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“Preserving and Perpetuating Old Time Fiddle Music”

July-Aug 2019

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Presidents Message Fiddlin’ Down the TracksFiddle ContestGreetings from the “true Northern California,” as

Tex likes to say. I hope you all have found multipleways to enjoy and to share your music this summerand are looking forward to upcoming events. I wantto encourage each of you to attend the AugustBoard meeting in your District and share yourthoughts with your Director concerning the CSOTFAin general and the 2020 State Contest. Your Boardof Directors will be meeting in Lodi at the end ofAugust and the Directors would very muchappreciate your input.

This week we remember that one year ago ourfriends in the Redding area were experiencing themost horrible wildfire with loss of life and loss ofmany, many homes. Several members of ourFiddle Family lost their homes and have spent thisyear working toward finding out what their “newnormal” will be. Our good friend, Byron Berline,lost his business to fire, the “Double Stop FiddleShop,” in Guthrie Oklahoma. The great news thereis that this past week he opened his new shop oneblock down the street, with many instrumentsdonated from people across the country who havebeen directly or indirectly touched by Byron and hismusic throughout the past 50 years. I bring up allof this to remind us all that we never know who willbe impacted by our music, or what that impact willbe, but we must remember that music alwaysmakes an impact.

Go forth and share the joy!Sharon

DISTRICT MEETING LOCATIONS, DATES, AND TIMES:

District 1 4th Sunday 1:00-5:00 p.m.: Feather River Senior Center 1335 Meyer St. Oroville

District 3 2nd Saturday 2:00-5:00 p.m. 21100 Lonely Lane, Tehachapi Ca

District 4 1st Sunday 1:00-4:00 p.m.: Orange Thorpe Pk. Activity Bldg., 1414 Brookhurst, Fullerton CA

District 5 2nd Sunday 1:00-5:00 p.m.: Orangevale Grange, 5807 Walnut Ave. Orangevale CA

District 6

District 7

District 8 2nd & 4th Sunday 1:30-4:00 p.m.: Oak View Community Center, 18 Valley Rd. Oak View CA

District 9 4th Sunday 1:30-5:00 p.m.: United Methodist Church, 19806 Wisteria St., Castro Valley CA

District 10 Redwood Cafe, Cotati. Every 4th Sunday 3:00 to 5:00. Janette Duncan, Chris Carney, Steve DeLap, 707-570-2745.

President: Sharon Barrett- texshar@pacbell.net

V. Pres. : Kathy Kampschmidt - kdkampy@sbcglobal.net

Secretary: Mary Rose Preston - maryrose@wavecable.com

Treasurer: Robert Curtis - rocurtis@gatewayacceptance.com

Membership: Charley Oveland - croveland@sbcglobal.net

Editor: Cathy Agnew - themimi@roadrunner.com

California State Old Time Fiddlers’ AssociationP.O. Box 1703 Oroville, CA 95965

State Officers State DirectorsDistrict 1: Terri e Rockwell - tbrockwell456@gmail.com

District 3: Gayel Pitchford -- captgayel@cybersurfers.net

District 4: Pat Nelson -- rpnelson@pacbell.net

District 5: Lyle Dixson - Lyle@DATEQ.NET

District 6: Tex Ash -- texshar@pacbell.net

District 7: Dan Touchstone-dtouchstonefiddler@gmail.com

District 8: Charletta Erb – charlettaerb@gmail.com

District 9: Bob Palasek - r03palasek@sbcglobal.net

District 10: Mark Hogan- hogiemoon@comcast.net

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Free Old Time Fiddle Jams, 1st & 3rd Sundays of each month 1:00­4:00 1st Sunday, St. JamesLutheran Church 2500 Shasta View Blvd. Redding 1:00 - 3:00 Open Circle Jam, 3:00 Board Meeting,open to all members . 3rd Sunday, Palo Cedro Community Hall, 22037 Old Forty-Four Drive, Palo Cedro1:00 Open Jam, 2:00 Open Mic, and 3:00 Concert Refreshments for sale.Website: http://www.northstatefiddlers.com

