May 1, 2008
Huddled around campfires and warm hearths, around dinner tables and family pianos, the people in this country have always created music to share, passing stories down through the generations to help create the American musical tradition.
The bustling streets and cement sidewalks of Normal Heights might seem like a different planet from the back porches and parlors that served as the birthplace of American roots music. For one weekend in April, the Adams Avenue Roots & Folk Festival brings the backporch to San Diego.
Lou Curtiss, who started the first roots festival in 1967 at SDSU and has continued to be involved with the festival to this day, champions the cause of roots music locally. Along with this festival, he runs a record store filled with old-timey music called Folk Arts Rare Records (2881 Adams Ave.) and hosts “Jazz Roots,” a weekly radio show on KSDS 88.3 FM brimming with jazz, folk and country from the early 20th century.
“It's important to know where we came from,” said Curtiss recently from his record shop. “Of course, there is roots music in the modern, too: music created in a community. We don't get an opportunity all the time to hear the real musical treasures, the real old-timers. This is probably the only opportunity San Diego has to hear that kind of performer.”
The event, run by the Adams Avenue Business Association, draws 40,000 people a year over two days to Adams Avenue. This year, Joel Henderson put together a committee of himself, Curtiss and Chris Clarke, who – along with Judy Moore, Lois Bach and Annie Ross – picked the artists and planned the event.
DETAILS
35th annual Adams Avenue Roots & Folk Festival
When: Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where: Adams Avenue, Normal Heights
Tickets: Free
Phone: (619) 282-7329
Online: AdamsAveOnline.com
“This is a kind of homecoming festival,” said Curtiss. “There are a lot of musicians who were active in the folk scene when this festival started back in '67. Ray Bierl is coming down from the Bay Area. Bob Le Beau is coming down from San Jose.
“I'm happy with the lineup this year. The people who are coming are great. It's going to be a good little festival.”
The lineup
Saturday: Bob Le Beau; Curt Bouterse; Patty Hall; Shawn Rolfe; Martin Henry, Robin Henkel and Allen Singer; Hullabaloo; Cindy Lee Berryhill; Sara Petite; Martin Henry; Kathy & Carol, Mimi Wright with Kim and Jim Lansford; Fred and Cathay Zipp; Trails & Rails; Tomcat Courtney; The Gypsy Jazz Trio; Fred Heath with the Slidewinders; Coyote Problem; Mary McCaslin; Last Transit; David Grisman; High Wide and Handsome; Johnson, Bosley and Morin; Chris Clarke and Tanya Rose; Allen Singer; Buffalo Chip Kickers; Ray Bierl; Anna Troy; Plow; Martin Henry; Kathy Larisch and Carol McComb; Jalopy; Peter Bolland; Gregory Page
Sunday: Joey Harris; Patty Hall; Last Transit; Jim & Kim Lansford; Mary McCaslin; Tom Boyer; Mimi Wright; Pat Berrogains and the Hot Club Combo; The Brombies; Anna Troy; Gregory Page; Chris Clarke; Hot Pstromi with Yale Strom; Cindy Lee Berryhill; Robin Henkel; San Diego Cajun Playboys; Curt Bouterse, Patty Hall and the Gypsy Jazz Trio; Ross Altman; Kathy Larisch and Carol McComb; Plow; Jalopy; Peter Bolland and Allen Singer; Fred and Cathay Zipp; Los Alacranes; Patty Hall; New Lost Melody Boys; Ross Altman; Tanya Rose and the Buffalo Chip Kickers; Nathan James and Ben Hernandez.
