SANTA PAULA, Calif. — It is late in the afternoon, that time when the light begins to soften and the orange groves seem to shiver in the breeze. More than six dozen people have piled into a century-old farmhouse in the Santa Clara River Valley for an old-time music concert.
John Grimm and Beverly Smith, a pair of musicians from northern Georgia, lightly pick at the strings of their guitars. Notes reach up and then tumble down as they launch into the Carter Family tune “East Virginia Blues 2.”
“I am just from East Virginia, with a heart so brave and true,” the pair sings, Smith’s twangy vocals bubbling up above Grimm’s lower register. “And I learned to love a maiden with eyes of heavenly blue.”
Heads bob. A field spaniel trots through the room. People snack on tangerines freshly picked from the trees outside. As the musicians reach the song’s final bars, the audience is humming along.