Second Round Northern California Bluegrass Awards ballots are due this Thursday, February 11, 2010.

Laurie Lewis, Tom Rozum & The California Bluegrass All Stars will appear in an NCBS-sponsored concert on Saturday evening, February 20, at the Lucie Stern Center in Palo Alto. The show will benefit the Juana Briones Elementary School PTA and will supply essential funding for books and supplies during difficult times. Here on YouTube, Laurie sings her 1980s hit “Val’s Cabin” in an informal performance in Tilden Park, Berkeley.

This is a busy bluegrass time of year in Northern California. The Northern California Bluegrass Society has three important festivals coming up in the next few weeks. But there are many other big events of interest to our members in the area — and beyond. Get out and enjoy some music and fun!

February:

12-21 — NCBS San Francisco Bluegrass & Old Time Festival, San Francisco, East Bay, North Bay.

13 — NCBS-Sponsored RBA Concert, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Mountain View.

15-18 — CBA Winter Music Camp, Marshall.

20 – NCBS-Sponsored Briones School Benefit Concert, Laurie Lewis, Tom Rozum & The California Bluegrass All-Stars, Jack & Molly Tuttle open, Palo Alto.

25-28 — Wintergrass Festival, Bellevue, WA.

March:

5-7 — NCBS-Sponsored Boulder Creek Bluegrass & Old Timey Festival, Boulder Creek.

5-7 – Bluegrass On The Beach, Lake Havasu, AZ.

6 – NCBS-Sponsored RBA Concert, Dry Branch Fire Squad, Mountain View.

11-14 — NCBS Bluegrass On Broadway Festival, Redwood City.

13 — CBA Sonoma County Bluegrass Festival, Sebastopol.

20 — CBA Grange Concert, Gibson Brothers, Morgan Hill.

Susie Glaze & The Hilonesome Band (Los Angeles) will headline a Saturday, February 13 women’s bluegrass concert at McGrath’s Pub in Alameda. The show is part of the 11th Annual NCBS San Francisco Bluegrass & Old Time Festival, February 12-21 at venues throughout San Francisco and the North and East Bay areas.  The Alhambra Valley Band (Martinez) and The Barefoot Nellies (San Francisco) round out the bill. Here is a short interview with Tennessee native Susie Glaze featuring her music from YouTube.

The 3rd Annual Northern California Bluegrass Society Bluegrass On Broadway Festival will be held March 11-14, 2010 in historic downtown Redwood City. The entire festival is FREE and plenty of FUN!

Thursday: Opening Jam. Friday: Bluegrass Dining In Redwood City Restaurants. Saturday: BOB Film Festival Opening Film. Northern California Bluegrass Awards Concert. Northern California Bluegrass Awards. Award Winners Jam (all are welcome). Evening Bluegrass Bistro Show. Sunday: IBMM Bluegrass Film Festival. More to come.

NCBS Bluegrass On Broadway receives principal financial support from the Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission, the Redwood City Public Library, the Redwood City Friends Of The Library, and Tapestry Church (formerly, the Peninsula Christian Center), plus other area businesses and individuals.

Laurie Lewis, Tom Rozum & The California Bluegrass All Stars will perform in a benefit concert  for the Juana Briones Elementary School PTA (Palo Alto) at the elegant Lucie Stern Center in Palo Alto on Saturday, February 20.  Jack and Molly Tuttle will open the show.

The program is sponsored by the Northern California Bluegrass Society.

The evening will introduce the new Laurie Lewis CD “Blossoms.“ The California All-Stars are fiddler Chad Manning (of David Grisman’s Bluegrass Experience), banjoist Patrick Sauber, bassist Andrew Conklin, and as special guest vocalists, Oakland’s T Sisters: Erika, Chloe, and Rachel Tietjen.

All profits from the concert and concessions will benefit the Juana Briones Elementary School PTA, which funds materials for many of the school’s library, art, science, and enrichment programs.

The 8:00pm concert (doors open 7:30pm) will be held at the Lucie Stern Community Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Tickets:  $21.50 advance, $24.50 at the door; available at Gryphon Stringed Instruments,  211 Lambert Ave, Palo Alto. (650) 493-2131, or online.

The Northern California Bluegrass Society will present one Nashville Bluegrass Band show and sponsor another this month. The band will appear in Mountain View at an NCBS-sponsored Redwood Bluegrass Associates concert on Saturday, February 13, and in Berkeley as part of the NCBS San Francisco Bluegrass & Old Time Festival in a concert at the Freight & Salvage on Sunday, February 14. Here on YouTube, the band performs a classic version of “The Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home.”

The Brookdale Bluegrass Festivals, presented  by Eric & Barbra Burman, and sponsored by the Northern California Bluegrass Society at the Brookdale Lodge between 1999 and 2009, lives on as the Boulder Creek Bluegrass & Old Timey Festival, March 5-7, 2010 in downtown Boulder Creek (about two miles from the original location).

The line-up has just been announced:  Harmony Grits, Faux Renwah’s Spur Of The Moment, Stoney Mountain Ramblers, Laura Lind & The Tea Sippers, Mountain Drive, Page Brownton’s Sidetrack, Common Cents, Julio In Glasses, High Tone Sinners, Research & Development, Heathen Hill, Dam Dave & The Hot Damn Band, Regina Bartlett, Ben Laney & Apryl Gilbert, and Bobby Carr.