A Reunion Of Family At Lost Sierra Hoedown 2018: Review & Photos

Words & Photos by: Andrew Quist

Lost Sierra Hoedown :: 9.20 – 23.18
Johnsville Historic Ski Bowl :: Johnsville, CA

Check out a gallery of Andrew’s photos after his review.

“This piece of our planet must awaken when it hears the footsteps and music every year around this time. As folks gather from all corners, somehow the air starts to get sweeter and our hearts get filled to the brim.” – Amber Claunch, Lost Sierra Hoedown Attendee

Truer words simply cannot be spoken. This sixth installment of the Lost Sierra Hoedown, held for four days annually at the end of September, is so much more than a music festival. Look kind reader, you’re going to have to indulge me for what I am about to say because it is truth. The words may sound like honey-dripped hippie speak, but I am not that guy. The Lost Sierra Hoedown is far, far more than music and its appreciators. It literally is a place where life –- the important parts of life –- and the plans for life come into laser focus. This can be validated in the not one but two wedding proposals that happened there between September 20 – 23. It can be validated by people arriving back at home and declaring that they “have a plan” for what tomorrow holds. This is not just friends getting together for a weekend of mountains and music anymore, this is truly a reunion of family. We watch our kids grow up there, retighten the bonds that make us brothers and sisters despite a lack of blood relation. There is an honesty, an infectious energy that happens on that weekend that dares us to make bold moves and thought processes and somehow makes life decisions –- major moments at impending crossroads –- seem easier and more navigable. I’ve never experienced anything like it and I’ve been to a lot of music festivals. But Lost Sierra is not a music festival, it is a place without fences and VIP access, it is a hoedown.

I could go on for pages and pages about this year’s hoedown, I, after all, was one of the guys who knew that Lost Sierra was the only setting in which I needed to ask my girlfriend to marry me. I won’t go on about that because this piece is not about me. Lost Sierra is not about any one person, it is about all of us –- together. As an event, it is truly the sum of its parts. The setting, a historic ski lodge (the actual birthplace of American alpine downhill ski racing) tucked into surrounding Sierran mountain peaks at 6,500 feet in Johnsville, California, sets the stage for a soul-stirring weekend. This is not a music destination for the faint of heart. There are no showers, only a couple of really good food trucks, some great beer and running water round out the amenities for this pack-it-in and pack-it-out event. The weather can be mercurial. Last year it was freezing with intermittent snow and rain but this year the days were hot and windy with cool nights. And if you ever wanted to see a bunch of normally placid hippies immediately turn into a seasoned ship’s crew facing down a pressing gale, just watch an EZ Up at Hoedown get picked up by the wind. So, at its base, Lost Sierra is a heart-rending gathering of dear friends and family but to make it all the more incredible, the music lineup this year was the best I saw of any festival in California.

Azariah “Z” Reynolds, Drew Fisher, Z’s wife Amy and others that I am surely forgetting to mention, created and curated a lineup that featured the best of the stalwarts of the California music scene including The Mother Hips, The Sam Chase & The Untraditional, The Stone Foxes, Bobcat Rob & The Nightly Howl, Marty O’Reilly & the Old Soul Orchestra, Willy Tea Taylor, Joe Kaplow and intermingled them with national bands and musicians we love but do not get to see often such as Nathan Moore, The River Arkansas, Jordan Smart, Twain, The Haunted Windchimes and Possessed by Paul James. And then they introduced us to bands we’ve never seen before too, new bands hungry for a stage and a Hoedown staff eager to give them exposure like The Three To Get and The Wrinkle. The Hoedown showed us how to caringly put together and manage a lineup so that many are happy and walk away musically full and excited.

The bands bring it all to the Hoedown and leave it on the stage. They bring their best. The vibe and the excitement are not only infectious, they permeate the very pores of the music. They demand more from the bands onstage. Musical acts at Hoedown push the boundaries of their songs, and they dare more because if they were ever in front of a crowd ready to hug a train wreck moment, this is it. I have been a Mother Hips fan for a long, long time and I watched that band burn through a set of music with an abandon and fire that I have not seen in over five years. I watched Marty O’Reilly, sick as a dog, and literally looking for his voice prior to his set not only find the voice somewhere in the third song but drag it snarling and screaming back to the roar of a whiskey-fueled crowd. And these are just two of the hundreds of musical highlights I saw that weekend.

