Old Town Temecula Bluegrass Festival with Great Concert Line up!

Temecula's 11th Annual Bluegrass Festival has two great evening concerts this year. Friday features The Grascals, recent winners of the Instrumental Group of the Year at the Annual SPBMAA. They play March 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater.


The Grascals also have their personal best Billboard chart numbers, with the current #1 Top Bluegrass Album (four consecutive weeks) and peaking at #23 on the Top Country Album chart with their newest CD, "The Grascals & Friends - Country Classics with a Bluegrass Spin." The Grascals have also won awards the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Emerging Artist of the Year award in 2005 and earning its Entertainer of the Year honor in both 2006 and 2007.

The Grascals embody a profound grasp of and familiarity with country and bluegrass tradition that made them a natural choice for Dolly Parton to turn to for recording and tour support in 2004. The group continues to push the envelope and, in 2010, The Grascals joined The Rowdy Friends Tour with Hank Williams, Jr. They’ve performed at the Grand Ole Opry, Kennedy Center, Radio City Music Hall, Wintergrass, and the Stagecoach Festival. They’ve opened for Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn and Vince Gill. Tickets for The Grascals' concert are $20 and available at http://www.temeculatheater.org/.

Highway 138 will offer a free concert at Sweet Lumpy's restaurant Friday at 6 p.m.

Bring your chairs, we have about 300 chairs,
but folkd up chairs are welcome.

TheByron Berline Band, the Hunt Family Band and Bluegrass Etc. will highlight the 11th annual event March 19 and 20. Daytime concerts both Saturday and Sunday are free. Paid evening concerts are held indoors at the acoustically perfect Old Town Temecula Community Theater and are paid events.

Saturday's free concert lineup includes Silverado Bluegrass, Sligo Rags, The Girlz, Fine Line and Next Generation on stage, plus Older than Dirt near Rosa's Cantina. A jam session will be held at 5 p.m. at Embassy Suites, the host hotel for the event.

Saturday evening at the theater will feature the Byron Berline Band, Bluegrass Etc and Silverado in concert in the theater. The concert starts at 7 p.m. and is $15. There is a Friday/Saturday concert package that reduces the convenience fee for online purchases.

Sunday's free concerts include Byron Berline, Bluegrass Etc., Silverado, Bluegrass Brethren, Windy Ridge, The Hunt Family Bluegrass, Sligo Rags and The Girlz.

Byron Berline is a three-time National Fiddle Champion who turned to a musical career after earning a B.A. in Physical Education at the University of Oklahoma. Berline has a Who’s Who list of bands that he has either led or been a member. They include: Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Dillard & Clark, Dillard Expedition, Berline, Crary & Hickman, California, and the Byron Berline Band. He’s recorded with The Band, The Byrds, The Eagles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, John Denver, Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart, Vince Gill, Arlo Guthrie, Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Earl Scruggs and
Mason Williams."Pickers" (Bluegrassers’ term for musicians) jam anywhere along the rustic streets of Old Town Temecula.

“It’s the greatest part about a bluegrass festival. Fans are also musicians, some of them quite good and notable in the music world,” stated Melody Brunsting, organizer of the event. “We’ve had Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek show up on our stage just to jam with Bluegrass Etc. before.”

Free workshops Saturday and Sunday are held in the Mercantile and help instigate the free flow of jamming around town. Band members lead the workshops and provide the audience a chance to pick and play with their favorites. On Saturday Dennis Caplinger of Bluegrass Etc will teach a workshop on Banjo, David Burns fro Sligo Rags will teach flat pick guitar, and Byron Berline will teach fiddle. Sunday workshops include "The Family Band" with the Hunt Family Band, Mandolin with John Moore from Bluegrass Etc., and the Bodhrain with Andy Reilly of Sligo Rags.

JAMMING AT THE HOST HOTEL - Embassy Suites is once again the host hotel and will host a Jam Session on their patio, 5 p.m. til you're done.
To visit the cultural district of Old Town Temecula take the 15 Freeway to Rancho California Road or Highway 79 south and follow the signs leading to Old Town Front Street. Public parking is free. RV parking is available in town for $30 for the weekend. Reservations are recommended at (951) 678-0831. For more information call (951) 678-1456 or visit http://www.temeculacalifornia.com/.

ADDITIONAL LINKS:


www.temeculacalifornia.com
http://www.temeculacalifornia.com/Bluegrass_Festival/_Schedule___Tix/_schedule___tix.html
www.temeculabluegrass.org
http://huntfamilybluegrass.com
http://www.silveradobluegrassband.com
(Byron Berline) http://doublestop.com/byron.php