2nd Sunday 12:00-2:45PM: Terrace Estates Clubhouse, 1815 Sweetwater Road, Spring Valley, CA3rd Sunday 12:30-1:00 PM Workshop, 1:00-3:00 Jam: Encinitas Community Center, 1140 Oakcrest ParkDr., Room 140, Encinitas CA4th Sunday 12:00-2:45 PM: Rancho San Diego Library, 11555 Via Rancho San Diego, El Cajon, CA

District ReportsDistrict 1Mary Rose Preston

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.Fiddler Jana Jae, who played for years with BuckOwens and the Buckaroos and also was a regular onHee-Haw is going to be our honored fiddler for theSeptember contest, AND she is coming out fromOklahoma to be a Judge for us. On the Sunday ofFiddlin’ Down the Tracks Fiddle Contest (Sept.20-21) weekend, Sept. 22, she will play a program ofbluegrass and old time fiddle music with theTehachapi Symphony. She has done this before withother symphonies and has orchestra charts andeverything. The rest of the concert will likely beSymphony from the New World, which isquintessentially American, even if the composer isnot, and Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the CommonMan or something like that.

We would like to encourage musicians from all theother districts to attend. There are divisions foralmost every musical instrument.

Join us for the 44th Annual Fiddlin Down theTracks Fiddle Contest Sept. 21-22, 2019

District 3Gayel Pitchford

Jana JaeThe First Lady of Country Fiddle

(see story on page 4)

The heat of summer has slowed us down a bit, but we love our fiddleand country music and we keep on playing! The Camp Fire has had acontinuing negative effect on attendance, but we hope that willturnaround eventually.

At the Monday Fiddle Workshops and 4th Sunday Jams, we not onlyplay lots of old-time fiddle tunes but occasionally someone introduces ablues or country song (and usually brings words/music to share), andeveryone happily sings along. Mostly the whole group plays, orsometimes we take turns attempting to improvise a bit. We have a rockin’string bass player in the group, which really kicks the music into highgear and makes us all sound good!

You may be wondering about the interesting background where thesepictures were taken and wishing that you could join this talented andfriendly bunch of musicians. The group brings Bolt's Antique ToolMuseum (“BATM”) in Oroville to life on the first and third Mondayevenings and welcomes regulars and newcomers.

According to its website, this wonderful Museum “has on display over12,000 of the most important items ever invented by mankind: handtools. Bolt’s Antique Tool Museum is the only known location of itskind in the world. BATM is bursting at the walls with displays, history,cataloging, information, and extremely knowledgeable docents to helpin maintaining these things that most of us take for granted in oureveryday lives.”

The museum, which opened in 2006, includes tools used around theworld over many centuries, and includes a barbed-wire collection, oldgas pumps, blacksmith tools and 125 tools representing 51 differentrailroads.

The Fiddle Workshop meets the first and third Mondays from7:00-9:00 p.m. at Bolt's Antique Tool Museum, 1650 Broderick Street,Oroville (no workshop charge, but a $2.50 museum entry fee). Moreinfo: Jimi Beeler (282-3205)

(Circle) Jam Sessions are 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. the fourth Sunday of eachmonth at the Feather River Senior Center, 1335 Myers Street, Oroville,CA 95965. Bring a favorite potluck dish and enjoy a nice afternoon ofgood music and good company.

District 6Becky Huskey

Our North State Jammers have been enjoying oursummer jams and open mics. A lot of our membershave been traveling but the attendance, though fewernumbers, has continued and everyone enjoys jamming'and performing for each other. We're gearing up for abusy fall of performances and of course, preparing forthe Western Open.

We are so excited for and proud of our local family,The Alldrins. If you are lucky enough to have themtouring in your area, be sure and go enjoy theseamazing musicians. You can check out their tour datesand follow their musical journey on Facebook too.

Follow The Alldrin's on their three month Music Touracross the country performing their great music.

