Music in the Parks is free to all, but we rely on the generosity of those who can contribute to make this program available to the community. Please help if you are able. Thank you for your support.

When the Random Strangers start singing songs like “Blue Bayou” and “Ring of Fire,” it’s natural that you’ll want to sing along. According to vocalist and rhythm guitar player Suzanne Todd, that’s quite alright. They choose the music they play based on what they like, and they’re pleased when audiences like it too.  
 
“All the songs we choose are our favorites,” Todd said. “Something will come to a band member, and we email it around to make sure everyone is on board with it. Very rarely do we disagree.”
 
Agreement is evident in their tightly woven vocal harmonies and instrumental breaks; Todd and vocalist Larry Park sing with clear, fancy-free voices, and Park, once named one of the 50 fastest guitar players on the planet by Guitar World Magazine, keeps things interesting between chorus and verse. And Dave Wren on pedal steel guitar—what Todd jokingly called a Black & Decker steel workbench—makes the instrument whine, curl and cajole. Wren was inducted into the Western Swing Music Society’s “Hall of Fame” in 2008 and the Northwest Western Swing Music Society’s “Pioneers of Western Swing Music” in 2010, and he knows how to bend the strings. Rounding out the band are bass player George Spriggs and drummer John Duvall.
 
With a pure strong voice, Todd adds zest to their sparkling harmonies. Swinging into her second career (her previous job was with the Fire Service) as a country/rock/Americana performer, she said, “I feel like the luckiest girl on the planet to be surrounded by such high-caliber musicians. They’ve been around the horn musically and it really shows.”
 
The Random Strangers, based in the Foothills near Placerville, are popular in El Dorado County. “They pack the house,” according to Andy Tannehill, owner of Manzanita Kitchen & Events. With their blend of  country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, R&B and blues—a genre they call Rocking Americana—they  deliver “dynamite picking, smooth harmonies, blistering ballads, and foot stomping romps,” said Todd.
 
Railroad Flat Elementary School is a big field, but feels intimate. There's soft grass for sitting and picnicking. so come out and dance to the swing, sing to tunes, and have a great time.

It is a zero-tolerance zone, so please, no alcohol or smokables.

​Beautiful art is often made piece by piece. In May, mosaic artist Robin Modlin puzzled out a mosaic on the bathroom wall in Murphys Community park, and now fanciful flowers, birds and animals smile under a sparkling-tile sun.

Robin led the community in this project, seeking funding from community organizations and captaining an army of volunteers that included mentors and mentees from Calaveras Mentoring. Even passersby stopped to set bits of mosaic into place. Now Robin is ready to start on the steps in front of the library. 
 
When the community pulls together, we can create great things. Community organizations like the Calaveras County Arts Council, the Murphys Community Club, Angels-Murphys Rotary Club and Murphys Library have helped build this work of public art. Quyle Kilns helped with the use of materials and studio space, and individuals like Amanda Sedgwick-Maule made all the difference. 

So stop by Murphys Community Park next time you're in Murphys (For Music in the Parks on August 7 maybe?) and enjoy our newest public art. 

Robin Modlin conceived, designed, and managed the community project to create a mural in Murphys Community Park.

People volunteered to help, and pieced together the mural in no time.

Children made the faces for the flowers at Quyle Kilns.

So many hands helped make this mural. It was a real community project 

Small pieces were made at Quyle Kilns, a local pottery and ceramics studio.