Ringo, Allman, Doobies to rock Sonoma

“Don’t pass me by,” Ringo Starr sang as part of the Beatles.

And Sonoma Music Festival officials have been crooning a similar tune right back at him this winter, while luring the legendary drummer to the Valley for this year’s Oct. 2 to 4 event.

Now the lineup’s been set – and not only have they locked in Starr for the 2015 festival, but they’ve got several other “fab” rockers on the schedule.

The 74-year-old former Beatle is one of several coups for the Sonoma Music Festival – known for the previous 28 years as the B.R. Cohn Charity Fall Music Festival – which moves downtown this year to the Field of Dreams on First Street West. Joining Starr at the festival are such rock stalwarts as Gregg Allman, Chicago, the Edgar Winter Group, America and Pablo Cruise.

Festival regulars the Doobie Brothers – whose longtime manager Bruce Cohn first staged the festival at his B.R. Cohn Winery in Glen Ellen in 1988 – will headline closing night and feature their late ‘70s hit-making frontman Michael McDonald at the mike.

Even Bruce Cohn – who’s made a career of booking tours and scheduling festivals – says he’s impressed by the 2015 lineup.

“Not only do we get to finally present a Beatle,” says Cohn, “but all of these great acts are a perfect fit for Sonoma and wine country.”

He says he expects it to be a “great” fundraising weekend.

The Cohn music festivals have raised more than $6.5 million for local nonprofits over the years. This year’s beneficiaries include veterans organizations Fisher House and the American Legion post 489, plus the Redwood Food Bank, Bread and Roses, and others.

Tickets for the 2015 event go on sale March 20 at 10 a.m.

Chicago headlines the Oct. 2 opener, bringing a resume of such hits as “Saturday in the Park,” “25 or 6 to 4,” “You’re the Inspiration” and “Hard Habit to Break.” Twenty-five of the band’s albums – famously titled numerically – have been certified platinum. Opening for Chicago, the band, will be America, the band, who will take to the stage on “A Horse With No Name,” and other hits.

After opening act Pablo Cruise asks the musical question “Watcha Gonna Do?” on Oct. 3, Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band offer Sonoma a taste of British Invasion rock royalty (he’s been an MBE since 1965, after all). The drummer took lead vocals on such Beatles classics as “Yellow Submarine,” “Octopus’s Garden” and “With a Little Help from My Friends,” and also enjoyed such post-Fab Four solo hits as “Photograph,” “It Don’t Come Easy” and “Back Off Boogaloo.” Joining Starr in the 12th incarnation of his All-Starr Band are Steve Lukather from Toto, former Santana lead singer Gregg Rolie and power-pop pioneer Todd Rundgren.

Rounding up the festival on Oct. 4 is Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Gregg Allman – the voice behind such Allman Brothers Band classics as “Midnight Rider” and “Melissa”; Allman’s Field of Dreams appearance will come nearly a full year following the Allman Brothers Band’s farewell performance at the Beacon Theatre in New York.

Closing the festival will be none other than the Doobie Brothers, whose songs “Listen to the Music,” “Black Water,” “China Grove” and “Takin’ It to the Streets” were 1970s radio staples. Four Grammy Awards and 45 million record sales later, the Doobies are a fitting choice to bring the curtain down on the B.R. Cohn festival’s inaugural Field of Dreams soiree.

Tickets will be available March 20, 10 a.m. at sonomamusicfestival.com. VIP tickets are $1,000 and $350; $219 gold circle; and $119 and $89 general admission.

A limited amount of $47 “local Sonoma” tickets for standing-room-only will be available, as well; location to be announced.