13th annual old time music jamboree

The Berkeley Old Time Music Convention (BOTMC) is back for the 13th year, celebrating old time music from September 16-20, at locations all over town. This five-day festival offers concerts, square dancing, a string band contest, workshops, and activities especially for kids and families, all in intimate settings where the line between audience and performer is as thin as a guitar pick. Participants travel from across America for the chance to hang out, dance, and pick and sing alongside some of the top musicians and dancers in the old time fiddle and banjo world.

The Canote Brothers, identical twins Greg and Jere, are long-time favorites of Bay Area audiences. With fiddle, banjo, guitar, ukulele, and genetically matched voices, Greg and Jere specialize in fun, vintage American music, from long-forgotten fiddle scorchers to hilarious novelty songs from the 1920s and 30s. The twins’ affable approach invites folks of all ages to share the spirit and quirky humor that characterizes their brand of old time music.

Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton is a 25-year-old African American minstrel-songster who plays everything from blues to ballads to fiddle tunes on guitar, fiddle (his first instrument), harmonica, and banjo. As a teenager in East L.A., he began delving deep into the heart of old time music, including extensive explorations into the world of cylinder recordings and 78s. Jerron is a joyous and engaging entertainer, who exudes total happiness when he’s singing, playing, and telling marvelous stories.

Blue Diamond Strings is a new band comprised of two renowned duos (Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin, Eric & Suzy Thompson), plus two guys named Paul (Shelasky and Knight). Jody plays banjo and mandolin, Kate plays guitar and kazoo, Eric plays mandolin and guitar, Suzy and Paul Shelasky play fiddles, and for the BOTMC, Sharon Gilchrist will step in for Paul Knight on bass. Their joyful and often surprising old time music is strong in vocals and virtuosity, with roots in an extensive history of playing and recording together going back 50 years, as members of such bands as the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band, Any Old Time, Asphalt Jungle Mountain Boys, Blue Flame Stringband, New York Ramblers, Kleptograss, Arkansas Sheiks, California Cajun Orchestra, and Perfect Strangers.

visit the Canote Brothers website

visit the Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton Facebook page

visit the Jody Stecher & Kate Brislin website

visit the Eric & Suzy Thomspson website