The Workshop Teacher Application for the August 7-10 Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival is available on this website.
The workshops will be held on Friday & Saturday, August 8 & 9. Applications are due on March 30, 2025.
The Late Cousin Al Knoth To Be Honored On Saturday February 8 At Santa Clara Train Jam
Jam Dedicated To Cousin Al Knoth
SATURDAY, February 8, 2025, Noon-3:00pm
Edward Peterman Museum of Railroad History
1005 Railroad Ave, Santa Clara
(Across from Santa Clara University)
FREE
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Mary Kennedy is the founding organizer of the monthly Santa Clara Bluegrass Train Jam. She welcomes everyone to the February jam that will honor Cousin Al:
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This 2nd Saturday, February 8, 2025, 12-3pm, the Santa Clara Bluegrass Train Jam, is dedicated to Cousin Al of KPIG Fame. When I started the Train Jam at the Edward Peterman Museum of Railroad History in Santa Clara, back in 2012, Cousin Al was on the board of the South Bay Historical Railroad Society that runs the museum. Cousin Al was instrumental in encouraging the SBHRS to sponsor my jam at the historic old depot that the museum is housed in.
The jam has a loyal following of jammers who range in ability from beginners to intermediate to experienced performers who play in their own bands. We encourage beginner jammers to sit in. We provide the local community of Santa Clara and the train commuters with musical respite and fun. Thanks to Cousin Al, we provide this community service on a regular monthly basis. The jam has been running now consistently at the Train Museum every 2nd Saturday since 2012 except when the jam moved to the Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival run by the Northern California bluegrass Society in Hollister, California in August.
David Wilson, guitar player, and country singer with HootnHoller, has become the Jam leader this past year. David’s wife Colleen helps photograph the Jam and promote it along with David. Thanks to David & Colleen, the jam is now also held in August at the train station.
We all would like to thank the Northern California Bluegrass Society for their sponsorship and helping the jam get started at the Museum.
— Mary Kennedy
Cousin Al Knoth Obituary (September 2023)
NCBS/SCBS Is A 501(c)(3) Organization Supporting Area Bluegrass Music
The Northern California Bluegrass Society is a California Not-For-Profit Corporation with Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) status that is also known as the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society. NCBS/SCBS accepts tax-advantaged donations to support its work. The NCBS/SCBS Tax ID No. is 94-2907716.
Mail-In Donations: NCBS/SCBS, PO Box 390846, Mountain View, CA 94039-0846.
Volunteer At The 2025 Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival!
You can volunteer at the August 7-10, 2025 Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival! Join your Northern California Bluegrass Society friends as we put on the best festival of the year!
Leigh Hill — Friend, Teacher, Bluegrass Radio Host & NCBS President
Leigh Hill, formerly of Felton, a teacher, bluegrass radio host, and a past Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society Board Member & Past President, died on January 20 from the complications of a stroke. He was 75 years old.
Hill was a longtime NCBS/SCBS member and served for several years on the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society board. He was president in 1990-1991 during a pivotal era of transition in Society leadership and organization. He attended many festivals and concerts and emceed the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Fair at the Duck Pond Stage in San Lorenzo Park for several decades. He also emceed at the Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival during its early years. He was a beloved friend to many in the area bluegrass community.
He was born in Ithaca, NY, grew up in Palo Alto, and was a UC Santa Cruz graduate who taught for many years in Santa Cruz and Monterey area schools. After retirement, he joined other members of his family in Eugene, Oregon.
He was introduced to bluegrass music when he sought to do a folk music show on KUSP community radio in Santa Cruz but was told that the new station needed someone to do a bluegrass music show instead.
To prepare for the program, he carefully researched the early pioneers of bluegrass and thus launched both his love of bluegrass and his new radio show together in 1972. He continued his “Down On The Pataphysical Farm” program until the station closed down in 2016. He then helped launch the new community station KSQD where he continued to do his bluegrass show for several more years.
Leigh Mattsson Hill is survived by his siblings.
Grammy Congratulations To Billy Strings & Our Own Melody Walker, Others
The Grammy Awards were announced today in Los Angeles.
Congratulations to Billy Strings on his Best Bluegrass Album award for “Live Volume 1.”
Congratulations to former Bay Area songwriter Melody Walker, now of Nashville, for her co-writer credit on Sierra Ferrell’s “American Dreaming,” the Best American Roots Song. Ferrell also won for Best Americana Performance and for Best Americana Album for her “Trail of Flowers.”
Congratulations to Chris Stapleton for “It Takes A Woman,” Best Solo Country Performance.
Congratulations To Beyonce for her “Cowboy Carter,” Best Country Album, (first African American to win in this category) which was also the Album Of The Year.
February Festivals Of Interest To Northern California Bluegrass Fans
Here are the February festivals of interest to Northern California bluegrass fans:
FEBRUARY
Every February Friday & Saturday — Hillbilly Robot Festival, Plough & Stars, San Francisco:
1 — John Barleycorn, The Jimmy Touzel Bluegrass Explosion
7 — Joe Rut & The Sunshine Shovelers
8 — Essence & Gold Country, Ruby Lee Hill
14 — Noelle & the Deserters, Aaron Burnham
15 — Geoffrey Miller, Dave Ricketts
21 — The Dogweeds, Clementine Darling
22 — Mae McCoy & Her Neon Stars, Poi Rogers
28 — Geoff Miller and the Rockin’ Rousers.
13-17 – KKUP Bluegrass Marathon, South Bay & Monterey Bay Areas (91.5FM) and online (www.kkup.org).
19-23 – Folk Alliance International Conference, Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
20-23 – Wintergrass, Hyatt Regency, Bellevue. WA.
FEBRUARY-MARCH
February 28-March 2 — WinterWonderGrass, Steamboat Springs, CO. (There will not be a WinterWonderGrass-Tahoe in 2025.)
February 28-March 2 — Bluegrass On The Beach, Lake Havasu City, AZ.
Time For Bluegrass Promoters To Send Flyers For The NCBS Information Booth
The Northern California Bluegrass Society Information Booth carries flyers for all festivals and other events of interest to Northern California bluegrass fans. The booth will provide information throughout the upcoming bluegrass event season.
The first booth outing this year will be on March 8, 2025. Now is the time for promoters and bands to send in flyers for the booth volunteers to hand out. Send to: Michael Hall, 610 Island Place, Redwood City, CA 94065. Flyers will be accepted on an ongoing basis.
We look forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks! Stop by the booth and say hello! We will say hello right back!
NCBS/SCBS Accepts Tax-Advantaged Donations To Support Area Bluegrass
The Northern California Bluegrass Society supports area bluegrass and is a California Not-For-Profit Corporation with Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) status that is also known as the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society. The NCBS/SCBS Tax ID No. is 94-2907716.
Mail-In Donations: NCBS/SCBS, PO Box 390846, Mountain View, CA 94039-0846.
Join The NCBS Today!
Your membership in the Northern California Bluegrass Society supports local bluegrass music in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Monterey Bay Area, and in all of Northern California. Join today!