Lost Sierra Hoedown is a pearl of a festival, rare and intimate with a great lineup of folk, rock, blues and bluegrass music. The sustainable event raises money to support the Johnsville Historic Ski Bowl and its community partners, Eastern Plumas Recreation District, Plumas Ski Club and Plumas Eureka State Park Association.
Sept. 22-25 | $160 | Free 12 & younger
Plumas Eureka State Park | Graeagle
Drew Fisher, co-founder of the festival and director of operations, explained that while skiing with business partner Azariah Reynolds, the idea to host a festival at the location was born. Johnsville’s rich history is important to both men. It is the site of the historic Long Board Revival hosted by Plumas Ski Club, held three times during the winter season.
Dealing with logistics is an enormous undertaking.
Watch a sneak peek of this year’s Lost Sierra Hoedown
Lost Sierra Hoedown from Rotor Collective Digital Cinema on Vimeo.
“The event is held in the state park and logistics are challenging. We want to make the process smooth, getting everyone in and to their camps and it takes a bit of figuring out,” says Fisher.
They’ve improved shuttle services and added more runs late into the evening. The festival promoters have also added a number of intimate, late-night shows on an all-inclusive ticket price. There are also yoga and theater skits.
Reynolds and Fisher scout artists and talent for the festival throughout the year. The artists and participants camp together, creating a community that spends the weekend together off the grid, steeped in nature while listening to great music.
“When we play live, we especially feel we can roll out, have fun and connect with people. We love playing in the mountains, we love playing Tahoe and we love being up in the trees.”
– Shannon Koehler
“We want to make the event affordable and inspire people to camp out and listen to good music sustainably,” says Fisher.
There’s music at the deck stage, the lodge set and the Groom Haus, as well as late night at the lodge and the tent. The Groom House stage was once an old maintenance shed. It was rebuilt with funds raised by past Lost Sierra Hoedown events and now houses the one-and-only ski-hill groomer.
Electric Blue Elephant will be located on site to offer vegan fare while local Italian restaurant Cuccias Pasta-Pizza Wine Bar will deliver pizza to the site. Festival-goers are encouraged to bring their own food.
Raising awareness through music
The Stone Foxes headline the event. Drummer and vocalist Shannon Koehler and his brother Spence, who is the guitarist and vocalist, grew up in a small town in the Sierra Foothills.
“There’s a post office, a gas station and a place that used to be a video store,” Koehler says.
The members are passionate about social issues; because they were small-town kids, they were not familiar with the realities of big-city living. In San Francisco, where they now live, they became concerned about the homeless population and realized they needed to do something. They received a grant from Cliff Bar and started The Goodnight Moon Project to raise awareness for homelessness through music. They ask fans to donate food when they come to a show.
“We brought a camera and invited people to sing with us. Music moves people,” says Koehler.
Fresh out of recording sessions, The Stone Foxes are working on a number of songs for a new project.
“I try to keep (the music) simple and say we play rock and roll,” Koehler says. “We love Wilco, Jack White, The Kinks, Muddy Waters and Americana stuff.”
The band continues to work hard and improve and not become complacent, and is known for their high-energy live shows.
“When we play live, we especially feel we can roll out, have fun and connect with people. We love playing in the mountains, we love playing Tahoe and we love being up in the trees,” says Koehler.
Kings Beach band Sneaky Creatures, an alt-gypsy swing band, performs Saturday late night. With a new album out entitled, “Dirt Circus,” the band is sure to keep us up into the wee hours.
Drummer Steve Saturno loves playing the Hoedown, he says, because of the intimacy of the festival and the spontaneous jams that occur with the other musicians. “This is our third time at the event,” he says.
The band just released a new video and has been collaborating with Tahoe Flow Arts Studio for a more theatrical and choreographed show. The seven-piece band offers a raucous good time.
This year’s lineup of artists is wide, varied and exciting. Nathan Moore, Willy Tea Taylor, Jordon Smart and The Haunted Windchimes play late-night sets. Marty O’Reilly and the Old Soul Orchestra, The Sweetwater String Band and Bobcat Rob Armenti are not to be missed.
According to Hoedown’s Fisher: “Bobcat was the first artist to agree to play the event when it was just an idea.”
With only 500 tickets available, the Lost Sierra Hoedown is the place to be this weekend.
For more information and tickets, visit lostsierrahoedown.com.
