Sound Summit reappears
Mount Tamalpais festival set to return after hiatus, headlined by Lukas Nelson
Michael Nash wasn’t expecting to produce a music festival this year. But a few weeks ago, a call came in from state officials giving him the green light to bring back the daylong Sound Summit concert to the natural amphitheater atop Mount Tamalpais. “I think, for us, it’s some version of a minor miracle,” said Nash, president of Roots & Branches Conservancy, the nonprofit that started hosting the annual outdoor festival in 2015 to raise funds and awareness for the beloved state park in Marin County.
After an unplanned twoyear hiatus, Sound Summit is set to return to Mount Tam on Sept. 11 with a stacked lineup that includes the Americana band Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, psychedelic singersongwriter Father John Misty, retropop act the AllahLas, New Orleans funk outfit Cha Wa and local roots rocker Teal Collins.
Scrambling to put together such an impressively eclectic lineup wasn’t easy, Nash said, especially with the easing of pandemic restrictions allowing major concert promoters to pounce on any available touring acts.
“We’re a postage stamp in a densely packed, competitive market of topnotch promoters who compete against each other virtually every day of the year,” Nash said. “So, then it’s just a matter of having a certain
amount of faith, as it were, and just being persistent and feeling like, we’ve done this many times and we’ll do it again. That seemed to work.”
Nelson was an easy score. His band was scheduled to headline last year’s Sound Summit festival before it was scrapped, and he was eager to get back to the Bay Area and show his support for a good cause.
“The area has been through so much in the last couple years, especially with the fires on top of everything else that’s happened,” Nelson said. “I love the people in the Bay Area. I feel deeply connected and happy to be coming back to play for the community.”
The other acts quickly fell into place too, lured no doubt by the “postage stamp” qualities of the concert, which takes place at the 4,000seat stone Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre, which in 1967 hosted the Fantasy Fair with the Doors, Jefferson Airplane and the Byrds — widely considered the first rock festival.
“The people who come have an adventurous spirit,” Nash said. “It’s not a downontheground affair — they have to get up the mountain. There’s a vibe in the air, and it’s a tangible vibe. You’re 2,500 feet above the bay and it’s a very intimate venue, but it’s a very expansive landscape at the same time. So, it’s pretty special.”
The money raised by Sound Summit — more than $200,000 so far — goes toward a host of improvements for Mount Tamalpais State Park, including fire prevention, water conservation, trail repairs, visitor services and more.
The event is expected to be hosted once again by Bay Area radio personalities Brian Murphy and Paul McCaffrey, known as Murph & Mac, along with KPFA’s “Dead to the World” radio host Tim Lynch. Andy Cabic, the frontman of Richmond folkrock band Vetiver, will DJ between sets.
“I’m most looking forward to the amazing energy the crowds out there have,” Nelson said. “The natural beauty of the area gives a great atmosphere for epic musical experiences.”