Angels Camp, CA…Grab a cowboy hat and low-back lawn chair or blanket and settle under the shade of heritage oaks at the first ever Red Dirt and Gold Dust Music Fest (RDGDMF), Saturday, August 6^th.   This has been a lifelong dream of mine to bring quality music events to the Calaveras County Fairgrounds,” said Jeremy Leonard, owner of Whiskey Slide Productions, LLC, in Angels Camp. “This is going to be an incredible day — seven bands playing the best of Red Dirt music – southern rock, Americana, bluegrass, outlaw country and good ol’ country – it’s all part of Red Dirt music.”

Leonard has teamed up with Smooth and Mechelle Roose of Missouri, owners of Double R Exotics, to bring this one-of-a-kind, inaugural music festival to the golden hills of the Mother Lode.

The all-day event will host seven of the Red Dirt industry’s popular and up-and-coming bands, including national recording artists: Cody Canada & The Departed, John D. Hale Band, Matt Stell, Cole Porter Band, Kaitlin Butts and Calaveras County’s own, Grover Anderson and Walt Hoyt.

In addition to killer Red Dirt music, concertgoers can expect some awesome Gold Country BBQ and other great eats as vendors will be offering grub and libations for sale.

“The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2600 out of San Andreas will be working the beer booth and the Angels-Murphys-Arnold Booster’s Club will be handling parking,” said Leonard. A portion of the proceeds will go to Calaveras Recovers, a volunteer group committed to rebuilding lives and homes following the Butte Fire. “I wanted to make sure our local non-profit groups reaped the benefits of this event.”

Tickets are on-sale now at www.reddirtandgolddust.com for $25 each, and may also be purchased at the Angels Camp Body Shop, 1270 S. Main St., Angels Camp, CA 95222. Tickets will rise to $30 day of the event so there is great value in buying early. Parking is an additional $5 charge with all proceeds going to AMA. No outside food, beverages or coolers will be allowed on the Fairgrounds.

Accommodations for RVs and camping are available onsite at the Frogtown RV Park at the Fairgrounds. Go to www.frogtown.org, click on Facility Rentals then RV Park. Other lodging options may be accessed through the Calaveras County Visitor’s Bureau at www.gocalaveras.com. Additional sponsors of the RDGDMF include Budweiser and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Red Dirt and Gold Dust Music Fest
Full Lineup of Expected Performers

Cody Canada & The Departed

Cody Canada was the lead singer-songwriter of the Oklahoma-based rock-country band Cross Canadian Ragweed, which sold more than a million albums from their inception in 1998 to their dissolution in 2010. Now, Canada has returned to vintage form, taking the lead of his four-piece band, The Departed, with a newly energized inspiration to get back to his roots.

The Departed consists of Canada (guitar/vocals), Ragweed veteran Jeremy Plato (bass guitar/vocals), Seth James (guitar/vocals), Steve Littleton (keyboards), and Chris Doege (drums). In 2015, the band released their latest album, HippieLovePunk, which Rolling Stone described as “a bigger, bolder, boomier version of the sound Canada’s been creating for roughly two decades.”

John D. Hale Band

If you were to ask the John D. Hale Band to classify their sound, they’d respond by simply saying “its country.” Charming as this response is, it has the potential to be misleading. Blending together their favorite parts of country, Americana , southern rock, and even bluegrass, the John D. Hale Band have crafted their own edgy and raucous sound.

John D. and the boys began playing in earnest in 2005 in support of their debut album, One of a Kind. Although independently released, the record enjoyed widespread radio play domestically as well as in Europe and Australia. The record climbed to #17 on XM Radio’s X-Country channel year end Top 50 chart in 2006. The groundswell of support was avid and vocal, prompting John D. and the boys to return to the studio.

Matt Stell
https://soundcloud.com/atttell/country-love-song-1

Whether it’s on stage opening for the biggest country acts of the last decade (Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, Gary Allan, Jason Isbell, Jake Owen, Easton Corbin, Eli Young Band, Casey Donahew, etc.) or in a dive bar with just a mic, guitar, and hard earned songs one thing is evident; Matt Stell is his own kind of real. Equal parts songwriter and entertainer, it’s clear people are drawn to Stell’s music. These are the kind of songs you feel written and performed by the kind of guy you want to party with.

His love for this kind of music runs deep. “I know the way I have always felt when a song really hits home. Nothing else feels that way. When I heard Randy Travis singing He Walked on Water, Bonnie Raitt singing Papa Come Quick, or DBT [Drive-by Truckers] doing Zip City I kind of knew that I wanted to be part of something that can affect people the way these songs affected me. It just took a while to get the courage up to try,” says Stell.

Cole Porter Band

Hailing from the Ozark Mountains in Southwest Missouri, the Cole Porter Band has a sound as distinct as their home. They’re hard to pin down but they embrace their classic, Texas, and red dirt country influences as they brew their own blend of country and southern rock. Their genuine songwriting, mesmerizing harmonies and energetic shows have gained them a loyal fan base from the scorching South to the frozen North.

The five-piece band, led by Cole Porter and his wife Kendra, released their first album, Devil By the Tail, with singer-songwriter and producer Mike McClure in July 2013. Since the album’s release, the band has stayed busy on the road, and with more than 300 shows in the rearview they show no signs of slowing down.

Kaitlin Butts

After listening to Kaitlin Butts’ pure and simple country music, it’s obvious that she’s not riding the fence where her music is concerned. With vocals that throw you back to the honesty of early female honky-tonkers, and with that nostalgia refreshingly uncontrived, this Oklahoman sings her songs with 50 years of heartbreak in her voice, though she is not even half that age.

This rebellious redhead has supported artists such as The Great Divide, John Fullbright, Mike McClure, Aaron Watson, Zane Williams, Wade Bowen, Cody Canada, and Cody Jinks. She has performed at SXSW, Gypsy Café Music Festival, Norman Music Festival, and OKC Fest, where she was named an artist to watch by NewsOK. Kaitlin is also a frequent performer at the Centennial Rodeo Opry, Oklahoma’s “Official Country Music Show.”

Grover Anderson

Grover Anderson was raised in the gold rush town of Murphys, CA. The rich culture of the area, along with lifelong exposure to fiction, theater and music, instilled a storytelling nature that is evident in Grover’s writing. He assembled a bar band while attending UC Santa Barbara, and shortly after recorded an album of songs he’d written in school and while traveling Europe, Innocent Insinuations.

Since returning to Northern California, Anderson has written and released two albums, Tourniquet and The Optimist. The opening track on the mostly-acoustic Tourniquet, “Moonshine”, has generated strong interest through digital streaming. The Optimist is a collection of songs that celebrates the human capacity to be deeply affected by others, and the ghost story “The Lampolier” has received strong reviews from multiple music sites.

Walt Hoyt

Local singer, songwriter and rodeo star Walt Hoyt has joined the star-studded lineup of Red Dirt & Gold Dust, covering classics and performing his own original pieces, including his recent song “Blown Away.”

For the past few years, Hoyt has been performing all throughout the Sacramento area, opening for artists including Chad Bushnell, Ashley Barron, and Tiffany Lorraine.