Santa Cruz American Music Festival

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! After 25 years of presenting the best in Blues, Rock and Americana music on Memorial Day Weekend in Aptos Village Park, the ownership group has decided to take a sabbatical for the 2018 festival season. There are many variables that are being discussed for 2019 and it will take us a year to assess the viability of future shows. Some of the issues to overcome for the future are the rising costs of producing a high quality boutique music festival - includ...ing anticipated increases in security costs - while still keeping ticket prices at an affordable level for our fans. Due to several factors, our beloved Aptos Village Park may no longer be logistically feasible. The growth of the Aptos Village Project leaves us with no parking for our artists’ buses, vendor trailers and vans, and a cramped entrance and exit to the venue. Also, the nine-member ownership group who live locally, love the work, the festival, and our fans; have limited resources which make the festival financially difficult to sustain. We are discussing a variety of possibilities for a new venue, show dates, etc., so that we can continue to bring great music to Santa Cruz County in 2019. We thank you for your many years of loyal support and are excited where this journey will take us. In the meantime, please send your positive input and feedback regarding the future of the festival to [email protected].

We just want to take a moment to thank everyone who came out to Santa Cruz American Music Festival this year. The weather could not have been better and the enthusiasm of the crowd was felt by all including the artists on stage. Also sending out a special thanks to Yvonne Hendrix, our Queen of Social Media and to Janet Allinger, our brilliant Graphic Designer who both went above and beyond our expectations this year. We are so lucky to have such amazing talents on our team!

So lucky that The Record Company came to Santa Cruz for our festival! https://youtu.be/V1mYR8eUnqA

Santa Cruz American Music Festival in the news! Thank you Glide Magazine and Andrew Quist for the great recap! https://glidemagazine.com//mavis-staples-wood-brothers-de/

Sending out a big THANK YOU to everyone who made this year's Santa Cruz American Music Festival so memorable - the artists, volunteers, staff, vendors, production team, sponsors, mother nature, and ESPECIALLY all of YOU, the fans. It wouldn't be possible without your support. We look forward to many more. We love you. See you next year! Tag yourself and your friends.

The Brothers Comatose at the Santa Cruz American Music Festival. Sunshine makes these guys happy, and energetic! The band is always fun to photograph, and they are infectiously enjoyable. Photos Kim Sallaway Photography

Santa Cruz American Music Festival in the news! Thank you JamBase! What a great show Melissa Etheridge gave us!

Did you catch baskery? They were amazing. Photo Kim Sallaway Photography

The Wood Brothers tore it up! Big love to a special guest appearance from the T Sisters. Amazing musicianship and how about that dancing. Oh My!

The Brothers Comatose dubbed "The Backstreet Boys of Bluegrass" ;) are "not quite your average bluegrass band" We loved them!

Let's hear it for Barns Courtney what a way to wake up Santa Cruz! How fun was that.

Barns Courtney a perfect Sunday opener. Fresh, energetic. This is a band to watch for. Lots more great music: The Brothers Comatose, The Wood Brothers, Mavis Staples, and The Devil Makes Three. Tickets available at the gate.