[FM] A MUSIC GOLD RUSH in California Foothills!

[Paula Joy Welter]

The town is tiny, but the music is mighty, in Georgetown, CA.    'Where's
Georgetown?'  It's up a corkscrew-winding mountain road that leads to
towering pines and startlingly blue sky, between Auburn, kind of, and
Placerville, CA, off Hwy 193.   We're talking a town that's maybe 2 blocks
long, at the most.  

One year ago, on Valentine's Day, I was delighted to be asked to perform as
the featured performer  of the American River Folk Society's first concert.
It's amazing to see how quickly this grass-roots series has grown from that
house concert of 
38 listeners to a series that now requires a large hall to accommodate the
people buying tickets.  

In the past year, this small community, thanks to American  River Folk
Society and volunteers (founded by Bruce & Cindy Hayden) has or will be
featuring:

Steve Gillette/Cindy Mangsen -- coming soon, March 12, 2000
John McCutcheon -- October 14, 2000
Paul Kamm & Eleanore MacDonald (Nevada City, CA)
Chuck Brodsky 
Christine and Rob Bonner & Joe Craven  (Colfax, California)
Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer  (Oregon -- but loved by their California neighbors)
Alice Stuart  & Prune Rooney  (Grass Valley, California)
Lui Colllins and Dana Robinson
Paula Joy Welter (Placerville, CA -- now transplanted to Sacramento, CA)

Side note:  The reason I point out the California-based artists is to
emphasize the fact that there are MANY West Coast artists worthy of booking
right alongside the noted East Coast artists.   If you're an  East Coast
venue getting calls from  Californian artists, I'm encouraging you to book
them for a music experience that might be refreshingly new to your ears, as
regional differences amongst musicians' styles are fascinating -- IMHO. 

A recent concert from this series that I'd like to mention while it's fresh
in my mind, as a delighted audience member:

Surely, some of the most skillfully woven and atypical, ethereal harmonies
anywhere belong to the Nevada City duo of PAUL KAMM and ELEANORE MacDONALD,
featured as Cupid's ambassadors this Valentine's Day just past.  
Paul and Eleanore have a sound that is refreshingly and distinctly all their
own, and I always feel like I've gotten a soul massage when I hear them
perform, whether live, or via one of several CD's that they've excellently
produced -- a new release forthcoming.

As concerts go, this one was outstanding.  The sound was some of the best
I've heard anywhere, thanks to Scott Teagarden/Placerville, CA, and doubly
so because of the lavish dessert buffet that everyone got to enjoy between
Paul and Eleanore's sets.

Check this series out!

american-river-folk.org

Paula Joy Welter
songs.com/pjw
PO Box 660004, Sacramento, CA 95866-0004

P.S.

(Since I'm mentioning Georgetown, can't resist sharing that years ago, I did
a deposition at the Georgetown Fire Department... it' such a small town that
I was sent to take the live testimony of a member of the Georgetown
Volunteer Fire Department, and amusingly, deposition was held in the room
where the firemen sleep -- complete with  bunk beds and teddy bears on the
pillows!  Such a lovely change from the overly ostentatious marble-lined
conference rooms where many depositions are held!)