will soothe music lovers’ souls

and music events. Things came to fruition after I attended a music/camping festival and I started promoting music festivals.”

With a boatload of experience producing and promoting music festivals, Ryan Kronenberg, Adam Northway and recent partner Justin Boyd introduce The Golden Road Gathering to Placerville. Scheduled May 12-14, this three-day music event will feature 30 bands on three stages.

“This is a new event for the El Dorado County Fair and Event Center,” Kronenberg said. “Placerville deserves music and the name itself fits the area.”

Northway and Kronenberg are the original producers of the Hangtown Halloween Ball (later renamed the Hangtown Music Festival), which moved to Grass Valley last year after being purchased by High Sierra Music.

Focusing on the music is Kronenberg’s avocation and vocation. He owns Bluebird Tahoe LLC and Soultime Sound, where he is the audio engineer. Free concerts throughout the summer, for which Kronenberg provides the sound expertise, are produced by Soultime Sound featuring Live at Lakeview in South Lake Tahoe and Concerts at Commons Beach on the north shore.

Kronenberg has worked with Scotty Stoughton promoting and producing WinterWonderGrass and is a founder and partner of BackCountry Festival and Bluegrass and Beyond. Before WinterWonderGrass he started his own festival, Mountain of Strings with Yonder Mountain String Band and the Del McCoury Band. It lasted just one year.

“I’m a big-time winter sports advocate,” said the four-time national snowboard competitor for the region. “It’s through the USASA” (United States of America Snowboard Association). I got into the music thing while working for a snowboard company promoting snowboarding

Kronenberg said he truly enjoys the community and “facilitating family, friends and music that puts us in the moment.” Hooking up with Boyd, the former owner of Marco’s Café in Lotus, Kronenberg said it was important to have a local representative for the event.

“Ryan and myself had been talking since last summer about the huge void in the area of live music in a festival setting since Hangtown moved up north,” said Boyd. “We threw out a few names and Ryan suggested The Golden Road Gathering. It really seemed to perfectly fit what we were aiming for — a gathering of people in the heart of gold country right along the golden chain highway.

TheCalifornia Honeydrops

“What better thing to gather over than great music, friends and family and what better time than in the springtime when the hills come alive with color and people are ready to get out and enjoy some fun after the long winter?” Boyd continued. “We hit the ground running a little late and didn’t even get going on the project until November.”

Regardless of the “late start,” the event has picked up a great deal of steam and interest. “Ryan had the connection and opportunity to book Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew (both of whom played with The Talking Heads),” he added. “With that we wanted to keep it funky and soulful and we reached out to The California Honeydrops, as I feel they represent that funloving California soul that all ages and fans can appreciate.”