And the thing is that it is paying off. This, the sixth Hoedown, was a sellout as was 2017. It is so gratifying to see that Lost Sierra is not only gaining traction as an event but showing music lovers and festival organizers that bigger is not always better. The Hoedown sells out at 500 tickets and next year fans will surely find those tickets harder to get. When so many attendees leave an event and remark later that it was “life changing,” then a good portion of those folks will need to make it a permanent part of their calendar, an annual pilgrimage back to something that sets them right for the coming year. And, in a sense, it does become like a New Year’s celebration. A new year for our own calendar. Who needs to see the madness of Times Square when you can watch The Sam Chase and Willy Tea Taylor swap impersonations of Winnie The Pooh and alternatively take pulls off a Costco bottle of Bulleit whilst holding each other’s hands? That’s way better than a damn ball drop.

/* #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .bwg_mosaic_thumbnails_1 * { -moz-box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-box-sizing: border-box; box-sizing: border-box; } */ #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .bwg_mosaic_thumb_1 { display: block; -moz-box-sizing: content-box !important; -webkit-box-sizing: content-box !important; box-sizing: content-box !important; border-radius: 0; border: 0px none #CCCCCC; background-color: #FFFFFF; margin: 0; padding: 4px !important; opacity: 1.00; filter: Alpha(opacity=100); z-index: 100; } #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .bwg_mosaic_thumb_spun_1:hover { opacity: 1; filter: Alpha(opacity=100); backface-visibility: hidden; -webkit-backface-visibility: hidden; -moz-backface-visibility: hidden; -ms-backface-visibility: hidden; z-index: 102; position: absolute; } @media only screen and (min-width: 480px) { #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .bwg_mosaic_thumb_spun_1:hover { transform: scale(1.1); -ms-transform: scale(1.1); -webkit-transform: scale(1.1); } } #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .tablenav-pages_1 { visibility: hidden; } #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .bwg_mosaic_thumbnails_1 { background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.00); font-size: 0; position: relative; text-align: left; display:inline-block; visibility: hidden; } #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .bwg_mosaic_thumb_spun_1 { display:block; position: absolute; -moz-box-sizing: content-box !important; -webkit-box-sizing: content-box !important; box-sizing: content-box !important; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;-webkit-transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; } /*image title styles*/ #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .bwg_mosaic_title_spun1_1, #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .bwg_ecommerce_spun1_1 { position: absolute; display:block; opacity: 0; filter: Alpha(opacity=0); left: -10000px; top: 0px; box-sizing:border-box; text-align: center; } #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .bwg_mosaic_title_spun2_1, #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .bwg_ecommerce_spun2_1 { color: #CCCCCC; font-family: segoe ui; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; text-shadow: 0px 0px 0px #888888; vertical-align: middle; word-wrap: break-word; } .bwg_mosaic_play_icon_spun_1 { display: table; position: absolute; left: -10000px; top: 0px; opacity: 0; filter: Alpha(opacity=0); } .bwg_mosaic_play_icon_1 { color: #CCCCCC; font-size: 32px; vertical-align: middle; display: table-cell !important; z-index: 1; text-align: center; margin: 0 auto; } /*pagination styles*/ #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .tablenav-pages_1 { text-align: center; font-size: 12px; font-family: segoe ui; font-weight: bold; color: #666666; margin: 6px 0 4px; display: block; height: 30px; line-height: 30px; } @media only screen and (max-width : 320px) { #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .displaying-num_1 { display: none; } } #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .displaying-num_1 { font-size: 12px; font-family: segoe ui; font-weight: bold; color: #666666; margin-right: 10px; vertical-align: middle; } #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .paging-input_1 { font-size: 12px; font-family: segoe ui; font-weight: bold; color: #666666; vertical-align: middle; } #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .tablenav-pages_1 a.disabled, #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .tablenav-pages_1 a.disabled:hover, #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .tablenav-pages_1 a.disabled:focus { cursor: default; color: rgba(102, 102, 102, 0.5); } #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .tablenav-pages_1 a { cursor: pointer; font-size: 12px; font-family: segoe ui; font-weight: bold; color: #666666; text-decoration: none; padding: 3px 6px; margin: 0; border-radius: 0; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; border-color: #E3E3E3; background-color: #FFFFFF; opacity: 1.00; filter: Alpha(opacity=100); box-shadow: 0; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;-webkit-transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; } #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .bwg_back_1 { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); color: #000000 !important; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: segoe ui; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; padding: 0; } #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 #spider_popup_overlay_1 { background-color: #000000; opacity: 0.70; filter: Alpha(opacity=70); } #bwg_container1_1 #bwg_container2_1 .bwg_gal_title_1 { background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); color: #CCCCCC; display: block; font-family: segoe ui; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; padding: 2px; text-shadow: 0px 0px 0px #888888; text-align: center; } @media screen and (max-width: 350px) { div[class^=”bwg_mosaic_thumbnails_”], span[class^=”bwg_mosaic_thumb_spun_”] { width: 100% !important; } img[class^=”bwg_mosaic_thumb_”] { width: 100% !important; height: auto !important; } img[class^=”bwg_mosaic_thumb_”] { margin:0px auto !important; } }

