If you’re in the mood for some pickin’ and grinnin’ on Mother’s Day weekend, it’s time to buy tickets to the Parkfield Bluegrass Festival, Thursday, May 7, through Sunday, May 10. More than a dozen groups will perform, including Water Tower, a punk-inflected bluegrass act led by Kenny Feinstein.
“Oh man, we’re so excited,” Feinstein said via Zoom. “This is our second year in a row, and we had a blast last time. We actually got to film a music video last year, and we recruited a bunch of pickers and kids, so that’s one of our songs called ‘Put Your Shoes On’ that features the whole area [including V6 Ranch].”
Stop reading, go to YouTube, and look the video up. You’ll totally catch the Parkfield vibe and hear Water Tower’s sound.
“This year, what’s really exciting is the Foghorn Stringband is coming,” Feinstein continued. “Foghorn are the genesis of Water Tower.”
At 16, Feinstein saw Foghorn in Portland when they played a square dance.
“My whole life changed, and I wanted to do old-time string band music. We all love it,” he said of his bandmates. “We were basically a Foghorn tribute band for years. In fact, they used to call us Foghorn Junior and Water Babies and Mist Whistle and things like that.”
In the early days circa 2005, they were called The Water Tower Bucket Boys and later Water Tower String Band.
“We kicked the bucket when we moved to LA from Portland around 2014,” Feinstein laughed.
The current band formed in 2020 during the pandemic.
“From 2014 to 2020, I was dealing with addiction and struggling through that,” Feinstein admitted. “Then I met Tommy [Drinkard], and we started playing fiddle tunes and rebuilt it as Water Tower. We’re punk rock bluegrass—that’s our genre now. We were more traditional, and still do traditional, but we do a lot of punk rock covers and work with a lot of punk artists. We’re playing the Vans Warped Tour this year, so we’re excited as the first bluegrass band to be doing that. It’s been cool switching lanes a little bit, creating our own lane, so to speak.”
Many of their songs examine addiction, such as “Take Me Back,” where Feinstein sings, “I want some dope/ I want some pills/ I know I can’t/ Cuz all that shit kills/ My friends they all died/ Tryin’ to fly back home.”
“Lose Everything” is also about drugs. “Sittin’ on Top of the World” is about booze and lost love. They sound like a tight bluegrass band, but they have a punk ethos, and Feinstein’s songs are inspired by the streets.
‘We’re punk rock bluegrass—that’s our genre now. … It’s been cool switching lanes a little bit, creating our own lane, so to speak.’
—Kenny Feinstein, Water Tower
“[The band’s songs] basically come from the addiction, the recovery, and being on the streets of Los Angeles, and we see a lot of addiction and a lot of people struggling out here,” he explained. “Me and Tommy brought the band to the street at the end of Highway 2, just down in Echo Park, and we write our songs on the street. ‘Take Me Back’ was written there on the off-ramp, ‘AMPM,’ ‘Skante Warrior,’ ‘Lose Everything’—they were all written there, and so we’re talking about our experiences, that dark underbelly of Southern California, and the people who we meet and their experiences, as well as going through it ourselves.”
These cautionary tales may seem out of place in bluegrass, but if you consider all the bluegrass murder ballads, Water Tower’s songs fit right in. And parents, don’t fret. Parkfield is very family friendly, and the festival has amazing kids programming.
“Wow, the vibe at Parkfield, it’s so special,” Feinstein explained. “It’s people coming together through music. There’s barbecuing, people are cooking for each other. People meeting for the first time in the morning and feeding each other. I’ve seen people pick up their first instrument at Parkfield. It’s a great place to come and get a lesson from somebody. Last time [band member] Taylor [Estes] was just teaching people fiddle tunes. We meet around tunes, so it’s about community, and it’s about celebrating this beautiful space to look at the mountains and play music, you know?”
Water Tower will be camping the whole weekend, and Feinstein also mentioned the local café.
“The nice thing is they have a bar/restaurant right there called the Parkfield Café. They have amazing food there and they have late night café shows, which we’re going to be doing one of. After the festival closes down on the main stage, people head to the café, get food and beer. It’s nice to have that at the center of everything.”
Water Tower will play three times at the festival: onstage, at a barn dance, and during late-night show in the café. Times and days were TBD at the time of our interview. Your best bet is to visit parkfieldbluegrass.org and get the lowdown.
Other performers include The Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra (from Norway), Vickie Vaughn Band, Damn Tall Buildings, Shelby Means, Dave Stamey, and Deep Thicket Dwellers. Local faves like The SLO County Stumblers, Amber Cross, The Kings River Boys, and Critical Grass will also be there.
You can also take walking tours of the San Andreas Fault led by a USGS geologist Julian Lozos.
