The Trespassers

The Trespassers are a string band from the Yosemite National Park area who began performing together in the fall of 2004. We are Ben Goger (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Andy Roberts (banjo, guitar, vocals), Sarah Cupery Ottley (fiddle, vocals), and Ben Friedrich (double bass, vocals). Our original music is inspired both by the beauty of our wild surroundings and by the decline of natural places like it. We trespass social and political boundaries, as well as the boundaries of musical genres. We write and cover songs influenced by bluegrass, old-time, and gypsy-jazz. We hope that as we share and spread our music, we bring smiles to faces, stomps into boots and sandals, wiggles into hips, and inspiration to human beings to live more joyfully and consciously. and, yes we are still rocking a recycled veggie oil rig as one of our vehicles in our fleet of touring rigs.

Hot Buttered Rum - July 5, 2009

Hot Buttered Rum, one of the hardest-working and fastest-rising stars in the musical firmament, has become, over the last five years, a group that is infinitely greater than the sum of its parts. It began with a core of five uniquely talented musicians writing and singing songs on the mountaintops and city streets of Northern California; five musicians who, on the night they realized they loved playing together too much to ever stop, were sipping a warm buttery winter drink from which the group derived its name. Since that fateful night, the organization has steadily expanded to include a rich tapestry of fans, friends and family reaching from coast to coast.

In the Fall of 2006, itching to release their first live album featuring the whole band, Hot Buttered Rum announced that it would be recording a handful of shows for official release. Live in the Northeast (released May 2007) beautifully reveals the true core of live Butter: music that is forceful without being flashy, serious without being stuffy, intricate without being inaccessible, and diverse without being distracting. Often described as a rock band playing bluegrass instruments, no prior Butter recording has so perfectly displayed the band’s bolder and heavier side. That full sound permeates Live in the Northeast — from the reggae-tinged “Return Someday” and psychedelica of “Desert Rat” through definitive covers of the Grateful Dead’s “Cumberland Blues” and Leo Sayer’s “Feel Like Dancin’” — winding the listener through a robust and intense set of acoustic rock.

The widespread appeal of HBR’s music stems not only from the band’s musical versatility and prolific songwriting, but also from the magnetic chemistry the group creates onstage together. It was this chemistry that drew the group together, and that holds it together still through the rigors of their involved professional life together. It is this chemistry that audiences are consistently drawn to and caught up in, comment on effusively at shows and in online chat groups. It is this chemistry that is propelling the band to ever greater success.

HBR is committed to achieving its musical goals in an environmentally sensitive manner. Since 2003, the band has toured in vehicles that run on vegetable oil and biodiesel instead of fossil fuel products. Doing this has not been easy, especially in the early days. But, being in a business that requires driving thousands of miles each year, HBR knows that using alternative fuel is one of the most effective ways it can reduce its ecological footprint. The band enjoys performing for educational assemblies and benefit concerts, and many of their songs seek to raise awareness about the socially and environmentally volatile era in which we live. Above all, HBR’s goal is to satisfy their audience’s minds, hearts and dancing feet with a unique and uplifting blend of progressive American music.

Hot Buttered Rum will play at Mountain Sage Saturday, July 5th.  This family event will be held outside in the gardens and begins at 5:00pm. Tickets are $13 in advance, $16 at the door; ages 6-13, $6. Hope to see you there!

Adam Burns Band

Adam Burns made his first public appearance as a singer/songwriter at a Tsunami benefit concert in El Portal, California. Adam grew up in rural England and had been playing guitar and singing since he was in high school. However, it was the creative and passionate community of El Portal that inspired him to finally bring his songs out of the closet. A couple of months after his first performance, Adam produced his first Album, 'Sittin on the Step'. This collection of ramshackle, bluesy acoustic pop songs was recorded entirely in Adam's pint-sized house by the Merced river. The Adam Burns Band was born in April 2005, when drummer Greg Nespor and bassist Greg Archer joined Adams solo act for the Amstock music festival in El Portal. Soon afterwards, the addition of Kristin on vocals, violin, and guitar completed the current line up. The band's first gig as a four piece was a party on Greg Archers deck, where they played a short but impassioned set to a small group of smiling, dancing friends. Since then, their act has grown to include over 25 songs, almost all of which are Adams original compositions. They released their first CD, 'Laika' in April 2006. A fervent mixture of Motown pop, funk, reggae and boisterous rock, an Adam Burns Band gig may just be the best night out you've had in a very long time. View The Adam Burns Band at Mountain Sage - 2007 here!

The Adam Burns Band will be joining Hot Buttered Run on Saturday, July 5th at Mountain Sage in Groveland. Come bring the kids, a blanket, and your dancing feet and enjoy their contagious energy out in the garden.