Sacramento Music Festival

As mentioned in my last post, I attended the Sacramento Music Festival this weekend. I think the last time I went, I was about 16 or 17. After that, I stopped doing family outings. Now that I am quite a bit older, I have fun hanging out with my parents again. I really wanted to take my dad this year since he loves going, but can't really afford the ticket prices. When I purchased the tickets, the line-up wasn't out yet. By the time it was, I had forgotten to check. So, when I arrived, I was quite excited about the headliners. Two of the headliners I missed was James Hunter, who played on Friday night, and The Blasters, who played too late for my parents Saturday night. But, who I did get to see, was Wanda Jackson.

The festival is mostly contained in the Old Sacramento area, but there are two other hotels a bit farther down, that also host a venue. In the morning, my parents and I arrived just before the second sets were starting. So, we decided to pick a blues band so that we could sit down and plan the rest of the day. The artist was a 20 years old harmonica player, named Kyle Rowland,  who has been playing since he was about ten years old.

The next venue went to was the main stage that was featuring a zydeco band, which my parents enjoyed. After eating, we had some time to kill, so we went to the Railroad Museum that I featured in my last post.

The afternoon was my choosing. The first band I picked for the afternoon was Lost Dog Found. I quite enjoyed their set. Upon walking in to the venue, I saw a familiar face. The bass player, who was filling in for the regular bass player, is the very Whiskey Pills who plays with Jinx Jones at the saloon (blogged here).  It was nice to see someone I knew, and I also really enjoyed the set. I even bought a cd. I also took some video, though most of what can be seen is the backs of the gentlemen in front of me.

The next band I chose was a classic rockabilly cover band named Dave Bennett and the Memphis Boys, who specialize in Jerry Lee Lewis covers. The crowd really loved them and their on stage antics. They got quite an ovation. 

The highlight of my weekend was watching Wanda Jackson. Since I have yet to attend Viva Las Vegas, I had never seen her live. The program had two different times for her show, one at 6:30 and one at 7:30. Not wanting to have to stand in the back, I actually got to the venue at 5:45 to secure hay bail seats. But, her set didn't start until 7:30. It was worth the wait, though. I was pleased, that though she had a hiccup or two, her voice is still pretty good for being in her 70s. She played a couple of my favorite songs, but also did a few of her newer songs, and to be honest, I didn't even know she had new songs. Again, I was able to take some video, though most of it this time were the tops of people's heads.