Jana Margaret Meyer ,aka Jana Jae was born August 30,1942, Great Falls, Montana,

Musical talent runs through the family. Her parents studied at thefamed Juilliard School of Music, New York City, and Jana wasintroduced to the classical study of the violin, on a 1/8 sizedinstrument, at the age of two. Then, thanks to the direction andinspiration of her grandfather, an accomplished champion fiddlerin his own right, Jana also learned to love playing by ear.

She virtually grew up jamming with and learning from some ofthe best in the business while living in western Idaho, not far fromWeiser, the site of the National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest. Soonshe had honed her skill of fiddling into a fine art and won theLadies National Championship in 1973 and 1974.

She qualified in classical music at a Denver college and gained ascholarship to study for a year at the Vienna Academy in Austria.Between 1967 and 1970, she was married, raised two children,was divorced and resumed a musical career,

She taught music for several years until she felt inspired to takeher unique blend of music on the road. Jana and her trademarkblue fiddle soon took the world of country music by storm. Shegot her big break at a Buck Owens concert in Redding, California,when she was invited to take the stage and play “Orange BlossomSpecial.” Buck was one of the first “big names” to recognize hertalents.

In 1975, Don Rich died in a motorcycle accident, Owens offeredher a job as the first female member of his “Buckaroos” band andJana regularly played with them until 1979.

Jana has built a solid solo career, drawing upon her diverse musicalbackground. Her one-of-a-kind style blends country fiddling,western swing, bluegrass, pop and the classics, producing thrillingperformances and critical acclaim. She also has earned a reputationand large international following performing at such renownedevents as the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland .

There is an interview with Jana in the Tulsa World newspaperwhere she tells the story of how ended up in Grove, Okla and howthe American Heritage Music Festival began. She discovered thather grandparents once lived in towns (Vinita and Big Cabin) nearGrove. Jana said the story still gives her chills. When she boughtthe house in Grove, was she somehow being drawn to her roots?“I have come full circle and, for some reason, I am supposed to behere,” she said.

Jae said Grove was staging fiddle contests before she arrived, butit was the kind of contest conducted on a flatbed trailer under thehot sun. Jae intervened: If you want to do a fiddle contest, let’s doit right. “It has morphed into this festival,” she said, referring toAmerican Heritage Music Festival.

“I love the festivals because it is giving back. It is sharing. Andit’s mentoring all these people. At one time, all these people arehaving these fabulous experiences at the festivals. It’s a heck of alot of work. I have never taken one penny out of those festivals —never. So it is definitely giving back. It’s a labor of love.”

Jae has been part of the Grove landscape for 20 year. She doesn’tkeep regular office hours, but she headquarters at 920 S. MainSt. in Grove. She has an office in the back of her art gallery, JanaJae’s Gallery Southwest. She said all of her projects in Grovejust sort of evolved. There was no outline.“I was just doing whatfelt right,” she said. “And all these things kept coming to meuntil here we are with this total picture — the house and thecampground and the gallery.”

MEMBER OF:

National Fiddler Hall of Fame

Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame

National Western Swing Hall of Fame

Idaho Hall of Fame

Mid-America Old Time Fiddler’s Hall of Fame

Oklahoma Governor’s Arts Award recipient

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In May District 5 lost Bob Dalh, at 91 years of age. Bob wasour club vice president for many years. For a long time heprovided and set up the sound system for the monthly jams atLakeview Village Mobile Home Park (known as Preston'sjam). A memorial service has been planed for Saturday,September 7th at 11 AM at the Grace Lutheran Church 201Benita Drive Rancho Cordova, CA 95670

District 5Lyle Dixson

In June a few of the District 5 members, along with a contingentof California Fiddlers, made the journey to Weiser, Idaho forthe annual National Old Time Fiddle Contest (NOTFC).

Eric Anderson, a fiddle teacher as well as our District 5president, competed in the Adult division. Eric Malme alsocompeted in the Adult division, his son Koll was in theJunior-Junior's.

Eric's campsite always had plenty of activity with fiddlerscoming by to jam. Leah Bowen, whom was one of Eric'sstudents a few years ago, was just one of these fiddlers.Akiyasu Sumi, from Japan, has been attending the NOTFC forhe last 14 years.

