Welcome to California Red Wine

Sep 5, 2023 | Welcome to California!, Coming Event(s), Interview

Welcome to California Red Wine
IBMA 2023 Distinguished Achievement Award nominees and the Bay Area’s favorite EU bluegrass band, Red Wine, is taking a west coast swing including three stops in California following shows in Washington and Oregon. Below is the info on the shows and a short interview from the road.

Jefferson Center for the Arts
Thursday, September 7: 7-11 PM (door at 6:30)
1125 Pine Grove Drive, Mt. Shasta, CA 96067
Purchase Tickets

Chochmat HaLev
Friday, 8 September – 7:30 PM (door at 7 PM)
2215 Prince Street, Berkeley, CA 94705
Purchase Tickets

Sebastopol Community Center
Saturday, September 9 – 7:30 PM (door 7 PM)
390 Morris Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472
Tickets at the door only

I caught up with them on the road and got banjo player Silvio Ferretti to answer a few questions about the shows and tour.

Tell us about the band and stops on this quick west coast tour.
This configuration of the band has been together for 12 years now, and it’s the best ever IMO (I’m the founder and only original member left, so I should know ?).

We’re playing one gig per day: started with Finnriver in Chimacum WA, then the wonderful Northern Cascades festival in Bellingham WA, Oswego Lake, OR yesterday, Bainbridge Island WA today, Leavenworth WA tomorrow, then Mt. Shasta CA, Berkeley CA, and finally Sebastopol CA on Saturday. Sort of a “Star of David” tour, but it’s great seeing all these places.

Any special guests?
We had Annie Staninec yesterday, and the audience LOVED her playing and the way she complemented our sound perfectly. I’ve known Annie for almost 20 years and played with her many times at the NAMM and Frankfurt trade shows. Plus she is featured on a couple of Red Wine CDs, so it was a blast playing with her again.

Kathy Kallick is going to guest in Berkeley. She’s also an old friend, we go back almost 40 years and we played together quite often. Martino was a member of the KKB for a couple of tours years ago, and we had Kathy and Annie at our Red Wine Bluegrass Party in 2017, so it’s going to be great fun.

Do you have any new releases coming?
We’re working on a new CD, which was originally intended to be out for this tour… Things in life interfered with this plan, so we hope to release it before Christmas.

What events back home do you recommend that we get on a plane to attend? and why?
Our Bluegrass Party for sure, it’s an event that sort of changes face every year while having Red Wine as a house band, playing with great guests (local or International), all based on a different theme each year.

What is your impression of California Bluegrass?
We love it, it has the power of the original inspirations (the Kentucky Colonels and Vern Williams, to name a couple of first-generation greats), the finesse of the second generation (Laurie Lewis, Kathy Kallick, Herb Pedersen, Chris Hillman), and the outstanding technical prowess brought to the genre by LA studio cats like Dennis Caplinger. It’s a truly modern type of Bluegrass with deep roots.

Are you still having fun?
You bet!

Is there anything else you want to say or pitch?
Yes: we’re proud and honored – and overwhelmed – for having been awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award by the IBMA. Looks like we did something great for the popularity of Bluegrass in Europe when all we always strived to do was try to play it with our personal style… Guess it worked. Martino and I are going to Raleigh to accept the Award, still pinching ourselves a little bit I’m sure.

Thanks much and I hope to see you in the Bay Area.
You’re welcome! See you soon!

Here is a video of Red Wine at IBMA a couple of years back.

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