The Trespassers: News

We have just returned home after a very special event in our history. The Trespassers opened Strawberry Music Festival this past Thursday! Regardless of any time we've spent at Strawberry in the past, it was a huge honor. Being that we live in and around Yosemite and have been attending Strawberry Music Festival for many, many years, it was even more significant and memorable.

THANK YOU to so many of you who came to the festival early to support us. Our Brush Crew companions brought extremely strong numbers and enthusiasm. Many family members and friends also took off work to be there, and the cheering, dancing, whooping, and hollering infused us with energy and joy to be up on that stage. Every one of us was touched by the love and support that felt exactly like that of a family. You all were our brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, even surrogate parents, and we're pretty certain you all were feeling something like familial pride. We could not have been there or played that set without you all.

For those of you that missed it, we were blessed to play one of the only sunny sets of the weekend. It was windy, and you could feel the 3-day storm moving in, but the crowd did get to bask in the sun (though wearing down jackets). Our set included fifteen songs, mostly originals. We tried to design an uplifting set, since we were kicking off the festival. The spirit of the music meadow was excited and positive, and everyone seemed to appreciate our unique songwriting and lyrical music. Several people were on their way from other parts of California and got to listen to our set on Hog Radio, yet the shared consensus was that the energy of that meadow and stage and the people dancing and singing along was irreplaceable.

Even if you didn't get to experience that energy firsthand, check out the pictures that we'll be posting, and come back to the website in a week. We'll receive a recording of our Strawberry set in a few days and hope to upload a few songs for your listening enjoyment.

If you've never seen us or just saw us for the first time, we're a mountain band but love to travel around now and then. Our shows will remain in the Sierra Nevada most of the summer, since we'll be working in the park full-time (and Sarah will be in Africa for the month of June), but we play at some of our favorite venues during the summertime: the Mobil station in Lee Vining, Mountain Sage in Groveland, the Mariposa Arts Park, Rock Creek Lodge near Mammoth. We just got a new shipment of 1,000 CDs of The High Lonesome Rambler, our record from 2006. That album is for sale at all of our shows for $10, as well as being available online at musicsumo.com. We're also recording a new album that we hope to have fully produced and for sale during 2008. Both albums are comprised of all original music.

Again, thank you all for appreciating and supporting local and original music. Hope to see many of you at the Carter Ranch Music Festival next weekend. We will be headlining on Saturday night. Visit myspace.com/carterranchmusicfestval for directions and schedule. Please email us anytime you have questions or would like us to visit your hometown. Enjoy looking at our photos and checking out our calendar.

THANK YOU for the LOVE!
The Trespassers

hey everybody! we're incredibly pleased to announce that the trespassers are officially the opening band for the 2008 spring strawberry music festival. this is huge for us. thanks everyone for the encouragement that has kept us going for the last three and a half years. our set is thursday may 22 at 5:00. we'll also be at the evergreen late on saturday may 24th. also our new cd is in the works. hope you all are well and hope to see you soon.

a friend of ours, pete bogle, has been graciously recording some of our shows in the last six months or so and joined forces with our other buddy john brown from recast records to put up a podcast of our live performance at the legendary starry plough in berkeley. it has some sweet special guests. check it out at musicsumo.com. we recently went into the music sumo/recast records studio and recorded a live pod cast interview that can be accessed from the music sumo website. it also has a few songs played trio style right there in the studio.

Step It Up Sierra Nov. 3rd was a great success. We saw about 250 people at The Mariposa Art Park demanding that our Representatives take responsibility to Step Up and address Global Warming. The Local Press recognized the significance of the event with a frontpage photo of The Trespassers jammin'. WooHoo! for LOCAL ACTION! To learn more about what you can do to fight Global Warming check out our link page.
The Trespassers crew are working on some new projects so look for shows featuring The Trespassers Trio (Benny Lee, Tarantula, and Bronco) and The Ben's (Ben Goger (Bronco), Ben Montoya, and Benny Lee), the hollow log jubilee (dave hubner, matt tyrell, and the tarantula), and moonshine string posse (megan, matt, dave, and tarantula).
Thanks to Clee, Tistria, and Mike Miller soon we will have Trespassers Tees! Look for the new merch at winter shows. and thanks to dave hubner you can now download the sunday night las tortugas tavern set for free at archive.org.

