It ain’t BottleRock, and that’s a good thing. Although the Napa-based music festival shares the same initials as Healdsburg’s BloodRoot, one won’t find miles-long traffic jams, $250 tickets or caviar corndogs here—nor is one likely to find stars like Justin Timberlake, Green Day or Public Enemy. But BloodRoot has plenty of talent taking the stage: four bands over an eight-hour day of music, including one certified international star.
Ziggy Marley hasn’t played in Sonoma County for 10 years, but he remains one of the biggest names in reggae, the musical genre that his father did so much to popularize. Ziggy, one of five brothers following in Bob Marley’s footsteps, is by far the most successful torch-bearer for that legacy. He’s been touring since his father’s death in 1981 and has produced several hit songs of his own: the albums Conscious Party with the Melody Makers, Love is My Religion and Fly Rasta all won Grammys.
He was also a producer of the recent film “One Love,” which despite mixed reviews rekindled interest in reggae and Bob Marley’s life. Marley himself was a victim of gun violence, when unknown assailants broke into his Kingston home and opened fire. He was hit, as were his wife Rita and several others, though there were no fatalities.
It’s a music festival first and foremost, but it’s also inextricably linked with the issue of gun violence. BloodRoot’s Kelly and Noah Dorrance lost a niece in the 2023 Nashville Covenant School shooting, just as plans for the first BloodRoot were taking shape. The festival continued as a benefit for GIFFORDS, the advocacy and research organization preventing gun violence founded in the wake of Rep. Gabby Giffords’s shooting in 2011.
Since 2023, BloodRoot has brought numerous noted performers to Healdsburg for a full day of indie-rock energy, including Lord Huron, Lone Bellow, Susto, Andrew Bird, Cautious Clay, the Nude Party and others. The Dorrances also seem to harbor a secret fondness for surf music—the Cayucas played in 2023 and the harmonically-driven female quartet La Luz play this year, with their synth surf-rock influences.
Don’t think that this year’s line-up marks a change in genre for the Ramble to reggae. It’s still an emphatically indie-rock event, but that’s a broad category that reflects the taste of the organizers if not their generation.
The musical day begins just after noon with the Coffis Brothers, a Santa Cruz-area band with a local following thanks to their gigs at Elephant in the Room. La Luz is next up, followed by Richy Mitch and the Coal Miners—another in a long string of indie-folk rock bands based in Seattle (home of Nirvana and Soundgarden).
On the other hand, Local Natives are from SoCal. “They could honestly be headliners in their own right,” Dorrance said. “We’ve just been fans of theirs for a really long time, and we actually have been trying to get them to play the Ramble for the last two years, but with our schedule and all that just didn’t work out until this year.”
The Orange County band marks its 20th year with a new lineup, as co-founder Kelsey Ayer left just last year. Taylor Rice still handles lead vocals and their latest CD, “But I’ll Wait for You,” is only a year old.
Local Natives is the second band billed for this year’s BloodRoot, scheduled to take the stage at 4:45pm to warm up the crowd for Ziggy Marley at 6:45pm—if all goes according to schedule. Between sets, DJ Con Queso will fill the sound void with actual vinyl classics. Friday night a welcome reception at Reeve Wines on Dry Creek Road (with Local Natives) followed by a kick-off party at Little Saint (with “y’alternative rock” singer Timmy Skelly) complete a full menu of music for a memorable weekend. These extras are available to a limited number of “Golden Ticket” holders (see website for details).
That’s just the musical part of it. For the second year, The Ramble will be staged at the playing fields at the Abel De Luna Community Center north of town—it’s roomier than the West Plaza Park that saw the first Ramble in 2023, and it’s grassy.
Getting the city to permit the community center as a concert venue wasn’t easy, but it worked out well. “They kept trying to put us in the parking lot where this Healdsburg Wine & Food thing happens, you know?” said Kelly Dorrance. “And I was like, ‘I don’t want a parking lot, I want grass.’”
Last year about 2,500 tickets sold, and while the Dorrances hope for at least that many sales this year they recognize the hurdles. “It’s like the wine industry—there’s just too many festivals, too many other options and too many distractions,” she said. “The ideal Ramble would just be sustainable—and I think we would just keep doing what we do.”
This year the plan is to put the stage near the baseball diamond so the fans get the afternoon shade from the Foss Creek corridor. There will be four food trucks, an ice cream truck, beer from Moonlight brewing, and wine from BloodRoot and Reeve (the Dorrances’ two labels) as well as from Overshine and Idlewild.
There will also be an open-air market and a raffle with cool prizes, but ultimately the purpose of the event is to raise money for GIFFORDS. For Kelly Dorrance, that has always been the point.
“Reggae’s always been rooted in protest with love,” she said. “And that kind of feels apropos, given the current situation—and given our cause.”
The BloodRoot Ramble begins Friday evening, June 6, with VIP events. The concert is from noon to 8pm on Saturday at the Abel De Luna Community Center, 1557 Healdsburg Ave. More information and tickets at bloodrootramble.com.
