Music fans ‘taste-test’ contemporary folk rock at Adams Avenue Unplugged

When musician Lady July performed at Rabbit Hall on Adams Avenue on Saturday, her most adoring fans twirled in front of the stage and imitated the singer with their little guitars.

Jackson Lyons, 2, may also have been the youngest fan in the pub. This pub is one of his 20 venues that host performers for Adams Avenue Unplugged, one of his neighborhood’s signature music festivals.

“He loves and loves guitar,” said Jackson’s mother Christine Lyons. “We like doing outings like this so he can learn.”

The annual event featured more than 60 artists performing from noon to 10 p.m. in cafés, bars and restaurants along San Diego’s main thoroughfare. Dave Alvin, his two-time Grammy Award winner and founder of roots-rock band The Blasters, headlined the event at Normal His Heights. United Church. His performance was the only paid show at the festival and sold out on Saturday.

A church sanctuary adorned with a string of lights, silk streamers and flowers served as the festival’s main stage. Other performers scheduled for the main stage included singer-songwriter Gregory Page, bluegrass Americana band Dead Rock West, and Beat Farmers’ Jerry Rainey and Joey Harris. rice field. Outside, food booths lined up with everything from African meat and vegetable platters to Asian pork buns to Cajun gumbo and jambalaya.

Scott Kessler, executive director of the Adams Avenue Business Association, which hosts the free annual event, said:

Adams Avenue Unplugged started in 2012 and has continued since then after a brief hiatus during the pandemic. The event’s concept dates back to the 1994 Adams His Avenue His Roots Festival organized by local music researcher and record store owner Lou Curtis, and before that his Roots Festival, which began in 1967. of San Diego dates back to his Folk Festival.

Kessler said that while Curtis favored traditional folk, or “old-school music,” Adams Avenue Unplugged featured a variety of contemporary folk artists.

As lines formed outside Rosie O’Grady’s bar, the audience watched baseball and softball games on mounted televisions while folk-rock artist HarpCo played a cover of Tom Petty’s “Something Good Coming.” bottom. Lady July, one of six artists slated to perform at Rabbit Hole, sang a cover of John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” while Irish-American folk group Finnegan Blue I played an acoustic version of “Streams of Streams” by The Pogues. Served whiskey to about 100 guests at Sccover.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 29: Group Finnegan Blue performed at Ska Bar at Adams Avenue Unplugged Music in San Diego, CA on Saturday April 29, 2023. (Nelvin C. Cepeda/San Diego Union-Tribune)

(Nelvin C. Cepeda/San Diego Union-Tribune)

Among them were Stephanie Schmitz and Cody Rush, who were listening to music outside a bar with their 10-month-old daughter, Olive Rush. Like the Jackson family, the couple said they wanted to introduce their children to music at an early age.

“It’s so special that our neighborhood supports live music,” Schmitz said. “It’s also a great way to expose your baby to live music without being too loud.”

As artist Robert Sanchez waited for Page to start his first set at the church, he realized the event welcomed everyone from children to adults.

“What I love is the all-ages aspect,” said artist Robert Sanchez. “There are several families, singles and couples.”

Mia Sunahara, who plays Kimiko, described her sound as “indie-alternative pop-rock” and said she appreciated the opportunity to play and audition a wide variety of music.

“I thought it was really cool that so many venues were open for free and people could walk around and try out their musical tastes,” she said.