Throw in a bit all of the American music roots disciplines — country, bluegrass, R&B, rockabilly, soul, rock and roll — mix it up in the petri dish and fire up the bunsen burner and you’ve got “The Fall Rambler” this Saturday at Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach. Add in the two company’s presenting Rambleers, local “Surf and Stone” brand Hippy Tree and Redondo Beach’s King Harbor Brewing Company (who are doing a tap take over), you’ve got the mix for a uniquely South Bay event.
Headlining this year’s Fall Rambler is an eclectic assortment of musicians that call themselves “The Moonsville Collective.” Since forming in August 2011, they have been awarded “Best Country/Americana Band” by the OC Music Awards, “2012 Best Live Band” by OC Weekly and “Best Bluegrass/Americana Band in Orange County” by CBS Los Angeles.
“Right now we’re a six piece band that sometime goes up to eight,” said Seth Richardson, who plays double bass for Moonsville. “A couple of instruments that make us unique are our upright bass, and a dobro — also known as a resonator or a slide guitar.”
The Moonsville Collective has played with  Willie Watson (Old Crow Medicine Show), Donavan Frankenreiter, The White Buffalo, Wanda Jackson, Frank Fairfield, Rose’s Pawn Shop, Restaurant, Sean & Zander, and The Dustboal Revival and has become a staple in the Socal festival circuit.
Most of the band lives in Long Beach, a mere 15 miles and two bridges away, but is a bigger departure musically. With the South Bay stuck in reggae and punk rock matrimony, our scene is a bit isolated from the burgeoning Southern California Americana/bluegrass scene.
“The surf scene is picking up our music pretty quickly with many surfers just grabbing banjos and learning to play,” Richardson said. “We like playing the South Bay because we’re seen as fresh. People are introduced to a new sound and really get turned on.”
The Moonsville Collective play as the soundtrack to the Hippy Tree “tribe” and its shenanigans — the native South Bay nature-inspired outdoor apparel company has a devoted and decidedly banjo-imbibed following among local surfers and stoners (rock climbers.)
“We’ve been asked to play many of their parties, events, and tradeshows. Our lead singer Corey Adams has been a part of their tribe for at least a decade,” Richardson said. “I feel that since they’ve grown, we’ve grown. Plus, those guys all about the good times.”
Accompanying the Moonsville Collective are “The Wild Reeds,” an LA-based  three piece harmony folk band with indie inclinations. Also on the bill are two of the hardest working bands from the South Bay, Kira and the Hollow Legs and the Thirsty Crows. Both bands have charismatic lead singers, Kira Lingman and Steven Huante, born from the same South Bay kiln. Kira’s vocal’s teeter between the moonlit comfort of Patsy Cline to the pained soulfulness of Janis Joplin, while Huante’s crooning style is similar to Nick 13 from Tiger Army (but with more balls) with a touch of Johnny Cash. Both shred on guitar.
King Harbor’s brewery is walking distant from Hippy Tree headquarters, so the tribes are well acquainted and have thrown killer events in the past. KHBC will be pouring their popular IPA, Swirly, and Day Drinker.
“We all are excited about the Fall Rambler,” said Richardson. “It’s going to be a beer spilling in your beard kind of night.”
Tickets are $10, available at SaintRocke.com. Doors open at 6 p.m., Â show starts 8 p.m. Â ER
