Exploring West Marin’s music scene

I have some good friends who have a band called Good Friends. A couple weeks ago, I went to their show at the Gospel Flat Show Space in Bolinas. They took over the gallery space with a host of simple instruments, a dash and a few guitar effect pedals.

After Good Friends’ opening set, Give Me a Dollar took the stage as a duo. Tommy Freiburger and Karsen Scott have provided West Marin with an exciting new musical project — songs that feel both reminiscent of a Patty Griffin past and a Big Thief folk future.

I would go anywhere in the country, or at least the county, for a Give Me a Dollar show. They recently played with Cass McCombs at Parachute Days, a special Marin outdoor concert series that returned this year.

One thing I really like about Give Me a Dollar is that they’re modular, just like all music in this pocket of West Marin. Sometimes they’re a four-piece folk set, sometimes an acoustic duo.

The music coming out of the Bay Area differs based on microcosms. For example, Slake is an entirely different sound than Moog legend and Bolinas resident Suzanne Ciani.

We’ve got legends like Kelly McFarling, who oscillates between venues like HopMonk Tavern, West Marin’s Dance Palace and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. She recently played her last show for a while at the Chapel in San Francisco. No biggie, am I right?

Anyways, Good Friends provides a dose of comedic slapstick during their shows that really drives their effective stage presence home.

“We’re trying to find a girlfriend for our bassist,” they said.

Just leaving that here.

Good Friends, thank you for a beautiful Gospel Flat show, and thank you for making it early so that the crowd included a host of adorable Bolinas families and so that I could get to bed not wrecked for the week ahead.

Now, diving into some other stars of the West Marin scene.

A new voice taking the zone by storm is Big Dog Dana, with her debut album aptly named “Big Dog.” And she sure knows how to write.

“They’re like Lucinda Williams meets Gillian Welch. You’ve got to stay for the show,” McFarling said.

Man, I’m so glad she talked me into it. It felt like I was watching a retrospective on the past 40 years that was simultaneously sonically going to bring us into the next generation.

Her tracks such as “Richmond Bridge” and “Try So Hard” bring a rocky edge to love tracks that really get at the crux of a deep, loving relationship.

The album cover looks like the egg that’s the origin of the cosmos, on a beach that looks awfully like Brighton Beach.

As I drive into Bolinas, I’m often playing one of these tracks: “Winter Fruit” (McFarling) or “Almost Easy” (Good Friends). I listen to Good Friends’ “Running Dream” when I am walking the dogs out on the hill.

Let’s not forget Rose Paradise and the brilliance that emanates from legends such as Real Estate, the Head and the Heart, Adrianne Lenker and other titans who have all recorded at Panoramic House in West Marin.

This article doesn’t even include the local legends of open mic nights in the area.

Basically, the music coming out of West Marin rocks. Whether you’re heartbroken, melancholic or trying to rock out, these are the tunes to check out  —  especially if you find any excuse to drive down Highway 1 on a random Tuesday.

Happy listening!

Jane Hatfield is a San Francisco resident. IJ readers are invited to share their stories of love, dating, parenting, marriage, friendship and other experiences for our How It Is column, which runs Tuesdays in the Lifestyles section. All stories must not have been published in part or in its entirety previously. Send your stories of no more than 600 words to lifestyles@marinij.com. Please write How It Is in the subject line. The IJ reserves the right to edit them for publication. Please include your full name, address and a daytime phone number.