The Wednesday Night Farmer's Market Concert Series - September 30, 2009

As the Wednesday Night Farmer's Market Concert Series winds down with the Western Open Fiddlers Band, vendors are few but still good buys even at this windy and slightly chilly event. I decided early morning to bake up a batch of soft, chewy oatmeal cookies to sell to benefit PATH; Poor And The Homeless in Tehama County. After $6 worth sold and still lots of cookies left, I enjoyed the bluegrass and old-style country tunes being played on this last day. I grew up on this music and stayed this time until the very end where I got the names of the group from Dean Boring, the lead guitarist and one of the main singers.

Bill Covert, another guitarist, along with Lee Brushett on mandolin, Tex Ash on upright bass, Olive Donaldson on violin (and a fine singer in her own right), as well as the multi-talented Anne Huber (on violin, harmonica and maracas), create this collection of bluegrass and old-time country music band. This was called "saving the best for last," in my informed opinion, and I never tire of this kind of music.

Tex Ash is also master of ceremonies of the Western Open Fiddle Championships held in October in Tehama County and has been doing an exceptional job since 1982. A retiree who worked at the Simpson Paper Co. in Anderson for 29 years, a native of Amarillo, Texas, Ash grew up in San Diego and played in several Southern California country and western bands. He’d picked up the upright bass while in his high school dance band and kept playing it after he graduated. He got into hosting when one of the country bands he was in had a bad public speaker.

Olive Donaldson was quite surprised that I stuck around for the entire performance; her fiddle playing was superb despite the fact her microphone got in the way of her bow arm. She has the distinction of being a long-time member of the California State Old Time Fiddlers Association (of which Lee Brushett is also an Advisor) where the culture of American country music is studied, taught and played. She is also one of the Olive Donaldson & Company music group which is always well-received by musicians and non-musicians alike.

Anne Huber is the Senior Representative of the CSOTFA, one of the nine awarded in the Senior Senior Finals (70+) of the Western Open Fiddle Championships of 2008. She seems very comfortable in her role as an all-round music artist. Her fiddle prowess is about as great as it gets, along with her harmonica riffs and shakes it up with the band from time to time. The song "Spanish Eyes" wouldn't be the same without her precise wrist accent and it gives an authentic flavor to the song overall.

I wish to thank all the performers during the time I was able to produce this series on-the-fly. I hope to continue these independent postings to show that the town and county I live in harbors a wide range of talented and down-home people who love what they do. I am Cameron Farmer for Kingspirit Entertainment. See you around next year for the Wednesday Night Farmer's Market Concert Series in Red Bluff, California.