We wish you many reasons for which to give thanks and celebrate in the new year.
Hope to see you on the dance floor soon!
Peace,
The Trespassers

We've enjoyed a wonderful summer, and we're really looking forward to the lineup for the next couple of months, followed by our annual Nov-Dec leave of absence to rest, write/learn new music, and this year maybe start a new recording project. The biggest news from the last few months is that I, Sarah, got married!!! WOOHOO! I feel so blessed and grateful, as well as excited to continue the adventure of a life-long relationship. Thanks to all of you who have shared this joy with Graham and me.

Some highlights from our spring and summer season were playing at The Attic in Santa Cruz with an awesome lineup of bluegrass bands, several fabulous festivals, 3 shows at the legendary Mobil Mart in Lee Vining, opening for Hot Buttered Rum at Mountain Sage in Groveland, a beautiful evening pig roast party at Rock Creek Lodge, and Charlie Broten joining us on fiddle for my wedding reception.

Bronco Ben and BennyLee are continuing their work for the Park Service up in Tuolumne Meadows. They'll be up there until sometime in October, when they'll return to the lowlands of Mariposa for the "off" season. Andy's putting a lot of work into building his own home, which will hopefully be ready to move into in the spring. And I'm staying in El Portal, beginning the fall semester of teaching this coming week. All's well.

Ben and Andy have written a bunch of new music recently, which is exciting and what keeps us fresh. We're hoping to do a recording project this winter, another something to keep us on our toes. Hope you all have a chance to catch up with us soon.

Hi friends, family, fellow string band lovers~

We're goin' on tour! I requested a week of vacation from teaching a while back, and we've arranged a lovely not-so-restful schedule for the next nine days. We're hoping to catch most of you somewhere along the road this week, since we'll be covering a couple thousand miles. So, here's the schedule. I'm refraining from including addresses and phone numbers, because I'm in a bit of a hurry (some things never change), but our website is up-to-date and has more details about each location. So, check out our calendar at www.thetrespassers.com or www.myspace.com/trespassers. By the way, if there's ever a time descrepancy between any of our schedules (website, myspace, jambase, emailings), let me know. The four of us are all trying to put in our fair share of computer work, and sometimes we don't all have the exact same information. Sorry if we're a half-hour off now and then. Thanks for all the recent support in San Francisco twice and at The Attic in Santa Cruz! That was an amazing show, and we can't wait to be back. We also had a couple great nights last weekend in El Portal and at the Evergreen Lodge. Thanks for the great turnout from out-of-town and the community love! Sorry to all of you who stuck around at the Evergreen long enough to see me break my fiddle in two. Turned out to be a pretty terrible night, but I'll fill you all in on that more later. I'll be playing a rental violin this coming week. All that to say, love ya all! So, here's the schedule:

Friday, Feb 23, 8:30, Sherwin's, Mammoth Lakes, $5; This was our very first venue in September, 2004: our first return since....

Saturday, Feb 24, 2:30, Canyon Lodge, Mammoth Mt., Mammoth Lakes; A powder weekend with free live music!!!!

Saturday, Feb 24, 7:30, Inyo Council for the Arts, Bishop, $7; A really classy spot in one of our favorite towns: super excited!

Sunday, Feb 25, 2:30, Canyon Lodge, Mammoth Mt., Mammoth Lakes; Same deal as Saturday. We play until 5.

Wednesday, Feb 28, 9:00, Jack Russell Brewery, Camino, near Placerville, $5; A new venue for us. We like that!

