The 53rd annual Santa Barbara Old-Time Fiddlers’ Festival recently drew a significant gathering of musicians and enthusiasts to the Stow House in Goleta. The event, which has been a traditional music tradition for over five decades, featured a diverse lineup of fiddlers, banjo pickers, guitar flat pickers, and mandolinists, along with old-timey purists. This cultural jewel in Goleta provided a setting for main stage performances, competitions, jam sessions, and workshops, creating a full festival experience.
Originally launched by musician and folk music evangelist Peter Feldmann at the UCSB lagoon, the festival has, for several years, been reconfigured and led by David Bragger. Bragger, a UCSB alum and Los Angeles-based musician and folk musicologist, is a fiddler and multi-instrumentalist. He directs the UCLA Old-Time String Band Ensemble and runs the Old-Time Tiki Parlour, a record label and multi-media initiative. Bragger was present in various capacities, including as a fiddler guest.
A key focus this year was on promoting the African and Black American roots of banjo playing, championed by Hannah Mayres, an active leader of the Bay Area-based Black Banjo Reclamation Project. Mayres, who appeared with friends, brought two additional banjo pickers to enhance the sonic ensemble. The festival also paid special tribute to influential Black fiddler William Alonzo Janes (1850-1937), whose image was displayed on the backdrop of the main stage. The stage itself was renamed the “Alonzo Janes Performance Stage” by Bragger.
Among the featured artists were Suzy & Eric Thompson, who, according to their website, “have devoted their lives to the pursuit of weird and obscure old-time American music.” Their performance on this Goleta afternoon included pieces such as Memphis Minnie’s “In My Girlish Days,” a tune by Appalachian fiddler Clyde Davenport, and blues from Ma Rainey. Also performing were Spencer & Rains, a married musical couple from Lawrence, Kansas. They presented old songs originating from Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, including “Who Broke the Lock on the Henhouse Door,” “The Crooked Waltz,” and Huddie Leadbetter’s “Relax Your Mind.” They concluded the day with a brisk fiddle tune medley that featured “Buffalo Gals.”
The festival, which began as the Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention, successfully created its distinctive ambience of earthy musical goodness, unplugged to its core, on the Stow House property. The setting provided an escape from nearby 21st-century suburbia. Prior to attending the event, listeners could savor the retro-country radio show “Country Kaleidoscope,” hosted by veteran deejay Greg Drust, on KCSB FM (91.9 FM).
