45 a.m.
They say they're “just three old guys who've known one another for over 35 years, love one another, still love playing music together and love playing the Hot Licks stage at Live Oak! Just a lotta love, that's all.” We love having them too, and CVD's magical Sunday morning Hot Licks show has become a Live Oak tradition. In 1972 the Cache Valley Drifters began formulating their laid-back California sound, blending bluegrass, rock and folk. Today the band includes Bill Griffin (mandolin, guitar and vocals), Mike Mullins (guitar, mandolin and vocals), and Wally Barnick (bass and vocals). Grab your morning coffee and come sing along.
Main Stage
Red Skunk Jipzee Swing Band 10:00-11:00 a.m.
These spunky young Central Coast musicians draw from the well of frisky 1920s and '30s jazz traditions in Europe and the U.S., taking their listeners on a time-warp journey of joy. Singer and swing guitarist Molly Reeves founded the band while she was a teenager. Pamela Sheffler, a classically trained violinist
who wanted to run away with a Gypsy caravan, is also a member of the San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly symphonies. Award-winning trumpet player Justin Au has toured in South America and Asia. Guitarist Sam Boorman attends high school, while bassist Mitch Houseman has a degree in music. Kenneth Davis, on drums, percussion, washboard, and spoons, rounds out their sparkling Hot Jazz sound.
The Sacred Shakers featuring Eilen Jewell 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Testifying to the enduring appeal of old-time gospel tunes, the Sacred Shakers combine traditional harmonies with compelling country-rock guitar, fiddle and banjo licks, thumping standup bass, and honky tonk drums. The lush, irresistible voice of songbird Eilen (rhymes with feelin') Jewell is said to convert the ear instantly, along with the airtight musicianship of the leading lights of the Boston acoustic/roots scene. The Sacred Shakers had their start at a weekly country-gospel Sunday brunch in
Boston, and recently recorded an album of rare pre-World War II gospel tunes. From shape-note singing to roadhouse honky tonk, the results are what listeners in Boston call "wicked good."
Stage Too
Jamming Workshop with Rita Hosking and Cousin Jack 12:00-1:30 p.m.
This three-day, hands-on workshop is designed to bring out your improvisational side. Come fiddle, pick, sing and drum to your heart's content with these veteran teachers. Rita and her band have years of experience facilitating the talents of others. She is a regular at the Americana Song Academy while her band mates have led drum circles, fiddle workshops, school programs and sizzling hot campfire jams. Learn more about using chords and rhythm, basic improvisation, and playing well with others.
Main Stage
Baka Beyond 1:00-2:15 p.m.
Inspired by the mesmerizing music of the Baka pygmies from Cameroon in western Africa, Baka Beyond features passionate musicians from Africa and the Celtic fringes of Europe. Band founders Martin Cradick and Su Hart began visiting, playing music with, and recording the Baka people in the early 90's. With fast, syncopated rhythms joining the different musical elements, this is original world fusion presented in a jubilant spectacle of music, song, and dance. For the Baka Forest People, song and dance are used for healing, rituals, keeping the community together, and pure fun – a perfect fit for Live Oak!
Stage Too
Los Cenzontles 2:45-3:30 p.m.
Numerous indigenous peoples existed throughout Mexico for millennia. These societies were complex and widely diverse. The arrival of the Spaniards in the 1500s introduced European culture, but the strength of indigenous characteristics, languages and religions created distinctly Mexican musical and dance styles. In years following, people from all over the world, including Africans, Asians and other Europeans, came to Mexico adding to the complexity of race and culture. As a result, each region in Mexico has its own food specialties, traditional dress, and unique music, dance and art forms. Learn about that blending, which continues today in the United States with the melding of Mexican and North American music and culture.
Baka Beyond 3:45-4:30 p.m.
The 1993 album "Spirit of the Forest" helped define the term “world music” and pushed Baka Beyond into worldwide recognition. From these beginnings, recorded in a bedroom studio and based on live jams recorded while living with the Baka pygmies in the rainforests of South-East Cameroon, Baka Beyond has evolved into a multicultural, dynamic ensemble. “It was the amazing bird-like singing or yelli that first attracted me,” says Su Hart, Baka Beyond's lead singer. “The women get together before the dawn to sing, enchant the animals of the forest and ensure that the men's hunting will be successful.”
Main Stage
Dr. Lonnie Smith 5:00-6:00 p.m.
A living musical icon, Dr. Lonnie Smith has been a master of the Hammond B3 organ for five decades. His soulful grooves and irrepressible energy make him the most exciting jazz organist alive today. Voted Organ Keyboardist of the Year for five years running by the Jazz Journalist Association, and Top Organist of the Year by "Downbeat" magazine, he has recorded and performed straight-ahead jazz, funk, and acid-jazz with George Benson and other jazz greats. Born in Buffalo, New York, he discovered the Hammond B3 as a teenager in the 1950s, after a music-store owner gave him the instrument.
Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band 6:45-8:00 p.m.
With a musical style termed "rock'n'roll with a lot of words," Josh Ritter is a compelling folk-rock singer and songwriter. Quintessentially American, this Idaho native is adept with turns of phrase and quirks of history, producing a soulful combination of conversational folk ballads and powerful gut punches. His
meticulously constructed, half-sung and half-spoken songs have been compared to Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Leonard Cohen. Josh Ritter's tune "Wings" was released by Joan Baez. Along with the talented musicians of the Royal City Band-Zack Hickman, bass; Sam Kassirer, piano and organ; Austin Nevins, guitar; and Liam Hurley, drums-Josh Ritter dishes out rollicking folk-rock with a poignant edge.
Rickie Lee Jones 8:45-10:15 p.m.
Proclaimed "the Duchess of Coolsville" by Time magazine more than 30 years ago, Rickie Lee Jones remains the premiere song stylist and songwriter of her generation, with "Chuck E.'s in Love," "Last Chance Texaco," "Danny's All-Star Joint," and "Satellites" among fan favorites. She won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1979, appeared on "Saturday Night Live" the same year, was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone twice, and is still a unique artist of undeniable influence. With a voice
that's been compared to the lonesome sound of a train whistle on a windswept prairie, Rickie Lee Jones' taut, complex lyrics and breezy melodies reflect a profoundly original imagination.
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