Thursday, March 1, 9:00, Shanachie Pub, Willits, no cover; Come bring the love and follow us up through Northern California.

Friday, March 2, 8:00, The Heartwood Institute, Garberville, no cover; We're looking forward to a different sort of vibe!

Saturday, March 3, 8-10, Muddy Waters, Arcata, $5; Followed by local Humboldt String band Wrangletown! Great venue!


Enjoy the actual winter weather we're getting! It snowed at least a foot on my students and me today, during the course of 6 hours! So beautiful, carpeting Yosemite Valley with magic everywhere! Pray for our safety on the roads this coming week, and we hope to see you along the way!

Snowflakes, seeds, and songs,
Sarah and The Trespassers


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October is my favorite month! It's been gorgeous, unpredictable, exciting, and jam-packed for us in our Yosemite home. Last weekend was incredible at Bob's 21st annual Horseshoe Classic, which we're trying to change the name of to BOBSTOCK, as it's at least as much of a music festival as a horseshoe tournament. We played Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights to a beautiful group of easern-sierrans and visitors from afar. We also enjoyed the musical inspiration of Triple Chickenfoot, an old-time string band from L.A., Shoestring Strap, a southern rock/country band from San Diego, Fiddlin' Pete and Cross Country from the eastern Sierra, and Blue Turtle Seduction. Of course the daily long soaks in the natural hot springs were quite a treat, as were the daily climbs in the Bishop/Mammoth region.

We're looking forward to the next few special October events that we'll be a part of. Our favorite local venue is throwing their own Oktoberfest party, BUGFEST, which will include six hours of live music, a beer garden, entertaining costumes, authentic Oktoberfest cuisine, and more. Beer and Music for a $10 door charge: seriuosly a fantastic deal! The Mad Maggies will start at 5:15, and we'll begin at 8:15 and play till after 11. To get to the Bug Hostel from Yosemite or Mariposa, take Highway 140 to Midpines (between Yos. and Mariposa). The Yosemite Bug Hostel and Lodge is on the southwest side of the highway, just at the top of the Bryceburg Grade, which descends to or ascends from the Merced River Canyon. About 9 miles east of Mariposa, 20 miles west of the Yosemite Park Entrance.

On October 21st we will be playing at a Woodstock-themed party near Bishop, once again in the Eastern Sierra. If you think you'd like to come party with us, talk to one of us, because our Mustang Mesa friends want all the fun to come along.

Friday-Sunday, October 27th-29th, get ready for a weekend to remember! The Evergreen Lodge is hosting their annual Halloween weekend music festival, put on by Blue Turtle Seduction. "LAS TORTUGAS DANCE OF THE DEAD" begins Friday evening with Tracorum at 9:15 p.m., followed by Blue Turtle Seduction, and The Trespassers will play a late-night campfire set! Camping and Lodging available. Saturday will include plenty of fun stuff for all, and the amplified music will kick off with Tracorum's Tasty New Orleans funk happy hour set at 5:30 in the Tavern. We will play from 7-9, followed by our Yosemite neighbors and friends, the Adam Burns Band, and Blue Turtle Seduction will close the night. Stay through Sunday for an acoustic brunch and post-party reflection and relaxation. Check out the Tortugas poster below, and definitely click on http://www.blueturtleseduction.com/danceofthedead.htm for more information. Call The Evergreen Lodge for reservation 209.379.2606. Friday only tickets are $15, Saturday only are $20, and two-day tickets are $30. Schweet!

Following Halloween The Trespassers will be taking a two-month break from performing to write new music, catch up on practicing, and rest a bit. We hope to have some special time with each other and our other loved ones, but plan to catch us again beginning in January, after the holidays. And don't miss BUGFEST and LAS TORTUGAS DANCE OF THE DEAD!

