The seven-piece group played bluegrass classics and modified renditions of songs from artists like Johnny Cash and others.
The band is fronted by multi-instrumentalist Jimmy Mac — who sings, and plays banjo and mandolin in the band. Mac said the band’s been around for eight years and plays everywhere around the area from Ventura to Santa Clarita.
“This is gorgeous. It’s like a vacation kind of thing,” said Mac. “This is just such a beautiful area. It’s relaxing and very comfortable.”
Mac said the setting and weather were perfect for the older demographic, who typically are the Orchard Bluegrass Band’s audience. His band consists mostly of retirees with interesting backgrounds — which he was happy to share with audience members between songs.
His guitar player is a retired police officer from Ventura, whose work on a double homicide helped track down the Golden State Killer years later. His harmonica player had battled leukemia for 20 years, but won and now sits beside Mac as they play.
Maria Christopher, a docent at Rancho Camulos, said the employees of the museum joke that the Orchard Bluegrass Band is their house band. They’ve been frequent guests for some time at the historic rancho, along State Route 126 between Santa Clarita and Piru.
“We try to book them a couple of times a year because they have great traditional music,” said Christopher. “Things that speak to America and traditional values, etc., and not too much of that kind of music is being played around here these days.”
“It’s fun music, it’s happy and I watch the faces of people and I watch their mouths sing along with us,” said Mac about bluegrass music. “So one of the things that people have commented about us, about the group, is that we do a lot of songs that people know and people like to sing along.”
Around 20 people, mostly older folks, sat under a 100-year-old cork tree to watch the Orchard Bluegrass Band perform on Sunday afternoon at Rancho Camulos.
The seven-piece group played bluegrass classics and modified renditions of songs from artists like Johnny Cash and others.
The band is fronted by multi-instrumentalist Jimmy Mac — who sings, and plays banjo and mandolin in the band. Mac said the band’s been around for eight years and plays everywhere around the area from Ventura to Santa Clarita.
“This is gorgeous. It’s like a vacation kind of thing,” said Mac. “This is just such a beautiful area. It’s relaxing and very comfortable.”
Mac said the setting and weather were perfect for the older demographic, who typically are the Orchard Bluegrass Band’s audience. His band consists mostly of retirees with interesting backgrounds — which he was happy to share with audience members between songs.
His guitar player is a retired police officer from Ventura, whose work on a double homicide helped track down the Golden State Killer years later. His harmonica player had battled leukemia for 20 years, but won and now sits beside Mac as they play.
Maria Christopher, a docent at Rancho Camulos, said the employees of the museum joke that the Orchard Bluegrass Band is their house band. They’ve been frequent guests for some time at the historic rancho, along State Route 126 between Santa Clarita and Piru.
“We try to book them a couple of times a year because they have great traditional music,” said Christopher. “Things that speak to America and traditional values, etc., and not too much of that kind of music is being played around here these days.”
“It’s fun music, it’s happy and I watch the faces of people and I watch their mouths sing along with us,” said Mac about bluegrass music. “So one of the things that people have commented about us, about the group, is that we do a lot of songs that people know and people like to sing along.”
