44 th Annual Strawberry Music Festival 2026
Music is eternal. The sound waves spread out over great distances, and music broadcast may well reach another galaxy in time. Music is a defining aspect of humanity. When played, it makes full use of only one of our senses, but evokes images and memories that can excite all our senses. The smell of a campfire, the memory of a walk through the redwoods.
Live music is something else entirely. Of course, the sounds still tickle our auditory nerves, but we also see the musician's emotions. We see the eyebrows arch and eyes close when a guitarist reaches for that high note at the very bottom of the fretboard, or the intensity of purpose as the keyboardist pounds out the notes in 7/8 time, or the concentration of the drummer coordinating rhythm and movement to drive home the beat.
For 44 years, the Strawberry Music Festival (May 21-24, 2026) has been delivering the sights and sounds of music to an audience longing for the feeling that live music provides. The 44th annual Strawberry Music Festival is once again delivering.
The festival began in 1982 and was held near Strawberry, CA. It was founded by folks whose love of acoustic music motivated the effort to create a festival to celebrate it. Mostly folk and bluegrass music, the festival evolved to include a broad definition of folk music, which included blues, Cajun, Celtic, as well as indie and folk-rock.
In 1983, the festival moved to a mountain retreat near Yosemite National Park, and it remained home
to the festival for about 30 years until the Rim Fire of 2013 caused the festival to move to its current location at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley.
The 2026 Strawberry Music Festival hosts a lineup of award-winning artists and some of the finest players in the folk music realm today. The festival begins Thursday afternoon on the Play Stage with Las Cafeteras, a band from East LA, mixing Afro-Mexican rhythms, electronic beats, and powerful rhymes that document stories of a community, followed by Mr. Sun featuring renowned players Darrol Anger, Joe K. Walsh, Grant Gordy, and Aidan O’Donnell. A bit later in the day, the Main Stage opens with Anthony Crawford with Savana Lee, Keith Greeninger and Nina Gerber, Abby Posner & The Big Fall, and closing with Marley's Ghost.
Friday’s Main Stage schedule begins with Mendocino County favorites The Real Sarahs at 11:00am, followed by the Duo Quartet, Caltucky, the Evie Ladin Band, Mr. Sun, and closes with Las Cafeteras. Michael McNevin and Old Soles String Band will take to the Pine Tree Stage, and various workshops are held throughout the weekend at the Loadin’ Chute and the Strawberry Way Station.
Saturday’s lineup includes Eliza Gilkyson & Nina Gerber, Deep Thicket Dwellers, Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band, Della Mae, Keith Greeninger, Banana Slug String Band, Peter Case, Mokai, and a Contra Dance at the Pine Tree Stage at 3pm.
Sunday includes Larry & Joe, mixing Old-Time and Latin music and rhythms, and Darrell Scott String Band featuring Rob Ickes. Bill Kirchen, the guitar master whose iconic guitar work many first came to know by the first few bars of Hot Rod Lincoln, by Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, closes out the festival with his band, with Nina Gerber.
Included throughout the weekend are workshops, song circles, storytelling, dancing, as well as yoga and Qi Gong workshops.
There are still day tickets available for the All Festival Pass, Camping, and Spring Day Tickets.
I hope to see you at the 44th Annual Strawberry Music Festival this weekend. Bring a chair, and bring a friend.
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Folk music is music in the vernacular. Music created in the language and style of ordinary speech and custom, for and by ordinary folks, here and around the world. Host Jeff Zolitor, presents "Roots & All" as a musical journey through the roots and branches of Folk music.
For Playlists CLICK HERE