Love ya all,
The Trespassers

The last two weeks have been pretty exciting for The Trespassers. Tuesday, the 18th, I fell to the ground, while rock climbing in Tuolumne Meadows and broke my wrist. The doctor gave me two options: cast, arthritis, and loss of range of motion; or surgery, quick heal, no arthritis, and full range of motion. Guess which I chose! So, with a $20,000 bill looming over my head (don't worry, it isn't bringing me down: I'm ignoring it), I'm taking a quick break from climbing and fiddling, but not hiking and singing! The last two weekends we've had Charlie Broten, an eastern sierra and bluegrass fiddle veteran, join us on stage. It has been such a treat for me to sing a bit more, while being inspired by Charlie's fiddle and soul.

Having a broken wrist has successfully slowed me down and forced me to make time for all those things on my summer to-do list: like remodeling our website and myspace, and catching up on personal time and inter-personal time. So, I've enjoyed learning as I go, finally familiarizing myself with a little more of the computer and internet, trying to catch up to those kids in the next generation who know their computers like they know the backs of their hands. Keep checking up on us and our website. And if you aren't already on our e-mailing list, join today!

Thanks to all of you who have checked in on me and my healing wrist. Surgery on Monday went really well, and I'm already able to do a lot of everyday stuff again with that right hand. I might be pulling the bow again by next weekend, and I'll be fiddlin my heart out as soon as I return from my August travels.

We had a fantastic show at the Tioga Mobil Mart on Thursday! We celebrated the release of our new CD, THE HIGH LONESOME RAMBLER, with cake and champagne, and by selling a whole bunch of CDs. We're proud of this album, the first studio-only Trespassers album, which features 12 original tracks, gorgeous artwork and design, and lyrics: all printed on a 100% recycled cardboard digipac. For now, you've got to come to a show to get the CD, but they'll soon be available on CD Baby and maybe elsewhere.

This coming weekend, we'll be on the road as much as on the stage, performing in Mariposa, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Strawberry. Check out our calendar to hunt us down at one or more shows. Definitely don't miss the Saturday night show at Connecticut Yankee in SF. 100 Connecticut at 17th St. on Potrero Hill. Check out their website for driving directions and a great live music lineup: www.theyankee.com. Music starts by 10.

Hope to see ya'll very soon. Thanks for the love and support we've been feeling all over California recently. We're excited about continuing this adventure that we got ourselves into two years ago: so far, the journey is fun, surprising, exciting, bumpy, hilarious, and incredible!

Well, yes, spring seems to have sprung, although it's raining outside at this moment.  Our precious Sierra Nevada has had quite the thrashing over the past two months, and the water is a blessing for many bodies and souls (and the snowpack will continue to offer that blessing for many months), but it's also created added excitement on the roads (getting to shows), on the slopes (learning how really to ride in powder), and in our work and home lives.  So, we're ready for the sunshine that graced us this past week and is supposed to return again in a few days.  It makes for easier, more convenient Trespassing, and isn't convenience what we're all about here is America? 
 
Quick update on the last two months of our life: lots of work put into the new CD, mostly all fun :), last night in the studio this coming Monday, yippee, should be done SOON!  Lots of ramblin' and music, although we had our longest break since Christmas (2-3 weeks to travel, visit family, find solitude in the desert).  We've all been working on writing and learning new music, which always adds freshness to practicing and performing.  We're getting ready for summer, crazy as it may seem, when we'll change home bases and stretch out our radius (if our Tioga Pass ever opens). 
 
Still hoping for some website renovation, so that folks can sign up for our email list, buy a CD, check out Trespasser photos.  In the meantime forward our emails to friends who like string band music, tell them to email us back, in order to get on our mailing list, or just email us a list of great people who like great music, and we'll take care of the rest.  Our email address is thetrespassers.yosemite@gmail.com.  Feel free to email us photos that we could potentially tack onto our website, when that day comes.  And keep track of us at www.thetrespassers.com. 
 
