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High Sierra Music Festival

The core value of the HSMF is good music. The festival was founded in 1991, and has since grown from 20 artists on one stage to a 10,000-person event with more than 50 performers. Four days is hardly enough time to pack in all the musical goodness, but the organizers do their best with a nearly 96-hour binge of bluegrass, funk, reggae, jazz, electronic and some whimsical fusions like “newgrass” and “country punk.” Big names lend big cache to this small festival--like Robert Plant, Ben Harper, Thievery Corporation, Ani DiFranco and Primus--but the organizers get a real hit off surprising the crowds with great unknowns, like Umphrey’s McGee and Tea Leaf Green—groups who instantly grew their fanbase with their performances there. Regardless of genre or level of notoriety, HSMF musicians aren’t afraid to spontaneously jam together, “cross pollinating” their styles and giving the crowd the sensation that they are witnessing the genesis of whole new genres on-the-spot: like when tabla master Trilok Gurtuand the banjo-wielding Béla Fleckcame together to create an otherworldly blend.

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