Pack Up the Fiddles, Rosin Up the Bow it's Bluegrass Time In Temecula

If you haven't attended the Temecula Bluegrass Festival, you've denied yourself a musical treat that can only be experienced - not described. The streets fill with musicians, carrying their fiddles, wheeling their stand up bass fiddle, thousand dollar banjos and guitars. These musicians are the "Pickers" - the amateurs who somewhere along the line picked up a stringed instrument, played awhile, and eventually discovered the beauty of Bluegrass. With common chords every musician knows, and familiar "reels" a lonely fiddler can find a bass and banjo player and suddenly you have a band.

Old Town Temecula Bluegrass Festival March 18-20, presents some of the top Bluegrass artists on stage, as well as in workshops. Fiddling with Byron Berline, Banjo picking with Dennis Caplinger, Flat picking Guitar with David Burns and picking the mandolin with John Moore, musicians can learn techniques while playing with the best. Workshops are held Saturday and Sunday at the "Merc" 42051 Main Street and are Free. For a schedule see http://www.temeculacalifornia.com/.

That's not all that is free - jamming up and down the street with musicians under pop up tents and street corners, plus concerts outdoors at Town Square on Main Street, and in the Theater are free from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. There is also a free concert at Sweet Lumpy's, 6 p.m.Friday night.

FREE CONCERTS:

ON STAGE SATURDAY:
Next Generation, Sligo Rags, Fine Line, Byron Berline, Bluegrass Etc., Silverado Bluegrass, The Girlz, Hunt and Family Bluegrass.

ON STAGE SUNDAY:
Bluegrass Brethren - with Gospel tunes at 10 a.m. outdoors, Byron Berline, Sligo Rags, The Girlz, Windy Ridge, Bluegrass Etc., Silverado Bluegrass, and Hunt Family Bluegrass.

TICKETED CONCERTS
The Grascals, Friday night, March 18, 7:30 p.m. at Old Town Temecula Community Theater. $20 pp.
Good seats available -but hurry - some areas have sold out.

Byron Berline, Bluegrass Etc., and Silverado Bluegrass - 7p.m., at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater. $15 pp. This one always sells out. Better hurry. http://www.temeculatheater.org/.

For map, schedule and program see http://www.temeculacalifornia.com/.

Free Workshops with Dennis Caplinger, Alan Munde, Sligo Rags Fiddler Michael Kelly

Seasoned veterans, young musicians, and bluegrass fans with guitars will fill the streets of Old Town Temecula March 20-21 during the 10th annual Bluegrass Festival. The free event is a hay day for musicians looking for a band as jam sessions break out on every corner and under every shady eve. Free workshops attract musicians of all skill levels to the Festival.


“This means you watch and learn from top musicians like Dennis Caplinger and Al Munde,” stated organizer Melody Brunsting.

Caplinger, a Grammy award-winner, is a multi-talented musician who has toured and recorded with many different artists including Bluegrass Etc., Vince Gill, Eric Clapton, Kenny Loggins, Juice Newton, B.J. Thomas, America, Byron Berline, Dan Crary, Richard Greene, Chris Thile, Sean Watkins, Ray Price, Rita Coolidge, and The Academy of Country Music Awards Show Band. His movie soundtrack credits include “Back to the Future III”, “El Diablo”, “Rio Diablo” and Steven King’s “Apt Pupil.” Caplinger’s playing is regularly featured on the HBO hit series “Deadwood”, Fox’s “The Simpsons”, Warner Bros. cartoons “Pinky and the Brain” and “Histeria”, as well as on numerous programs on PBS, A&E, TNN, Biography and The History Channel.

Munde made his mark inbBluegrass beginning in 1972 as a member of the Flying Burrito Brothers performing with Byron Berline. After a European tour, the Burritos split up and Munde joined Country Gazette, then consisting of Roger Bush on bass, Kenny Wertz on guitar, and fiddler Byron Berline. Later in 1977, Munde and mandolinist Sam Bush recorded "Together again for the first time" with Roland White, Curtis Burch and John Cowan (both members of legendary "Newgrass Revival" with Sam Bush).

Munde and Caplinger will lead a banjo workshop on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Mercantile. Other workshops include Guitar with Elliot Rogers of Al Munde Gazette, Fiddle with Sligo Rags fiddler Michael Kelly, and a band workshop with the incredibly tight and popular Silverado Bluegrass Band. Andy Reilly, an award winning percussionist who has toured with River Dance will teach a Bodhrain workshop Sunday at 2 p.m. Other Sunday workshops include one with the Hunt Family Band and Jam Etiquette. http://www.alanmundegazette.com/

Alan Munde Gazette headlines the Festival. Bandleader Munde’s long, rich history in the bluegrass community has solidified him as the one the world’s foremost five-string banjo players. He brings his Gazette band of Elliott Rogers-Guitar/Vocal, Bill Honker-Bass/Vocal, Steve Smith-Mandolin/Vocal, and Nate Lee-Fiddle/Vocal. Gazette will play twice Saturday and Sunday of the event.

The band is also part of a three-act concert Saturday evening, 7 p.m., indoors at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater. On the same billing are Bluegrass Etc., and Silverado Bluegrass Festival. Tickets are $15 and $10 for balcony seats.

Also performing outdoors are: Bluegrass Etc., Lonesome Otis, Even So, Sligo Rags, Hunt Family Bluegrass, Gone Tomorrow, the Silverado Bluegrass Band, Older than Dirt, Old Haywire, and Highway 76 Bluegrass Band. Bands perform on two stages from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. All outdoor concerts, workshops and jam sessions are free. Daytime concerts in the theater Saturday are also free.

Sunday offers Bluegrass Brethren in a free gospel concert at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater, plus a 3 p.m. matinee featuring Alan Munde Gazette and Sligo Rags. This concert is $5 while concerts outdoors remain free.

Sligo Rags with entertaining and energetic fiddler Michael Kelly and Dublin percussionist Andy Reilly are crowd favorites in Temecula. An Irish band by nature, Sligo Rags injects their Irish overtones to create a unique brand of bluegrass, original tunes and unusual interpretations of popular rock, folk and bluegrass favorites.

Organizers have added a free concert Friday evening plus a jam session at Embassy Suites in Temecula from 5-7 p.m. Highway 138 will perform from 7-9 at Sweet Lumpy’s. Old Haywire performs at Palumbos on Saturday from 12-3 p.m. Both restaurants are in Old Town and admission is free. All workshops are held in the “Merc” at 42051 Main Street and are free.

Tickets for Saturday’s evening concert and Sunday’s matinee in the Old Town Temecula Community Theater can be purchased at http://www.temeculatheater.org/

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. For information call (951) 693-3952 or visit http://www.temeculacalfiornia.com/