On Saturday night, Aug. 31, a large crowd gathered at the iconic Red Barn Opry in Wrightwood to enjoy a night of country and bluegrass music.
Despite last year’s announcement that 2023 was the final Red Barn Opry show, the festival continued on for another year and brought together five musical performances for a night of singing and dancing underneath the pine trees.
The opening act included The Matsens a musical duo of Wrightwood newlyweds Bonnie & Erik Matsen who invited a few of their friends to perform along with them to round out their sound.
Next was the Blue Eyed Coyotes a local three-piece band made up of Mr. Red Barn Opry himself, David Cimino, along with James Loveless and Loyd White who performed country classics.
The California-based bluegrass band, the Honey Buckets, then took the stage, impressing the crowd with their harmonies and remarkable guitar and banjo playing. The band included members Mike Stern, Forest Thurman, Devin Wilcox & Brian Dragonmon.
The High D Boys, an acoustic group from the nearby High Desert, got the crowd on their feet with their country classics, original songs, and newer pop tunes and included members, Robert Blomker, Phil Clevinger, Sam Prince, James Peck, Mike Kelly, and Dan Reyes.
Finally, the main act Winslow is a country cover band founded with members of the California Music Hall of Fame and includes Scott Johnson, Steve Hollstein, Scott Foster & Robert Gay. They even invited Red Barn Opry founder, David Cimino to join them onstage to play the drums to perform “Takin’ Care of Business.” Winslow gave an energetic performance, including multiple encores that had almost everyone out on the dance floor.
“This 16th RED BARN OPRY was much more than just an event …it was a celebration of life,of community… filled with Joy and Love and the enduring spirit of my late wife Madelyn and I envisioned when we started this production in our little mountain Village of Wrightwood. It took all your giving support to pull this one off.. and I deeply thank everyone” said Red Barn Opry founder David Cimino, who took to Facebook to thank the community for a wonderful event.
You can relive the event by watching a live recording of the show on YouTube.
