2009 Musical Gift Ideas

Gift ideas. It is that time of year for gift giving, and here is our usual offering of ideas – CDs from (mostly) local artists, music festival tickets, books, and musical instruments. In some cases links have been provided, and in others you will have to seek out info on your own. For the bands, go to their websites and buy direct from them, thereby cutting out the Amazon middle-dude.

CDs:

Northern California

Dr. Elmo & Wild Blue Wild Blue Grass; Nell Robinson Nell Robinson In Loango; Stevie Coyle Ten-In-One; Rory McNamara So Far, So Good; Corinne West The Promise; Maria Muldaur Maria Muldaur & Her Garden Of Joy; The West County Professional Tea Sippers The Kettle Is On; Three At Last Three At Last; Ian Dogle Crossroads; Riggy Rackin Somewhere In Between; Houston Jones Jericho Road; Rita Hosking Come Sunrise; Blue & Lonesome Some Old Day; The Cowlicks Hey, Hey We’re The Cowlicks; The Saddle Cats Herdin’ Cats; The Black Crown Stringband The Black Crown Stringband; Moss Henry Roll the Bones; Angelica Grim Look At Me; Kitka Cradle Songs; Grandpa Banana I'll Do Anything For You; Pink Sabbath A World Below; High Country Perfect Companions: Forest Sun Just For Fun.

National

Roseanne Cash The List; Del McCoury Band Family Circle (two songs by former longtime West Marin County singer/songwriter Joe New); Steve Martin The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo.

Festival tickets:

Sonoma Country Bluegrass Festival March 13th; Strawberry Music Festival on Memorial and Labor Day weekends; CBA Father’s Day Festival June 17th-20th.

Books:

Scroll and Curl by Marin musician and Amazing Grace music store owner John Pedersen; Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock ‘n Roll Survivor by Al Kooper; King of the Queen City: The Story of King Records by Jon Hartley Fox; Meeting Jimmie Rodgers: How America's Original Roots Music Hero Changed the Pop Sounds of a Century by Barry Mazor; The Protest Singer (about Pete Seeger) by Alec Wilkinson; Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits by Barney Hoskyns; Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times by Ralph Stanley and Eddie Dean; Hands In Harmony, a collection of portraits of Appalachian craftspeople and musicians, by Tim Barnwell; We’ll Be Here For The Rest Of Our Lives by Paul Shaffer, the band leader on The Late Show With David Letterman; Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D. G. Kelley; Right Here On Our Stage Tonight! Ed Sullivan’s America by Gerald Nachman.

Musical instruments and records:

Amazing Grace Music in San Anselmo, Schoenberg Guitars in Tiburon, 5th String in Berkeley, People’s Music in Sebastopol, The Last Record Store in Santa Rosa.

Organization Memberships:

California Bluegrass Association, The Northern California Bluegrass Society.

Go here for 2008 holiday gift ideas