Scott Valley Bluegrass Festival

This article features the Scott Valley Bluegrass Festival. This festival ran for 10 years in a small town in northern California and, unfortunately, it has ended. A small number of dedicated business professionals did all the work to keep this event moving forward each year and nobody was found to take their place when they "retired" so the event has sadly passed into history. I will keep this article active as a memorial to the event and to portray a beautiful slice of rural Americana. I will be featuring some of my bluegrass photography to give you a taste of the Scott Valley festival.

I was not officially associated with the Scott Valley Bluegrass Festival but I became a fan and something like the unofficial photographer for the event. I gave the promoters my pictures to help promote the event and have even started making posters for them. I also made my photos available to the great bands that perform there. I was always amazed that they are able to pull such great bands into this largely undiscovered back country event. I have an entire gallery on my fine art website dedicated to bluegrass and it includes photographs of the event since I first attended in 2007. You will find that gallery here. If you play the sub-galleries as a slideshow you will hear some great background music.

By the way, the festival was also a scholarship fundraiser for local high school students who want to further their education. Attendees not only had a great time but they were contributing to a great cause.

That's a good question. Scott Valley is a valley in Siskiyou County in far northern California. The bluegrass festival was in the town of Etna which is a slice of classic rural Americana (see photo on right). It's a town with a lot of history and a fun place to visit. In fact, all of Siskiyou County has a lot to offer with everything from shopping to hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, skiing, etc.. The county seat is a town called Yreka and that happens to be where I went to high school. It used to have a bakery which was called "Yreka Bakery" (of course) but it's a palindrome, that is if you spell it backwards, it's still "Yreka Bakery." If you had read my book, "Life at The End of a Dirt Road" you would already know this.

I love palindromes, try this one, "A man a plan a canal Panama." Or how about, "Name no one man." "Madam, I'm Adam." But I digress, back to bluegrass.

If you enter "Etna, CA" into Google maps or any map website you will find it with no problem. If you can find Etna, you can find the Scott Valley Bluegrass festival.

Amazon is a great place to buy your bluegrass music.

The festival itself was on Saturday and Sunday of the third weekend in July each year but if you came early could catch "Jammin' on Main" on Friday night. Main Street in downtown Etna was blocked off on the Friday evening before the festival and there was a wonderful bluegrass jam session. It started around 6:00 p.m. and people come from all over with their instruments or just to watch, sing along or listen. Often some of the professional band members would join in and everybody had a great time. Everyone was welcomed to play along or sing or just watch. The jammers tended to break into small groups that sang and played together surrounded by on-lookers who watched, danced or even joined in the singing. Everybody had a good time at Jammin' in Main.

Following are some images of Jammin' on Main in downtown Etna on the eve of the bluegrass festival.

This image ended up as part of an interesting local newspaper article.

One of the fun things at the festival was the workshops. You could attend a workshop to have one of the professionals teach you to play a bluegrass instrument, it could be the guitar, banjo, mandolin, dobro or fiddle. It varied a little each year. There were usually singing workshops where you could learn how to sing harmony parts or just improve your singing.

Here's the poster I made for the 2013 Scott Valley Bluegrass Festival. It was the 10th and final festival and there were some great bands there as usual. CLICK ON THE POSTER TO GO TO THE DOWNLOADABLE FULL RESOLUTION VERSION OF THIS POSTER.

Somehow the festival committee managed to bring in great bands from around the nation every year. I considered the Scott Valley Bluegrass Festival to be one of the great "undiscovered" festivals. The festival was well attended but I say undiscovered because there was always room for more. Attendees usually came from northern California and Southern Oregon but some came from much farther. The setting was in a beautiful park and there was room for trailer or RV camping with additional lodging in town.

The bands were varied and sometimes played a few tunes that weren't quite bluegrass but it was always a pleasure to hear professional musicians performing live. One year there was a bluegrass band (G2) from Sweden. If you haven't heard someone say "you all" with a Swedish accent you have missed some fun.

Following are some images of just a few of the recent bands at the Scott Valley Bluegrass Festival.

The Anderson Family Bluegrass Band

Susie Glaze & The Hilonesome Band

Northern Departure

Mark Phillips & IIIrd Generation Bluegrass Band

Monroe Crossing

Snap Jackson & The Knock on Wood Players

I have a fine art photography website where you can view my diverse photographic interests. I have a gallery dedicated to giraffes, vintage vehicles and buildings, galleries for landscapes, waterfalls, birds, wildlife, painterly photography and a variety of other specialized subjects. Mount Shasta and various northern California scenes are prominent in many of my galleries. Most of the galleries have background music if you play them as a slideshow. This allows you to kick back and listen to the music as the images flow by. Whether you are looking for some interesting images or looking to purchase some photographic art, I think you will enjoy your visit to Chuck Nelson Photography.

I also have a Zazzle website where you can purchase a wide variety of products featuring my digital art and photography. You will find it here.