California Bluegrass Association
The annual CBA Great 48 will be held January 8 – 11 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Bakersfield. Hopefully you have already taken advantage of the CBA room rate with the hotel because this hotel is full, but others are available. Several other bluegrass organizations from all over California have established a presence at this event. Besides the incredible opportunity to jam with others from around the region, four organized events will be available. 
On Thursday night the Brothers Barton from Bakersfield & MojaviSoul from San Diego will perform a free concert in the Presidential Suite. Paul & Loren Barton feature their major songwriting talent backed by their haunting vocals & excellent mandolin & guitar musicianship. MojaviSoul is a quintet reminiscent at times of Hank Williams’ Drifting Cowboys, Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli’s Minor Swing. On Friday night the Bakersfield Kiwanis will present Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper in a benefit concert for leukemia research. Nine-time IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year, Michael Cleveland is no stranger to CBA folks, having played several times at the CBA Father’s Day Festival in Grass Valley & at Bluegrassin’ in the Foothills in Plymouth. Flamekeeper features tight vocals, blistering instrumentals, & fiddle & banjo duets that echo the first generation of bluegrass greats. Advance tickets are available from Gary Young, 3101 Victoria Way, Bakersfield, CA 93309, for $20.
On Saturday there will be a Kids on Stage event, a band scramble, an open mic, & a teen jam suite. Roger Siminoff will demonstrate the new Straight Up strings for mandolin & banjo in his suite. All this plus all the jamming your fingers & voices can stand.
Check out Randy Shelton’s YouTube presentation of the 2014 Great 48 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbj9HAOxb8g&feature=youtu.be.
Come on down & bring a friend.