/* Vertical.*/ function bwg_mosaic_1(event_type) { /* Resizable mosaic.*/ var thumbnail_width = 250; /* Initialize.*/ var mosaic_pics = jQuery(“.bwg_mosaic_thumb_1”); mosaic_pics.each(function (index) { var thumb_w = mosaic_pics.get(index).naturalWidth; var thumb_h = mosaic_pics.get(index).naturalHeight; mosaic_pics.eq(index).height(thumb_h * thumbnail_width/thumb_w); mosaic_pics.eq(index).width(thumbnail_width); }); /* Resize.*/ var divwidth = jQuery(“#bwg_mosaic_thumbnails_div_1”).width() / 100 * 100; /* Set absolute width of mosaic.*/ jQuery(“#bwg_mosaic_thumbnails_1”).width(divwidth); var padding_px = 4; var border_px = 0; var border_and_padding= border_px+ padding_px; var col_width = thumbnail_width +2*border_and_padding < divwidth ? thumbnail_width : divwidth - 2*border_and_padding; var col_number= Math.floor(divwidth / (col_width+2*border_and_padding)); var col_of_img = [];/*column of the current image*/ col_of_img[0] = 0; var imgs_by_cols = [];/*number of images in each column*/ /*zero points*/ var min_top = []; for (var x = 0; x < col_number; x++) { min_top[x] = 0; imgs_by_cols[x] = 0; } var img_wrap_left = 0; /*create masonry vertical*/ mosaic_pics.each(function (index) { var col = 0; var min = min_top[0]; for (var x = 0; x min_top[x]) { min = min_top[x]; col = x; } } col_of_img[index] = col;/*store in which col is arranged*/ imgs_by_cols[col]++; img_container_top = min; img_container_left = img_wrap_left + col * (col_width + 2 * border_and_padding); mosaic_pics.eq(index).parent().css({top: img_container_top, left: img_container_left}); min_top[col] += mosaic_pics.eq(index).height() + 2 * border_and_padding; }); /*create mosaics*/ var stretch = []; stretch[0] = 1; var sum_col_width = 0; var sum_col_height = [];/*array to store height of every column*/ /*solve equations to calculate stretch[col] factors*/ var axbx = 0; var axpxbx = 0; for (var x = 0; x < col_number; x++) { sum_col_width += col_width; sum_col_height[x] = 0; mosaic_pics.each(function (index) { if (col_of_img[index] == x) { sum_col_height[x] += mosaic_pics.eq(index).height(); } }); if (sum_col_height[x] != 0) { axbx += col_width / sum_col_height[x]; axpxbx += col_width * imgs_by_cols[x] * 2 * border_and_padding / sum_col_height[x]; } } var common_height = 0; if (axbx != 0) { common_height = (sum_col_width + axpxbx) / axbx; } for (var x = 0; x < col_number; x++) { if (sum_col_height[x] != 0) { stretch[x] = (common_height - imgs_by_cols[x] * 2 * border_and_padding ) / sum_col_height[x]; } } var img_container_left = []; /*position.left of every column*/ img_container_left[0] = img_wrap_left; for (var x = 1; x <= col_number; x++) { img_container_left[x] = img_container_left[x - 1] + col_width * stretch[x - 1] + 2 * border_and_padding; } /*reset min_top array to the position.top of #wrap container*/ var img_container_top = []; for (var x = 0; x= tot_cccount_mosaic_ajax) { window[“bwg_mosaic_1”](“load”); } }); jQuery(“.bwg_mosaic_thumb_spun_1 img”).on(“error”, function() { jQuery(this).height(100); jQuery(this).width(100); if (++cccount_mosaic_ajax >= tot_cccount_mosaic_ajax) { bwg_mosaic_1(“load”); } }); } function show_title_always_show_1() { /*if not $params[‘image_title’] == ‘show’, function body is empty*/ } function show_mosaic_play_icons_1() { jQuery(“.bwg_mosaic_play_icon_spun_1”).each(function() { var img_w = jQuery(this).parent().children(“.bwg_mosaic_thumb_1”).width(); var img_h = jQuery(this).parent().children(“.bwg_mosaic_thumb_1”).height(); var paddings_and_borders = 4 + 0; jQuery(this).css({ top: paddings_and_borders + 0.5 * img_h -0.5 * jQuery(this).height(), left: paddings_and_borders + 0.5 * img_w – 0.5 * jQuery(this).width(), ‘opacity’: 1, ‘filter’: ‘Alpha(opacity=100)’ }); }); }

