Music in the Parks: Hick'ry Switch

The Calaveras Arts Council presents
Hick'ry Switch
at Turner Park
San Andreas

Wednesday,
August 2, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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.

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On August 2, Turner Park in San Andreas will ring with what lead singer and guitar player Kate Johnson calls New Grass or Indie Grass, a style that fuses global music with mountain vernacular to create a new kind of sound. But underneath it all, it’s Bluegrass that informs Hick’ry Switch, driving wicked instrumentals that rev up your heart like a pacemaker gone wild, and mournful ballads that draw tears then vaporize them with a wind straight from the ridges of the High Lonesome.
 
The band members know mountain life—they all hail from around Carson City, Nevada—where they garden when they’re not playing music. This love of the outdoors informs their music according to Kate. “We’re very farm oriented,” she said. “But we also play songs about whisky, trains, and prison.” 
 
According to Kate, it’s her husband Mark, known for his driving banjo, and Mike Suglia, an electric bass player with Reggae and Rock under his fingers, who keep the tempo blazing. “We have the feel of old-time music,” said Kate, “But with a faster pace.”  Mark can also bend notes on harmonica and chunk out a beat on the squeeze box.
 
Kate, besides mapping out a solid rhythm on guitar to guide the excesses of the banjo and bass, sings songs like “Our Town” with a voice that’s both ethereal and able to pierce the valleys and ridges with melody.
 
The name Hick’ry Switch describes their music as well as their philosophy in life. “We have to whip the switch to keep it going,” Johnson said of the band’s name. “Mark and I end up cracking the switch a lot in our lives - in our jobs, our music, our home…I guess we both agree that a well wielded switch is worth its weight in gold.”

See more videos of Hick'ry Switch on their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/Alternativebluegrass