So, we're gonna try not to get too caught up in the demands of technology and just keep playing our music! 
Come!  See you all over the place!
 
We love you all,
Sarah, Bronco, Tarantula, and BennyLee

WOOOHOOOOOOO!  It's a good thing we like snow and music, because our life has been full of both!  The four of us are thoroughly enjoying the places that Trespassing has taken us and the people it has allowed us to meet.  I actually can't believe that we've only been back from our separate travels for two months, because they've been the busiest, richest two months in the life of The Trespassers.  And we're looking forward to more! 
 
Ben, Andy, and Ben are actually still in stormy Mammoth, after all of us spent the past week in the eastern Sierra between Tahoe and Bishop playing on instruments, skis, and boards.  There were sweet surprises, like tons of powder and the most magical Mardis Gras party at Rock Creek Lodge, along with all that we expected: memorable times with friends, fantastic music and dancing, scary winter driving....  February also saw us through a bunch of studio time recording our new album.  Our sessions went even better than we could have imagined, and we're practically finished.  A few more hours to go, mixing and mastering, and we hope to be putting this album in your hands in May.  Thank you to all of you who have made and will make this project fun, beautiful, creative, and exciting.
 
For the next month, we'll be ramblin' about the same amount as we usually are, trying to stay in the Sierra as often as possible, while the snow is good.  So, catch up with us as often as possible; join us on the slopes or in the backcountry and for the music that follows.  Keep track of us at our website, www.thetrespassers.com, and if you'd like to be on our monthly mailing list, email us at thetrespassers.yosemite@gmail.com, and we'll plug you in.  Cheers to snow and strings!

Howdy, friends and ramblers~
 
The Trespassers are running alongside the bandwagon of the technologically up-to-speed music world, trying desperately to keep up, so we've begun an e-mail list to keep you all up-to-our-speed.  WOOHOO!   First of all, thank you all for your support, your friendship, your dancin' and hollerin', and thanks to so many of you for the faithfulness you demonstrate, driving around the state with us to give us warm fuzzies at each venue we play at!  We can't get enough of you! 
 
Trespassing keeps us all so busy that I forgot what it feels like to relax.  We are currently beginning a recording project that we hope to have done by April.  Two years ago we recorded our first album, half-studio/half-live, but our band was comprised of slightly different and somewhat fluctuating members.  There are still a few of those original albums floating around, but they're hard to come by and no longer being made.  One year ago, three of us recorded our second album, half-living room/half-bedroom, but BennyLee was away in New York for the winter, so that album doesn't properly represent The Trespassers either.  We still play all of the songs that are one that album, but we recognize that each band member is equally important (it's not the same without BennyLee or anyone else), and the raw sound that Andy's living room and my bedroom gave the album will also be hard to come by, as that album becomes only a collector's item.  We have exciting visions for this new album, and we have some incredible friends contributing their skills in photography, drawing, design, computer-know-how, and production, while Ben, Andy, BennyLee, and I continue to feed off of each other's musical inspiration.  We plan to go into the studio this coming weekend and spend as many hours in there as we need to, until....  You all have something to look forward to.
 
Our hope is to give you all a quick(er) hello/update ever few weeks or once a month.  You can stay up to date on our schedule, by visiting our website:..>..> www.thetrespassers.com , which we're also trying to bring up-to-speed right now, or by keeping track of us on jambase.com .  Feel free to email a shout out or a howdy to us now and then, too: thetrespassers.yosemite@gmail.com.
 
We hope you all come out early and often, bring friends, dance up front, support the places that support us, and continue to give freely of your smiles, hugs, and great energy.  Carpool and always bring your dancin' shoes, often your skis, and sometimes your climbing shoes!  Keep spreading the love.
 
Here's to many more "greatest weekends ever!"
The Trespassers (Sarah Cupery, Bronco Ben, The Tarantula, and BennyLee)