Katy Bridges and Kenney Blacklock, a couple of Californiafiddlers from the San Francisco Bay Area, also camped in theadjoining area and jam frequently. Is was a great time but theweek went way too quickly!

Coming up soon in the September time frame will be ourannual Fiddle Kids Show and Fundraiser. More details to come.

Eric's campsite

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District 7Linda Rinner

District 8Suz Corez

On Memorial Day weekend CSOTFA Dist 7, in partnership with thetown of Julian, held the Julian Fiddle and Pickin' Contest in the historicJulian Town Hall. It drew some very talented fiddlers and pickers ofall ages, some from out of state. There were 3 ties that had to bebroken by fiddle playoffs. That generated a lot of excitement in thecrowd! I'm happy I wasn't a judge, they had a tough job. I'd like tothank Contest Committee Co-Chairwomen Tricia Elisara and LysaCopeland as well as all the volunteers for putting on a well organizedcontest. Save the date for next year! Come down, enjoy the contestand explore the historic mining town of Julian.

After the contest June and July were pretty quiet around here. Wehave 3 jams each month at 3 locations. If you're in our area come playwith us or just visit and listen. The experience in our group runs fromnew fiddlers to former contest winners and judges. Our fiddlers arehappy to share their expertise. I hope we'll see you soon.

Photos courtesy of Sean Doorly

District 8 is continuing to fulfill the goals set forthis year by keeping the music flowing, providingworkshops and performing at local festivals. At theCity of Ojai’s recent Lavender Festival, ourBluegrass performance was well received bycommunity and visitors to the area. The Festivalgave California State Old Time FiddlersAssociation a lot of exposure.

We currently have 157 members, many of whomvolunteer to set up and tear down the PAequipment for our Sunday jams, kitchen duties,bring tasty potluck lunch items and set up thechairs for our loyal audience. Members ZavierCarbaga and Elaine Ferguson have been producingour extraordinary monthly newsletter, which hasbeen receiving acclaim for the photos, profiles ofmembers all within a cohesive theme. It’s full offun! In addition, the recent Topanga Banjo andFiddle Contest brought success to some ourmembers who took home top honors in the banddivision.

Members from our district continue to providemonthly music to local retirement and continuingcare facilities. We are preparing for our SeptemberBBQ, with members starting to list what sidedishes they’d like to contribute.

We strive to keep members connected. As anexample, our president, Sus Corez stays in touchwith members we haven’t seen in a while. Andfinally, we continue to receive wonderful emailsfrom our past president and friend, Marlene Nord.We also keep her connected with our news.

District 9Bob Palasek

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District 10Judith Jones

July saw District 10 holding our second annual Campout.

Here is an excerpt from an article in the Lake CountyNewspaper submitted by Sue Condit, one of the CampoutCommittee organizers along with Don Coffin and AndiSkelton; and Janette Duncan handling the Reservations.

"The Camp attracted local and out of county musiciansplaying fiddle,guitar,ukulele,mandolin,banjo" andlimberjack. The musicians enjoyed fiddle workshops, a"Fiddle Off" contest to see who could play (remember)the most tunes,lots of jamming, morning continentalbreakfast and nightly potlucks.

A big 'Thank You' to our campout committee....a job welldone, and so enjoyed my all of us attendees. In fact, hereis a paragraph sent to Janette by Shelby Riddle (Benicia)expressing her enjoyment:

"My husband and I recently attended the District 10 OldTime camp for our second year. As new comers to theold time world we have fallen in love with this two daycamp and have found a great way for us to learn some oldtime tunes as well as build a sense of community with theparticipants who are of all ages. All level of playersparticipate, from beginners to professional, in the circle,and we take turns starting tunes (if desired). The folks arefriendly and helpful if you know the name but can't startthe tune. The entire atmosphere is laid back, with a coupleof Saturday workshops, swimming, jamming, and pot luckmeals. I'm a fiddler and my husband plays mandolin butwe had a few singers lead some great tunes as well. Ifyou're interested in old time music, spend a weekend hereat the camp to either get introduced to old time music, orreinvigorate your musical life." Shelby Riddle

All I can say is, yes, we did......Promote an interest inold-time fiddling and foster a sense of community in thisshared art form! It was so much fun!

