May 5th - Cloverdale

Monday
Well the Fiddle competition is over. It has been a great weekend, Sally and I watched some very good musicians fighting it our for champion fiddler, mandolin player or guitarist in this area, although  contestants came from all over California to compete. we also had the time to watch some great bluegrass bands. I think our favourite for Sunday was the Kathy Kallick Band, who have been performing for many years, even though we had not heard of them before.
One of the great things about these festivals is that everyone is very friendly and competitors and players mingle in with everyone else, so you can get to jam with all sorts of really good players.
Talking to the chap parked next to us in his camper, soon moved to jamming, he was obviously, I mean obviously, better than me, so a jam quickly became a lesson. He was so patient and helpful. The lesson continued on Sunday morning. So it then turned out that Jerry Rose was here to compete in the guitar competition, more than that, he was also the California State flatpicking guitar champion five times. So with all the brilliant musicians here this weekend and he was happy enough to spend his time helping someone else. Thanks Jerry for your patience and care, I am still practicing,  and sorry you didn't win yesterday.

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May 2nd - Cloverdale

On Thursday we moved from Calistoga to Cloverdale, all of 40 miles up the road, calling in at Healdsburg for supplies. Healdsburg is very pretty so we decided that we would call back there to have a wander round. We arrived at the Citrus Fairground and set up, clear sky and baking hot, great. On Friday we took our side trisp to Healdsburg and had a lovely day wandering round this pretty town, like Sonoma it has a town square, which has been made into a small park, with lots of large trees, where we had our picnic. Had a very nice tea/coffee in a French Bistro, pavement style and somehow managed to spend nothing in the shops!
By Friday evening people were arriving for the Fiddle Festival, so there was some playing around the RV's. Old Time Music is different to bluegrass. Here the fiddle is the king instrument and in a circle will usually take the lead, with everyone else following, playing the tune all together, though song choice still rotates around.
Saturday was the start of the fiddle contest, with the Peewee, Junior and Youth categories. Unfortunately there were not as many contestants as expected, which was worrying for the organisers, however we had a very nice day sitting and listening to the kids competing, also watching a couple of bands who were playing on a different stage. The Roustabouts were a nice tight band from Bakersfield, who reflected the Bakersfield Sound, though they could not really define it!
Sunday is Senior Day so we shall see what happens.