The Yosemite Music Festival in the Sierra Nevada foothill town of Mariposa, CA. (western entrance community to Yosemite Valley) takes place Friday, July 8 & Saturday, July 9, 2016 at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds. The festival, in its 15th year of occurrence, was originally called Carter Ranch Music Festival and took place at the Carter Ranch in Mariposa. In 2013 we relocated to provide a permanent location in town and the festival was renamed to avoid confusion with the location change. The event is put on by Chuck Carter and Adam Finney working together with a host of volunteers over the last 15 years. The concept of the event is to bring the best touring acts possible to the small town environment of Mariposa. According to promoter Adam Finney, “The event has always been about collaboration of artists and their unique interactions with the townspeople, fans and supporters of the event. The festival is for both travelers coming to Mariposa for the first time and longtime locals; it has something for everybody”. Historically, Mariposa was a state seat during the gold rush and has been seen as a gateway community to Yosemite National Park. The town has also attracted artists, ranchers, wanderers, writers and nature enthusiasts looking to enjoy the Western foothills in relative tranquility.
The artistic concept for the festival is to provide a simple and stunningly mellow environment for people to interact with incredible quality original music by local, regional, national and international bands. The promoters book bands based on the caliber of the music they play and the interest the pique not only in listener’s current fancies but their relationship to listener’s future interests. According to promoter Adam Finney, “We have a grassroots commitment to providing a variety of professional, historically significant, varied and deeply relevant music to people - whether or not they already like or know about a band we book - we’re always trying to put together an eclectic and interesting lineup that is at once powerful and provocative. We like to think of ourselves as building community while attending to the festival goers’ fascination and growing appreciation for live music. We want to provide an event where people of all ages and styles can come together and find an eclectic array of truly provocative and powerful music performed by artisans from all over. We want to bring the best music in that we can while staying true to our roots.” The YMF promoters were influenced heavily by the 1960’s and 70’s with Chuck Carter living down the road from the Fillmore and attending many epic shows. Adam grew up listening to live music up and down California chasing a variety of bands across venues ranging from all-ages punk clubs like Gilman Street to Pappy and Harriet’s to High Sierra.
This year’s lineup is sure to impress. Not only does it include two of master critic and music historian Greil Marcus’s Real Life Rock Top 10 from his Pitchfork weekly column (The Americans and Heron Oblivion serendipitously were added to the lineup in conjunction with Marcus’ high praise), Gabby LaLa brings her 7 piece all girl Psyche band: Snow Angel. Paige Anderson and family return with their band: The Fearless Kin; after a year of enchanting and transporting audiences across the West with their hauntingly beautiful melodies and virtuosic picking. Local favorites Bootstrap Circus return after their dynamic late set last year and longtime banjo player and festival mainstay Andy Roberts brings more of his bands while two great reggae bands round out the lineup with festival newcomers (but highly praises and accomplished musicians) Little Fuller Band and Joe Kaplow.
Tickets are $40 for a weekend pass or $20 for Saturday only. Both passes include 1 night camping and can be purchased off the website at: YosemiteMusicFestival.com.