Fire on the Mountain Blues Festival
Sonora, CA
8/11/07

Set list from memory, not necessarily in order: ~Port of Calling ~Z Rider ~South of I-10 ~Native Stepson ~Promise Land ~Wind in Denver ~Hell at Home ~Storm of Worry (new song) ~Blue Angel (new one "inspired by hanging out in the gospel tent at the NOJF") ~U.S.S. Zydecoldsmobile encore: ~Uberesso (new song which he said is hard to play and goes fast fast fast!) ~Bayou Teche

This was Sonny's first year to play at Sonora's "Fire On the Mountain Blues Festival" and from the positive reaction of the crowd and those putting on the show, hopefully he'll be back for many more.

Sonora is an old gold rush town that sits at about 1800 feet elevation and is nestled into a beautiful mountain range about 75 miles from Yosemite. The festival was held at the fairgrounds which has a "main stage" as well as two other indoor stages that are used for performances as well as workshops. Sonny put on a short workshop before taking the main stage later that day; it was attended by quite a large crowd which says a lot as those who attended had to give up seeing the incredible Paul Thorn on the main stage. While Sonny was tuning up, he opened the floor up briefly for questions, the first of which was "How was the Crossroads fest?" Sonny said they all had a great time and that at one point, Eric Clapton got on stage and joined them for "Hell at Home" and broke into a solo that he was just blown away by. (Hopefully we'll get to see this on the next Crossroads DVD). He also paid a compliment to Eric calling him humble and a gracious host. Sonny was the lone musician on the stage and remained seated for this informal workshop. He played a few songs and though I believe he did five I can only remember four of them: Kindred Spirit which he said "is a great song that helps him relax and calm down," Blues Attack, South of I-10 and Broken Hearted Road, which being done solo had a new twist on it (I was very happy to hear this as it's been off the routine set list for a while now). There was another Q&A time after the songs: questions about gear, tunings and the upcoming CD were answered as well as some others.

Sonny took the main stage at about 5pm, there were rumors that perhaps Paul Barrere would join them on stage at some point or that Sonny would sit in with Little Feat as they were playing after Sonny's set but that wasn't to happen; Sonny and the boys had a gig the next day in Estes Park Colorado so they weren't able to stick around.

It was an awesome show and I can't wait to hear the new CD scheduled for release around the first of the year



click thumbnails below for larger photos
All photos taken by Genny B. 2007

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Photographing the guys was a little bit of a challenge as they don't allow anyone to stand in front of the stage for more than thirty seconds (people have chairs parked in front of the stage leaving a space of about eight feet between them and the stage) as a courtesy to those who are trying to see the show. Dancing is allowed only to the side of the stage as well but other than that, the rules are pretty laid back and it was a great festival.

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