Load More…

function spider_page_1(cur, x, y, load_more) { if (typeof load_more == “undefined”) { var load_more = false; } if (jQuery(cur).hasClass(‘disabled’)) { return false; } var items_county_1 = 3; switch (y) { case 1: if (x >= items_county_1) { document.getElementById(‘page_number_1’).value = items_county_1; } else { document.getElementById(‘page_number_1’).value = x + 1; } break; case 2: document.getElementById(‘page_number_1’).value = items_county_1; break; case -1: if (x == 1) { document.getElementById(‘page_number_1’).value = 1; } else { document.getElementById(‘page_number_1’).value = x – 1; } break; case -2: document.getElementById(‘page_number_1’).value = 1; break; default: document.getElementById(‘page_number_1’).value = 1; } spider_frontend_ajax(‘gal_front_form_1’, ‘1’, ‘bwg_mosaic_thumbnails_1’, ‘0’, ”, ‘album’, 0, ”, ”, load_more); } jQuery(‘.first-page-1’).on(‘click’, function() { spider_page_1(this, 1, -2); }); jQuery(‘.prev-page-1’).on(‘click’, function() { spider_page_1(this, 1, -1); return false; }); jQuery(‘.next-page-1’).on(‘click’, function() { spider_page_1(this, 1, 1); return false; }); jQuery(‘.last-page-1’).on(‘click’, function() { spider_page_1(this, 1, 2); }); jQuery(‘.bwg_load_btn_1’).on(‘click’, function() { spider_page_1(this, 1, 1, true); return false; });

