High Sierra Music Festival Review - Jambase.com

Once again, the magic of High Sierra Music Festival made my 4th of July weekend one for the record books.  The veterans that frequent this gem of a gathering know the right way to party, for four straight days and nights in a row. Yes, our days were filled with music and dancing, and our nights were filled with, well, music and dancing. This festival knows how to keep things going 'till the break of dawn and then some, and then you sleep for a few hours and do it all over again. This year's HSMF was one for the books, drawing its biggest crowd yet in its 22nd year. I was lucky enough to cover the entire weekend for Jambase alongside my friend and editor, Dennis Cook, who was on his final assignment ever for Jambase.  

Here is our collaborative take on the weekend, along with a slew of fantastic photos which capture HSMF in all its glory:

High Sierra Music Festival :: 07.05-08.12 :: Plumas Country Fairgrounds :: Quincy, CA

It wouldn't have been a summer festival without some good reggae, and Toots delivered the skank-worthy grooves to us with gusto:



It also wouldn't have been a summer festival without the songs of the Grateful Dead, which were funkifed, sometimes beyond recognition, by The Motet. Here's their take on "Loose Lucy":



Rounding out the zany late-night action, ALO ambitiously took on a full album cover of Steve Miller's Fly Like An Eagle album. Here are the first couple of songs to that surreal experience:



HSMF is a place where the line between performer and audience is almost indistinguishable. Suprise Me Mr. Davis' suprise RV set is a great example of this happy co-mingling. What a time!



There couldn't have been a better festival closer than Railroad Earth, who's expansive, joyous sound filled the Grandstand field on Sunday night and bookended what was a momentous weekend for everyone: