Avett Brothers, The Head and The Heart headline ‘intimate’ Sonoma Harvest Music Festival

From the people who brought you BottleRock comes the new Sonoma Harvest Music Festival at B.R. Cohn Winery.|

If You Go

What: Sonoma Harvest Music Festival

When: 11 a.m.-6: 15 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 22-23

Where: B.R. Cohn Winery, 15000 Sonoma Highway, Glen Ellen

Admission: Sold out; tickets may be available through online ticket resale sites

Information:sonomaharvestmusicfestival.com

The lineup:

Saturday - The Avett Brothers, Lake Street Drive, Shovels & Rope, The Suffers, Royal Jelly Jive

Sunday - The Head and the Heart, Rodrigo y Gabriella, ZZ Ward, Rayland Baxter, Con Brio

Partners Dave Graham, Justin Dragoo and Jason Scoggins, known for rescuing the mammoth BottleRock music festival in Napa after its troubled start under other management in 2013 and turning it into a wildly popular model event, want people to put their team’s newest effort in proper perspective.

So don’t call the Sonoma Harvest Music Festival, making its debut this weekend at Glen Ellen’s B.R Cohn Winery anything like “BottleRock Lite” or “Son of BottleRock.”

“It’s not BottleRock at all,” Graham said.

Graham’s favorite word for the new festival is “intimate,” with some 3,000 fans expected for each of its two consecutive days, versus the 40,000 attendees typically attending BottleRock on each of three days. While tickets might still be found on some resale websites, the festival has been sold out since the event was announced in March.

The headliners for this weekend are solid names - the folk rock band Avett Brothers on Saturday and indie folk band The Head and the Heart on Sunday - but on a different scale from past BottleRock stars like Stevie Wonder, Snoop Dogg and Tom Petty.

“We’re not headlining the big arenas yet,” said Jonathan Russell of The Head and the Heart, who played one of the five stages at BottleRock last year. “The type of touring we’ve done has evolved over the past nine years, starting with open mics in bars and now playing pavilions and arenas with some of the opening slots we’ve done. You’re exposed to these larger spaces with bigger lights and there’s more room to fill.”

As a result, the band’s music has evolved as well, Russell said by phone from Omaha, Nebraska, while on a stopover during their current national tour, leading to more ambitious performances.

“That has pushed my need or internal desire to want to have a larger sound, beyond just guitar,” he said. “I’ve definitely gotten more into electric guitar, keyboards and more technical production. That being said, I don’t want to have a song that totally relies on tricks.”

Instead, the band made a brief retreat to the Joshua Tree National Park area for some bonding and writing new songs for the band’s next, still untitled album, which incorporates ideas from every member of the group, Russell said.

“It’s kind of fun. It stretches you out a little bit more,” Russell said. “There’s a little more mystery and abstract imagery. We have a song called ‘Living Mirage,’ and it’s definitely an example of what I’m describing. We’ve been playing that on the tour.”

With a music lineup that also includes Mexican classical guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela and the Sonoma County band Royal Jelly Jive, which features clarinet, trombone and accordion, the Sonoma Harvest Music Festival is clearly not meant to be an enormous, overpowering, all-out rock festival. This is a chance to relax as well as react to the music.

“I can’t think of any better music than this lineup,” Graham said, but the festival is about the atmosphere as much as the music.

“I keep emphasizing the word ‘intimate,’ because that’s what we want this festival to be,” he said. “We’re trying to highlight the uniqueness of the Sonoma Valley, its famous hospitality and the brand promise of Sonoma, whether it’s the laid-back atmosphere, the incredible wines, the farm-inspired cuisine or the intimate vineyard settings. That’s what people think about when they talk about Sonoma.”

Graham, Dragoo and Scoggins consider Sonoma County wine, beer and food by local favorites such as The Girl and the Fig in Sonoma and Zazu Kitchen in Sebastopol, as much a part of the festival as the 10 bands scheduled to play.

Their success with BottleRock, which led to a majority investment last year by concert promotion giant Live Nation, gave Graham and his partners, who still have a significant ownership and manage that festival, a reputation that opens doors and solid experience in handling every aspect of a festival, from talent onstage to concessions to security. That’s why the B.R. Winery invited Graham and his Latitude 38 group to handle the project, Graham said.

But beyond that, this weekend’s festival is a fresh new project, and the organizers are excited and optimistic.

“We know what our standard is, and we’re feeling good right now,” Graham said.

A few tips on enjoying the weekend for those attending the festival:

Plan on an early day. The gates open at 11 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday, and the last act ends at 6:15 p.m.

There are no seats. Seating is on the lawn. Given the winery’s hilly terrain, the festival organizers recommend wearing flat, comfortable shoes.

Festivalgoers can’t bring in food, drink, chairs, laptops or cameras. Check out the policy on bags at sonomaharvestmusicfestival.com

Don’t plan on calling a ride service, Graham advised. The phone reception might not be conducive. There will be parking available at $35 per day. Parlong passes are available at sonomaharvestmusicfestival.com

For those with long memories, the Sonoma Harvest Music Festival is a new event at the B.R. Cohn Winery but the not the first music festival held there by any means. Cohn, the winery’s founder and former owners, introduced his classic fall music festival there in 1987, drawing as many as 6.000 people over two days annually for 28 years.

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts.

If You Go

What: Sonoma Harvest Music Festival

When: 11 a.m.-6: 15 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 22-23

Where: B.R. Cohn Winery, 15000 Sonoma Highway, Glen Ellen

Admission: Sold out; tickets may be available through online ticket resale sites

Information:sonomaharvestmusicfestival.com

The lineup:

Saturday - The Avett Brothers, Lake Street Drive, Shovels & Rope, The Suffers, Royal Jelly Jive

Sunday - The Head and the Heart, Rodrigo y Gabriella, ZZ Ward, Rayland Baxter, Con Brio

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