function bwg_gallery_box_1(image_id, openEcommerce) { if (typeof openEcommerce == undefined) { openEcommerce = false; } var ecommerce = openEcommerce == true ? “&open_ecommerce=1” : “”; var filterTags = jQuery(“#bwg_tags_id_bwg_mosaic_thumbnails_1” ).val() ? jQuery(“#bwg_tags_id_bwg_mosaic_thumbnails_1” ).val() : 0; var filtersearchname = jQuery(“#bwg_search_input_1” ).val() ? “&filter_search_name_1=” + jQuery(“#bwg_search_input_1″ ).val() : ”; var filtersortby = jQuery(“#bwg_order_1”).val() ? “&filtersortby_1=” + jQuery(“#bwg_order_1″).val() : ”; spider_createpopup(‘https://www.jambase.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=GalleryBox&tags=0&current_view=1&gallery_id=773&theme_id=1&thumb_width=250&thumb_height=250&open_with_fullscreen=1&open_with_autoplay=0&image_width=800&image_height=500&image_effect=fade&wd_sor=filename&wd_ord=asc&enable_image_filmstrip=1&image_filmstrip_height=70&enable_image_ctrl_btn=1&enable_image_fullscreen=1&popup_enable_info=1&popup_info_always_show=0&popup_info_full_width=0&popup_hit_counter=0&popup_enable_rate=0&slideshow_interval=5&enable_comment_social=0&enable_image_facebook=0&enable_image_twitter=0&enable_image_google=0&enable_image_ecommerce=0&enable_image_pinterest=0&enable_image_tumblr=0&watermark_type=none&slideshow_effect_duration=1&current_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jambase.com%2Ffeed&popup_enable_email=0&popup_enable_captcha=0&comment_moderation=0&autohide_lightbox_navigation=1&popup_enable_fullsize_image=0&popup_enable_download=0&show_image_counts=0&enable_loop=1&enable_addthis=0&addthis_profile_id&image_id=’ + image_id + “&filter_tag_1=” + filterTags + ecommerce + filtersearchname + filtersortby, ‘1’, ‘800’, ‘500’, 1, ‘testpopup’, 5, “bottom”); } function bwg_document_ready_1() { var bwg_touch_flag = false; jQuery(“.bwg_lightbox_1”).on(“click”, function () { if ( !bwg_touch_flag ) { bwg_touch_flag = true; setTimeout(function(){ bwg_touch_flag = false; }, 100); bwg_gallery_box_1(jQuery(this).attr(“data-image-id”)); return false; } }); jQuery(“.bwg_lightbox_1 .bwg_ecommerce”).on(“click”, function (event) { event.stopPropagation(); if (!bwg_touch_flag) { bwg_touch_flag = true; setTimeout(function(){ bwg_touch_flag = false; }, 100); var image_id = jQuery(this).closest(“.bwg_lightbox_1”).attr(“data-image-id”); bwg_gallery_box_1(image_id, true); return false; } }); jQuery( ‘div[id^=”bwg_container”]’ ).each( function () { var bwg_container = jQuery(this); if (bwg_container.data(‘right-click-protection’)) { /* Disable right click.*/ bwg_container.bind(“contextmenu”, function () { return false; }); bwg_container.css(‘webkitTouchCallout’, ‘none’); } var search_tags = bwg_container.find(‘.search_tags’); if (search_tags.length) { search_tags.SumoSelect({ triggerChangeCombined: true, placeholder: bwg_objectsL10n.bwg_select_tag, search: 1, searchText: bwg_objectsL10n.bwg_search, forceCustomRendering: true, noMatch: bwg_objectsL10n.bwg_tag_no_match, captionFormatAllSelected: bwg_objectsL10n.bwg_all_tags_selected, captionFormat: ‘{0} ‘ + bwg_objectsL10n.bwg_tags_selected, }); } var bwg_order = bwg_container.find(‘.bwg_order’); if (bwg_order.length) { bwg_order.SumoSelect({ triggerChangeCombined: true, forceCustomRendering: true, }); } }); /* Disable right click.*/ jQuery(‘div[id^=”bwg_container”]’).bind(“contextmenu”, function () { return false; }); jQuery(‘div[id^=”bwg_container”]’).css(‘webkitTouchCallout’,’none’); var bwg_hash = window.location.hash.substring(1); if (bwg_hash) { if (bwg_hash.indexOf(“bwg”) != “-1”) { bwg_hash_array = bwg_hash.replace(“bwg”, “”).split(“/”); if(bwg_hash_array[0] == “773”){ bwg_gallery_box_1(bwg_hash_array[1]); } } } } jQuery(document).ready(function () { bwg_document_ready_1(); });