And a little bluegrass …

Free Bluegrass concert Saturday, July 21, 4:30-8:30 p.m.

and Sunday, July 22, noon to 4 p.m.

Featuring Silverado bluegrass band

In the Center of Town

This year’s festival is called “The 2012 Idyllwild Lemon Lily Festival & A Little Bluegrass.” The bluegrass headliner is “Silverado,” slated for the evening of Saturday, July 21 between the Fort and Jo’An’s Restaurant. The street will be closed off and set with tables, along with food and beer service.

This year, the Associates of Idyllwild Arts are partnering with the Lemon Lily Festival committee to run a refreshment truck serving cold beer on Park Lane during the bluegrass concerts. Proceeds will go to support Idyllwild Jazz in the Pines and the Lemon Lily Festival.

The “Reedy Creek Rogues” (Don Reed, dobro and mandolin, Dennis Reed, guitar and vocals, Hojo Reynolds, bass and vocals and John King, fiddle and vocals) precede “Silverado,” starting at 4:30 p.m. “Silverado” takes stage for two sets at 5:45 p.m. and plays until 8:30.

On Sunday, “Bucket List” (Jamie Olsen, guitar and vocals, Kathleen Johnson, autoharp and vocals, Eric Uglum, guitar, mandolin and vocals, Fred Wade, bass and Don Reed, dobro and mandolin) plays from noon until 1:30 p.m. and the “Bodie Mountain Express” (Chuck Stewart, guitar and vocals, Bill Purcell, banjo and vocals, Conrad Norton, bass and vocals, Duane Michaels, fiddle and vocals, and Chuck Tucker, mandolin and vocals) plays from 1:45 until 3 p.m. From 3 to 4 musicians will jam together.

Bodie Mountain Express has been making music for more than 30 years. They have performed with Elvis Presley, Rick Nelson, Ray Price, Tammy Wynett, Kenny Rogers, Emmylou Harris and many others. Bodie Mountain Express also has a role in Idyllwild’s musical heritage, having performed in our 1970s bluegrass festival, which started at Town Hall and moved to Idyllwild County Park to accommodate the growing crowds. Idyllwild deemed them best band for three years in a row.

Headliner “Silverado” is one of the West Coast’s premiere bluegrass bands. He has been comfortably immersed in the bluegrass niche for more than 30 years. Nadolson (guitar and vocals), Noel Taggart (mandolin and vocals), Kevin Gore (banjo and vocals) and Fred Wade (upright bass) bring this Celtic influenced, Appalachian offshoot of country music as the premiere in-town event of this year’s festival. Mandolin player Taggart, true to the fusion nature of bluegrass, brings a history of playing with bluegrass gospel groups.

This in-town event, on the street between the Fort and Jo’An’s Restaurant, might revive memories, for those who were here then, of Idyllwild’s 1970s era Bluegrass Festival. The Idyllwild festival ran from 1974 to 1979.

In addition to providing some high-energy musical entertainment for Lemon Lily Festival patrons, this inaugural free evening of bluegrass music and next day concert and jam will allow festival attendees to eat, drink, twirl, stomp and dance in Idyllwild’s warm evening summer air. “We want this first bluegrass music event to set the precedent for next year,” said local businessman and festival organizer Bryan Tallent. “We want the appearance to be right, nice without being overdone.”

Map of bluegrass concert area