Last month all eyes were on Napa, as the BottleRock music festival turned wine country into Woodstock West.
This weekend, Sonoma offers its own stew of sounds, many of them emanating from the Gundlach Bundschu winery out Vineburg way, California’s oldest family-owned winery. That’s where GunBun is presenting their fourth Huichica Music Festival, featuring indie bands and artisanal music, “hand-curated collections of emerging and established artists and celebrated restaurants.”
Huichica looks like a Oaxacan word, and sounds like one too. It’s the name given the 75-square mile Mexican land grant in the Carneros region in the early 1840s – just a couple years before that Bear Flag was unfurled over the Sonoma Plaza. In 1857 Jacob Gundlach purchased part of the land grant, and a year later started growing grapes. In 1864 Charles Bundschu showed up to give him a hand (and marry his daughter).
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Think of it as BottleRock Unplugged, or “uncorked” if you’re a stickler for metaphor. Among the bands playing all day Saturday the 15th, with a briefer line-up on Friday the 14th, are Blitzen Trapper, Fruit Bats, Jonathan Wilson, Cass McCombs Band, Damien Jurado, Jessica Pratt, The Donkeys, White Magic, Floating Action, Marty Marquis, Eric D. Johnson, and DJ Andy Cabic.
The Huichica Festival was founded by Jeff Bundshu and Eric D. Johnson, who will be playing a solo set as well as with his acoustic band the Fruit Bats. Headliners Blitzen Trapper is an experimental country-folk band now in its 13th year; they’re from Portland, Ore, and played a record 11 shows in less than four days at Austin’s SXSW in 2012.
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Also headlining are the artisan and mouth-watering foods from area restaurants, caterers and the Sonoma Farmers Market – available for pairing with Gundlach Bundschu wines (no surprise there) and/or beer by Deschutes Brewery.
Friday night’s brief bill opens with the Fruit Bats in jam, at 7:30, followed by psychedelic folk musician Jonathan Wilson at 9 p.m. Admission is $18.
Saturday proffers a full day of Huichica on two full stages, a wine tent and a kids zone, culminating in a main concert at 7:30 with the Fruit Bats, Blitzen Trapper and a “super-jam” to close. Two-day tickets are $50, Saturday only $40.
For a complete list of musicians, food vendors, schedule and ticket links, visit huichicamusicfestival.com.
