2003 - THE PINE VALLEY BOYS,
featuring recent high school graduates and good buddies
Herb Pedersen and Butch Waller, plus David Nelson, were
formed in 1963. David's other band, The Wildwood Boys (with
Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter), won the band contest at
the Monterey Folk Festival the same year.
One
of the first bluegrass bands in the San Francisco Bay Area,
The Pine Valley Boys later relocated to the Los Angeles.
The most tangible benefits of living in SoCal was Butch's
finding a Lloyd Loar mandolin and fiddler Richard Greene
joining the band. They did tour extensively (even playing
once at Carnegie Hall), but never recorded, and disbanded
in early 1966.
The
Pine Valley Boys had a significant impact on California
bluegrass, and its three core members have enjoyed lengthy
and distinguished musical careers. RBA was proud to sponsor
their reunion two years ago, and everyone had so much fun
--- and sounded so good! --- that we're pleased to welcome
them back.
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After
the Pine Valley Boys, HERB PEDERSEN played with Vern &
Ray, then with the Dillards, Linda Ronstadt, John Denver,
Emmylou Harris, Desert Rose, and on countless sessions.
His songs have been recorded by many bands, most notably
the Seldom Scene, and he has led The Laurel Canyon Ramblers
for the past decade.
DAVID
NELSON continued his musical partnership with Jerry Garcia
in several bands, including The Black Mountain Boys, New
Riders Of the Purple Sage, and The Jerry Garcia Acoustic
Band. He now leads his own group, and still plays great
bluegrass guitar with folks like Frank Wakefield and Sandy
Rothman.
BUTCH
WALLER formed High Country in 1968, and still leads this
most enduring traditional bluegrass band in the west. He's
released a number of albums with them, plus his "solo"
album, Golden Gate Promenade, which showcases the best Monrovian
mandolin playing around,
and includes collaborations with Herb, Steve, and Ed. Joining
the original Pine Valley Boys are two musicians who played
for over a decade with Butch in High Country, and who have
made their own marks on West Coast bluegrass.
ED
NEFF, called by Del McCoury "the best bluegrass fiddler
in California," was also a member of the Vern Williams
Band, Done Gone, and the Rose Maddox Band. He's currently
in the western band, Lone Prairie, the traditional bluegrass
band, True Blue, who have recently released their first
album, and his own band, which plays every Thursday at Petaluma's
Willowbrook Ale House.
STEVE
POTTIER is a highly-regarded multi-instrumentalist who also
played bass and guitar with Done Gone, Sandy Rothman, and
The Squids.He's currently a member of the Earl Brothers,
the Circle R Boys, and the Avocado Brothers, writes a column
for "Flatpicking Guitar" magazine, and knows more
about Clarence White's music than anyone in North America.
Barry Olivier on left, producer of
the
Cal Berkeley Folk Festival, with Butch Waller, David Nelson,
and Herb kneeling. Outside the Bear's Lair, on campus in
Berkeley, summer '64..
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