The first Joshua Tree Accordion Festival will be taking place this Saturday, May 24 at Art Queen from 3:30 to 9:00 p.m. The fest will feature eleven accordion acts, an accordion raffle, and a free accordion lesson at 3:30 for anyone interested in this iconic and evocative instrument. Sponsored by the Accordion Apocalypse Repair Shop and Joe Alvarez Studios, the event is organized by Skyler Fell, accordion and singer of local trio Tumbleweed Timemachine.
Twenty-five years ago, Skyler Fell found herself in Spain where she was recruited by a traveling band of folk musicians in the middle of their own unique journey––traveling around the world by horse and cart.
“I was in Barcelona, and I was staying at the circus squat warehouse, and I met these amazing traveling folks that had this little horse. I was helping them with some gardening projects and they invited me to come out and play accordion on the back of their cart that they were taking. The horse and cart was going around the whole world and so they were like, ‘Come play accordion on the back of our cart and we’ll drink wine and our horse will be pulling it!’ So there we were in Barcelona, going through the cobblestone streets with the clip clap of the horses’ hoofs. I didn’t play accordion yet, but I sure learned fast. When I got back from that trip, I found a broken accordion in the art warehouse that I lived in in Oakland, repaired it myself a little bit and then took it into a shop for more info on repairs and ended up getting an apprenticeship at that shop and the rest is history.”
Skyler has since brought her own Accordion Apocalypse Repair shop from downtown San Francisco to Joshua Tree where they repair, sell, and teach accordion. Through her shop as a local hub where she’d meet other players, she saw a reason to celebrate the instrument further through this first official gathering:
“Originally I had no idea there were that many accordion players in the hihigh desert but as time went on, I just met more and more, and we decided that it was the perfect moment to start the festival.”
Skyler’s group Tumbleweed Timemachine will play at 6:00 p.m. surrounded by ten other accordion acts like Doug Legacy of Zydeco Party Band, Mudbugs, Jenifer Palmer Lacy, the Beauty Bubble’s own Jeff Hafler and more. The event is free and open to the public.
