Camping, music, friends, a river, perfect weather. What a horrible way to spend a few days. Yet somehow, we managed. It was a packed weekend at the fifth annual American River Music Festival. Time with new friends. Time with old friends. Time to take in a whole bunch of music.

I was happy/humbled/thrilled to again host the Friday showcase, which gave me a ringside seat at seeing “new” people like D.B. Reilly, Dirty Cello, and Jakob Martin, as well as folks I’ve played with like Mokai, JL Styles, Tamra Godey, and The Juncos. Many of them joined us in camp to keep playing long past “quiet time”, which is basically a myth during festival weekend. Too little sleep. Too much fun. And a nap or two the next day certainly doesn’t hurt.

Besides connecting with friends and music, the other joy of these events is DIS-connecting from the real world for a few days. Amazing how a bit of time sans email, phones, and television can clear your head. For those slowly returning to the real world and day jobs, keep the sound of running water – and whatever songs particularly struck you – close to you for as long as you can. And if that means listening to D.B. Reilly’s catchy/disturbing “I Got A Girlfriend” to keep you sane this week, so be it. (Hey, that was likely the song that knocked him into the high marks at Friday’s showcase.)

(More pics on Gallery page)

Of the main stage bands, the consensus in our camp was that The Brothers Comatose were the runaway hit, particularly since their Sunday set followed a late night dance party in the lodge at our camp. I chatted with Ben and Alex of the band on Sunday afternoon. Listen for them in a podcast here very soon.

Rounds and rounds of thanks go out to Festival Executive Director Matt Semonsen, all the volunteers, the sound people, the musicians and bands, and of course the ticket holders who all come together to make this thing happen every year.

Note: An additional shout of thanks goes to the fine folks at Thirsty Bear Brewing Company – close personal friends of Ben – they walked into our camp jam around 1:00 am Sunday morning and said, “We’re really enjoying the music. Would you mind if we brought our keg over?” We all looked around carefully, thinking that were on a hidden-camera show. We weren’t. And the beer was real. 😉