Country at the beach
Good Vibez and Otter Productions present Billy Currington at the Avila Beach Golf Resort on Thursday, May 7 (doors at 4 p.m.; all ages; $74.41 general to $203.10 Beach Balcony at tixr.com).
Country music will meet coastal vibes when the band behind hits like “People Are Crazy,” “Good Directions,” “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right,” “Do I Make You Wanna,” “We Are Tonight,” and more plays with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop.
For nearly two decades, the Georgia native has been at the top of the country charts, and he recently released some new singles, “Everything Is Changing,” “City Don’t,” and “Anchor Man.” The man knows his way around a country song.
Country and folk pop
Numbskull and Good Medicine present the Randy Rogers Band at BarrelHouse Amphitheatre on Saturday, May 2 (doors at 6 p.m.; all ages; $38.83 at goodmedicinepresents.com).
The Texas country rockers have nine studio albums, global streaming numbers in the hundreds of millions, and they’ve charted seven singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, five Top 10 albums on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, and numerous Texas Country Radio chart No. 1s.
Founded in San Marcos, the band also some great musicians: Geoffrey Hill (guitar), Jon Richardson aka Johnny Chops (bass guitar), Brady Black (fiddle), Les Lawless (drums), and Todd Stewart (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, keyboards).
“Just like any other relationship, you have to pick your battles and have respect for each other,” Rogers said in press materials. “None of us know how to do anything else. This is our livelihood. It’s how we take care of our families. Years ago, when we were really struggling and wondering how we were going to make it, there were some deep and emotional conversations that we all had with each other about if this is really what we all wanted and the decision was made a long time ago. The answer was yes then, and the answer is still yes now. It’s something we all believe in. This is our life’s work.”
Good Medicine, Numbskull, and KCBX present Glen Phillips at The Siren on Thursday, May 7 (7 p.m.; 21-and-older; $35.23 at goodmedicinepresents.com). Phillips is, of course, the lead singer and main songwriter of the popular Santa Barbara-based folk pop act Toad the Wet Sprocket, with hits including “All I Want,” “Walk on the Ocean,” “Fall Down,” and others. His solo work is also fantastic with songs like “Duck and Cover,” “Cleareyed,” and “Going Back There Some Day.”
“I’ll be spending this year writing new material for both Toad and solo projects,” he said in press materials. “There’s also an acoustic Toad album coming out, as well as a side project solo collection of songs. Between that and touring, I’ll be plenty busy.”
Garrison Starr opens.
Also at The Siren …
Dynamic Central Coast rock act Electric Lavender Train plays on Friday, May 1 (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; free). Fronted by powerhouse vocalist Rachel Santa Cruz and guitar wiz Hunter Takao Nakazono, with a rock-steady rhythm section featuring Geert de Lange (bass) and Paul Della Pelle (drums), it’s a local supergroup.
Back Pages Band plays on Saturday, May 2 (2 to 5 p.m.; 21-and-older; free). Expect excellent rock and country covers from this tight quintet.
Candy O (The Ultimate Tribute to The Cars and Ric Ocasek) returns on Saturday, May 2 (8 p.m.; 21-and-older; $23.77 at tixr.com). If you love The Cars, don’t miss it.
Ha ha and yeehaw
Fremont Theater and Good Vibez has some comedy and country coming your way starting with stand-up comedian Lucas Zelnick on Friday, May 1 (doors at 7, show at 8 p.m.; all ages; $29.84 to $35.50 at prekindle.com). The NYC joker has accumulated 1 million followers and 500 million views across social media. “For no reason at all, Lucas also holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business,” his bio explains.
Television personality, podcast host, and activist Jonathan Van Ness performs on his Hot and Healed Comedy Tour on Saturday, May 2 (doors at 7, show at 8 p.m.; 18-and-older; $50.96 to $81.86 at prekindle.com). He stars on Netflix’s Emmy Award-winning reboot series Queer Eye, and he hosts the popular podcast, Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness.
Country singer-songwriter Kameron Marlowe plays on Thursday, May 7 (doors at 7, show at 8 p.m.; all ages; $40.14 general or $154.73 VIP meet-and-greet at prekindle.com). “The Kannapolis, North Carolina native fell in love with country music on an old FM radio while hunting and fishing with his grandpa, raised on Keith Whitley, Brooks & Dunn, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Ray Charles,” his bio explains.
College banger
Shabang Festival returns to Dairy Creek Golf Course on Saturday, May 2, and Sunday, May 3—with Grammy-nominated headliner Chris Lake and so many other acts I’ll let you go to shabangslo.com to read about them and get tickets. Lake is a progressive and tech house DJ and producer who first became known in 2006 and the release of his monster hit single, “Changes.”
This music, arts, and community fest is a favorite among the college crowd. Couldn’t make it to Coachella? This is as close as we get on the Central Coast. ∆
Contact Arts Editor Glen Starkey at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in April 30 – May 7, 2026.