One of our Jam Sessions.

Our July Fiddlers Jam for District 9 turned out what seemedto be an ad hoc mandolin quintet, from five different cornersof the bay area. Mandolins and more mandolins. There wereas many mandolinists that Sunday as there were fiddlers.

What was even more unexpected was that a quartet ofclassic MG's showed up courtesy of the Sorry Safari TouringSociety, a Bay Area MG club formed in the 60s. District 9officers Carl and Dian Brown who are also members of thatSociety invited their friends to take in the District 9 jam aspart of their Sunday tour. They showed up, and the rest ofus took some time to oooh and to aaah over their lovelyclassic sports cars.

We all played good music, had a great pot luck, and a finetime was had by all.

Two of our other regular, long time members were beset,each with their own health problem. We wish them speedyrecoveries.

Our next jam will be on Sunday afternoon, 25 August, atthe Fellowship Hall of the Castro Valley United MethodistChurch. Please visit if you are in the area.

Mike Drayton, "Monthly old-time jamsession at Vagabund Brauerei, a brewpub, in Berlin. Two of the players areAmericans, all the rest Germans,except the dark-haired female banjoplayer, who is French. It’s a monthlyget-together."

Marcia Ford, at the SoreFingers Music Camp inthe UK.

(District 10 Continued)

John Clendenen hadsome surgery done so hecould not fiddle soJanette Duncan held thefiddle and John did thebowing. A lot of laughterwatching them fiddlethat tune!!!!!

A sing-a-long Saturday evening.

Fiddle Off' winners.....Janette & Gus tied for 1st place.

Hi all,here are photos of a few of our Sonoma Countytravelers. Mike Drayton traveled to Germany, GinnyMatheson to Ireland, and Marcia Ford to Spain andUK. All three attended jam sessions (AND if Iremember correctly by the Facebook photos that theyposted....the local beer joints were also attended!

Ginny Matheson "I was fortunate enough to be part of a 10-day musicaland sightseeing Inisheer Tour of Ireland on July 8th. It was organizedby singer/songwriter, Chuck Brodsky of North Carolina, and was justwonderful. I highly recommend this tour company as they planned ourdays extremely well, with no hang-ups whatever, with beautiful Irishcountryside to explore daily. We stayed in great hotels for 3 days at atime, so we got to walk around and check out the villages we stayed at.Our small 30 passenger bus was comfortable and just the right size toget off the beaten path and away from the normal tourists crowds, andwe were told tales of the history of Ireland and its people’s struggles bya knowledgeable Irishman the whole time. Did you know there was aPirate Queen named Grace O’Malley at the time of Queen Elizabeth’sreign in 1593? We learned a lot and this trip has whetted my appetitefor more Irish tunes and history. Go to Ireland. The people are friendly.The scenery is amazing, and good beer!

Every night, we had a performance arranged for us. We were entertainedby singer, Chuck Brodsky and others, including a well-known harpist,illian pipes, concertina, fiddles, mandolins and guitars, of course thebodhran and talented singers.

One night in Westport, County Mayo, on the West Coast of Ireland, wewere entertained by 3 local musicians at McCarthy’s Pub. After a littleGuinness, and having been asked a few times by the band if anyone inour group wanted to sing or play an instrument, I agreed (silly me) toplay a tune with them. I called out the tune we all know at our jamsessions in Sonoma County, “Road to Lisdoonvarna” a town which ourtour bus had just gone past. Because I had a little too much Guinness,I played “Mari’s Wedding” by mistake. It just popped out. (and it isScottish, not Irish). It didn’t matter to the band at all. They backed meup just fine, and afterwards, said, “Here, we call that tune “Mari’sWedding.” Duh." (Ginny said I could shorten this..but I think it istoo adorable to cut out a thing).

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Events of Interest

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California State Oldtime Fiddlers Association, District 10Supporter of camp scholarship fund

July-Aug 2019