Leftover Salmon, the Lil Smokies, and Dead Winter Carpenters provided the bluegrass and Phil Lesh & Friends fueled the “beyond” at the inaugural, one-day Bluegrass and Beyond festival in Stateline, Nevada, at Lake Tahoe.

July 19 UPDATE: Following a recent mild case of COVID-19 that kept Phil Lesh from performing with The String Cheese Incident at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on July 17, it has now been confirmed that Phil Lesh & Friends will indeed deliver a headlining performance Friday, July 22 at the single-day Bluegrass and Beyond Festival at Lake Tahoe.

Phil Lesh & Friends will deliver on Friday, July 22, a headlining performance to what promises to be a dandy of a single-day Bluegrass and Beyond Festival at world-famous Lake Tahoe, which straddles the borders of California and Nevada. Attendees at the general admission fest will be serenaded by 10 free-spirited bands on two stages at the Hard Rock Outdoor Area, adjacent to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe (https://bluegrassbeyond.com).

“All I need is music; I’m gonna make it through,” Jonny “Mojo” Flores sings on “Live on Wesley’s Road,” a massive, new live-performance project by northern California’s renowned song-and-jam-makers, Achilles Wheel. The three-CD package, which fiercely delivers the jamming juke-joint dance party vibe that the band gives off on the concert circuit, is a collective humdinger.

Achilles Wheel, which has been carving an ever-widening circle of fan appreciation over the past eight years, is working on a new live recording project, the second session of which was a real humdinger in their idyllic, rustic hometown of Nevada City, Calif., on August 21.

The sad passing on October 12 of Andy Goessling, founding member of Railroad Earth, the ongoing host band for the Hangtown Music Festival (Oct. 25-28), was a unifying thread at this year’s fest, prompting outspoken love, respect, and admiration. In the end, the shared loss sparked a like-minded cause for life celebration and a shared process of moving forward amid a backdrop of fabulous music, Halloween costumes, and community.

Achilles Wheel’s fourth album Sanctuary, released on February 28th, is a collection of originals that is authentically how they sound in performance. If that’s a plain proclamation, it’s meant as a sturdy compliment. These Sierra Mountain improvisational-spirited rockers never paid much mind as to how other “jam-bands” do it, nor do they let their influences determine their sound.

Ivy Room Presents “Songs About Something: Old, New, Borrowed and Blue Tunes in the Round” on April 6th will feature host Paige Clem joined by Achilles Wheel Duo (Jonny Flores and Paul Kamm) and Nat Keefe, guitarist for Hot Buttered Rum.

It was red noses all around on May 22 in Southern Sonoma County, as thousands converged at the Mountain Event Center to celebrate Wavy Gravy in merriment and song on the occasion of his 80^th birthday.