2016 marks Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band‘s second appearance at Summergrass San Diego. This Southern California based group features Devitt Feeley on mandolin, Craig Ferguson on guitar and Lydia Veilleux on fiddle,  and the live ensemble often includes Brian Netzley on bass.  Feeley, Ferguson and Veilleux  got their start in the bluegrass music field by winning first place in the 2009 Topanga Banjo and Fiddle “Band Contest”.  In January of 2012 they followed that up by taking first place in the California Bluegrass Association’s “Great 48 Showcase Showdown”, competing against the top bluegrass bands from across the state.

Rocky Neck Bluegrass Band released their self-titled album in November of 2010. Recorded  in a 1920’s cabin in the mountain community of Big Bear, CA, and mastered by legendary bluegrass engineer Billy Wolf in Arlington, VA, the album has been receiving regular airplay on radio stations across the country.

Regarding their debut album, their website states “We wanted to make a bluegrass recording that had the feeling of a living room jam as opposed to the slick Nashville sound. Recording in Devitt’s cabin in Big Bear couldn’t have been a better situation,” says Craig, who engineered the recording. The blend of fresh bluegrass arrangements, original tunes, and traditional music on this album will be attractive to fans of not only bluegrass but also blues, country, and folk-oriented listeners.Devitt Feeley added, “By arranging songs that are not part of the standard bluegrass repertoire like Neil Young’s Comes A Time, we hope to reach out to people who might not know that they’re bluegrass fans.” According  to Lydia, “We searched our common repertoire for traditional tunes that still feel relevant today and tried to build fresh arrangements on these timeless songs. By juxtaposing old traditional songs like “Shady Grove” with bluegrass arrangements of more modern songs we hoped to respect traditional bluegrass, while extending a hand to people who aren’t that familiar with bluegrass music.”