Next weekend, May 17-19, 2024, a new North Coast music festival launches called Cosmico. The three-day festival takes place along the Russian River amidst the redwoods of Northern Sonoma County. The line-up is a crossroads of American roots, psychedelia, jazz, and rock that organizers believe represents the “fiercely independent” ethos that defines our region.
In 2019, Chris Schultz and his wife Anne Driscoll began cultivating an underground music venue in the backyard of their northern Sonoma County home. Respected names in the American roots music scene came from far and wide to perform on their DIY stage in the shade of redwoods, alongside their creek.
Schultz told us his friends, their spouses, children, and extended families would come together united by their love of music and the Northern California wilds.
In 2023, Schultz and Driscoll made a radical decision: they would invite the community to take part in their very first, official music festival.
Tim Bluhm, lead singer of the Bay Area rock band The Mother Hips (check out their album Shoot Out) and friend of Schultz, asked Schultz what he and Anne were going to do to make their envisioned festival successful. At that point, all Schultz and Anne knew was the festival should be like those evenings underneath the redwoods, alongside the creek, all united in song.
Weeks later Schultz would meet the owner of Guerneville’s Dawn Ranch, a 22-acre retreat on the banks of the Russian River nestled amongst a redwood forest. It was settled: Cosmico had a new home.
Schultz told us the line-up and festival experience have become an embodiment of the “fiercely independent” spirit he sees in residents of our region. Front and center to the festival experience is what Schultz described as “a celebration of nature’s bounty.” From his vantage point, Cosmico is inspired by many of the cultural motifs that define the North Coast: freedom, DIY, and the natural world.
Susto is the festival’s headlining performance and the band will take the stage on Saturday, May 18, 2024, around 8:00 p.m. Hailing from Charleston, South Carolina, Susto has been infusing rock, punk, folk, and a touch of psychedelia for 11 years and has five albums under their belt. Their performances are driving and energetic.
A study of frontman Justin Osborne’s lyrics will find the same fierce independence Schultz channeled when designing Cosmico. One lyric comes to mind: in the song “Cosmic Cowboy“, Osborn is simultaneously defiant, reverent, and nostalgic: “I’m a southern man, but I’m an atheist/ A Puddin’ Swamp kid with tattooed fists/ I’m never in the middle and always on top/ Always screaming, “Fuck the cops”
Schultz developed a personal connection with Susto after meeting Justin Osborne on a beach in Mexico. When a fellow music enthusiast from Sonoma County was organizing their own independent music festival, Schultz immediately suggested Susto for the lineup. Susto made their Sonoma County debut last June as headliners at the Bloodroot Ramble. Just two months later, on a warm Monday night in mid-August, Susto delivered an energetic performance at Healdsburg’s Elephant in the Room—a show still fondly remembered for its surprisingly lively crowd for a weeknight. Schultz hosted the band during both of their visits to the North Coast.
Another cultural touchstone that inspired Cosmico’s line-up was Sonoma, Mendocino, and Humboldt County’s notable connections to the 1960s Bay Area music universe. Bands like the Grateful Dead and Country Joe and the Fish would travel the North Coast bringing far-flung communities together united by their love for a psychedelia-folk-infused form of rock-n-roll. Schultz called the North Coast “sacred grounds for the late 1960s Bay Area music diaspora” and told us Cosmico’s line-up is “channeling a lot of that spirit and invited artists connected to that scene.”
Sam Grisman and Friends will play on Sunday, May 19th, 2024, Cosmico’s closing performance. Grisam is a living embodiment of the 1960s music scene as the son of Dave Grisam who collaborated with the Grateful Dead’s lead singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia starting in 1964. Sam has formed a band dedicated to honoring the musical legacy of his father and Garcia.
Cosmico will also host a unique musical collaboration on Saturday afternoon with all five artists musical descendants of the improvisational Americana typified by 1960s jam bands.
Jeffrey Arevalo, an acclaimed percussionist and member of prog-rock band Goose will join roots rock icon Jackie Green (once a member of the Black Crows), Nashville Singer-songwriter Nicki Bluhm, multi-instrumentalist Jason Crosby (who has toured with member of the Allman Brothers and the Grateful Dead), and bass player Pedro Arevalo known for his collaboration with Allman Brother’s founding member Dickey Betts.
Schultz told us the quintet will perform both a series of covers and improvisational jams providing ample opportunity for the multitude of talent to flex their musical muscles during their set.
We were struck by the Western psychedelic surrealism of Cosmico’s concert poster created by San Diego-based Andrew McGranahan. Schultz described the image depicting a “Cosmic Cowboy looking west out to the sea with a coyote, his trusted companion, by his side.” When Cosmico’s guests are amidst the redwoods facing the stage watching the performers, Schultz said they too will be “facing West”.
Chris Schultz and his wife Anne Driscoll have taken their personal passion and made it into a public event. He told us he’s been a dead sprint in the weeks preceding the festival. Cosmico is a non-profit with sustainability as its goal. Schultz and Driscoll are not raking in the cash to bring an amazing musical experience to the North Coast. Instead, he says, they’re “boot-strapped.”
Tickets for Cosmico are still available and will be available at the door. There are a variety of prices for single-day, weekend, and lodging packages. Check out the options here
Checkout the Spotify playlist below curated by organizer Chris Schultz for a sampling of the music you’ll hear next weekend:
Oh lord at least it’s downstream
Look around. It’s on the sidewalk.