...for hot licks and finger pickin' fun."

"I'm having so much fun I think I'll give my money back."
- Merle Haggard

Sunday, June 19, 2005 6:32 PM

The Oak Ridge Boys
(Sunday)

While recording "The Boys Are Back" last year, The Oak Ridge Boys were presented the Academy of Country Music's top honor, The Pioneer Award. From "Elvira", its 1981 country-pop crossover smash to today's album, the popular quartet continues to reinvent itself. Its latest project is a roots-music revelation that explores country, blues and gospel textures. We're doing a lot of these new songs on stage now," states Richard Sterban. "And it's amazing how well they're going over." The classic Oaks lineup of Sterban, William Lee Golden, Duane Allen, and Joe Bonsall has four GRAMMY awards, 16 #1's and 29 top ten country hits. They offer a high energy mix of new and familiar tunes in a Father's Day evening concert at 6 p.m.

Rhonda Vincent & the Rage
(Friday)

This all American bluegrass girl continues touring in the tireless work ethic of Flatt and Scruggs. Her latest GRAMMY nominated album "Destination Life" further demonstrates that she is at the top of her game. Hunter Berry, Mickey Harris, Ben Helson and Aaron McDaris form her band, The Rage, a musical force that can liven up everything from breakneck breakdown to string band swing. Brian Mansfield of USA Today writes, "This seven time winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association's top Female Vocalist award certainly does have a good thing going." Arriving on the Martha White Bluegrass Express, the band performs twice on Friday and hosts a band workshop in the evening.

  Destination Life

Michael Cleveland & FlameKeeper
(Saturday and Sunday)

Michael is 29 years old now, and he holds numerous awards including the GRAMMY nominated "A Tribute to Jimmy Martin; The King of bluegrass." He is the seven time International Bluegrass Music Association Fiddle Performer of the Year, and he surrounds himself with an explosive award winning band called Flamekeeper. You'll find Jesse Brock on mandolin, Marshall Wilborn on bass, Tom Adams on guitar and Jessie Baker on banjo. A graduate of the Kentucky School for the Blind, Cleveland had a meteoric rise in the bluegrass community. He is known for "The Orange Blossom Special" on the fiddle and returns to the Huck Finn stage with two performances Saturday and one on Sunday.

  Leavin' Town 

 Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out
(Friday)

This bluegrass music "super group",  now has more than 50 industry awards since its formation in 1991. The band is known for its acappella singing and song arrangements, and it features Russell Moore, one of the most respected lead vocalists of all time. Moore surrounds himself with Steve Dilling on banjo, Wayne Benson on mandolin, Justin Haynes on fiddle and Edgar Loudermilk on bass. The band's recent release, "Hard Rock Mountain Prison (Till I Die)" went to the #1 spot on The Bluegrass Unlimited Top 30 chart in December. A familiar guest of the Grand Ole Opry, the band returns to Southern California on Friday with two shows on main stage and a vocal harmony workshop in the afternoon.

  Hard Rock

 Waddie Mitchell
(Sunday)

Twenty five years as a working cowboy on some of the most desolate spreads in Nevada will give a man time to think. Such is the case of Waddie Mitchell. When the Tonight Show called with an invitation to share his stories with a national audience, he said "No" as it was calving time and he never heard of Johnny Carson. The Tonight Show persisted, and many appearances later, along with Larry King Live and Good Morning America, Mitchell found himself out of the saddle and on the road as a Warner Brothers recording artist. Featured in Life and USA Today, he is as People Magazine claims, "America's best known cowboy poet." He offers a tribute to the American cowboy in a unique Father's Day appearance. 

Sons and Brothers Band
(Saturday & Sunday)

Bluegrass Now writes, "It's not only Sons & Brothers powerful paint-peeling vocals". but, it's their sound; an arresting brand of bluegrass, flavored by the wide open spaces, grandeur and panoramic majesty of the West." Colorado's premier family string band is composed of brothers Mike, Aaron and Joe Wolking. Their Uncle Fred Wolking and Johnny Neill complete the band that pays tribute to its founding father, Frank Wolking. The band offers performances Friday and Saturday and joins Waddie Mitchell on Sunday for storytelling and songs of the west.

Sierra Hull
(Saturday)

At 17 years of age, Sierra Hull launched her national debut album, "Secrets", and in May '09 "That's All I Can Say" reached the #1 spot on Sirius/XM's "Bluegrass Junction", the most often played track. Sierra became the youngest artist to achieve such success. Sam Bush notes, "Every so often a talent comes along that makes us set up and take notice. That time is now for Sierra Hull." In the same year, she was nominated Emerging Artist and Mandolin Player of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association. She arrives in Southern California on Saturday with two main stage performances and a workshop titled "Youth in Bluegrass" with Scott Gates, Nathan McEuen and Christian Ward.

  Secrets

Lonesome Otis

Steeped in the traditions of Bill Monroe, it's hard to believe that Lonesome Otis is based in Southern California. The band is known for its hard-driving, classic bluegrass presentation, and represents the Southwest Bluegrass Association with two main stage performances on Friday. Chris Ruud on guitar, Steve Stout on Fiddle, Chris Cerna on Mandolin, David Richardson on banjo and Sam Ostgaard on bass form the 5 member band.

Julie Wingfield

With roots in the Huck Finn Jubilee, Julie Wingfield is a consummate country, bluegrass and gospel music entertainer. She is a multi-instrumentalist who owns Hummingbird Records, and a music studio in Apple Valley. Julie performs at gospel, bluegrass and country festivals through the Southwest and performs this year on Sunday for her 34th season at the Jubilee

< Mark Twain Live
(Friday)

  

Mark Twain "in Person" was a rare treat indeed. Mark Twain Live travels from New York to the Jubilee and offers an encounter with America's greatest author and humorist through considerable talents of Mike Randall. After 2000 performances, Randall is compared by some to be as good, if not better than Holbrook. Randall's re-creation of Twain begins Friday evening June 18th at 9:00 PM.