Pair one of our 16 beers on tap with some lively Beer Garden Trivia, every Tuesday at 6pm (note the new time)! No sign-ups required. Just come a little early to snag a table in the Beer Garden.
As the lead guitarist for the China Cats and Painted Mandolin, Matt Hartle has established himself as the preeminent jam band guitarist for Santa Cruz and the Bay Area. You can also find him hosting a weekly deep dead jam, where he welcomes Bay Area players for Grateful Sunday shenanigans. Matt’s unique voice and intricate playing style always gets the audience on their feet and feeling their groove. You’ll be dancing to songs from legends like Jerry Garcia, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, as well as rock, blues, jazz, americana, and of course some Matt Hartle originals. Stop by for a “Thursday after work” brew and some hot hartle licks when Matt returns to Discretion Brewing for 1st Thursdays of the month this summer.
Shop small and have Discretion! Our Holiday Makers’ Market is coming up on Saturday 12/9 from 1-5pm. Browse handcrafted jewelry, pottery, knitted goods, and art! Grab a beer, browse, and enjoy live music (“X-Mas Spectacular”) from The Trolley Drops from 3-5pm.
Featuring goods from RoCreate, Original Sin Jewelry Design, Loma Pottery, Nautilus and Sway, and MORE!
The Trolley Drops play songs from the good-time, prohibition-era folk jazz genre known as Jug Band music, which blends the call and response of gospel with the drive of the delta blues and the ruckus sounds of New Orleans Jazz.
Acoustic rock trio, ranging from The Beatles to Chuck Berry to very catchy originals. You may find yourself wanting to get off your bar stool and dance.
Stormin Norman is long time lead singer for Stormin Norman & the Cyclones. Ken Kraft is lead player and singer for the Cyclones, plays with the White Album Ensemble and was formerly with the legendary Snail band. Jo Jo Fox is bass player and singer for the Cyclones and also with Karen Phoenix Band.
Harpin’ and Clark are Jon Troutner and Peter Clark. They are a guitar and harmonica duo playing Americana, jazz, blues, ragtime, country and folk. Mixing carefully selected traditional and popular tunes with original songs, their combination of chromatic and blues harmonica and fingerstyle guitar provides a uniquely listenable musical experience. Jon and Peter have been developing their craft and entertaining Santa Cruz audiences for over forty years.
Acoustic string band out of Marin Country drawing from traditional bluegrass and old-time, plus some country, blues, rock, and jazz to create a contemporary California bluegrass sound.
Original story-songs, dramedy, stellar vocals, sweet harmonies, great entertainment!
Bonny June & Bonfire are an original music trio that sing together like birds on a wire. Their entertainment style has been coined by fans as “Americana meets Vaudeville”. Bonny’s wild storytelling blends sweet & saucy, drama & comedy with fantastical characters such as cowgirls & pirates, heroes & villains, lovers & monsters. Beloved local guitarist/singer/producer Ken Kraft established popular bands Snail & The White Album Ensemble. Excellent bassist/singer Craig Owens’ varied history includes The Messiahs & Lacy J Dalton. With stellar vocals, beautiful harmonies and seasoned players, a Bonfire show is sure to have you listening & laughing, crying & drinking, singing & swaying and fully entertained!
With a big map and no planned destination, this trio of seasoned improvisers from the jazz and jam band worlds use song and structure the way spacecraft use planets: not to land and stay, but to SLINGSHOT around and be propelled back out into the galaxy. During this mostly-improv show, a familiar song could materialize at any time. Or not. All we can promise is that nobody knows what’s going to happen.
Slingshot is:
Guitar and Vocals: Matt Hartle (China Cats, Painted Mandolin, Shady Groove, Grateful Sundays with Matt Hartle and Friends)
Bass: Pete Novembre (OM Trio, Coffee Zombie Collective, Aza, Elephino)
Drums: Bret Bailey (Shady Groove, Elephino, Cosmic Pinball, BlissNinnies)
Jenny and The Bets is a local jazz quartet led by the swinging and talented vocalist Jenny O’ Leary. Jenny sings standards, blues, and bossa novas while accompanied by guitar, bass and drums.
The Dirt Rakers (acoustic trio) are an Americana band featuring Erik Rozite (guitar and vocals), Jayne Williams (mandolin and vocals), and Sean Woodward (lead guitar), a home-brewed group out of the redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains, blending a high octane / cask-fermented feel, purdy harmonies, and a deep love of all rootsy genres of music. Rock, country, bluegrass, and folk all swirl together in their magical musical brew.
Jazz On Tap plays jazz standards from The Great American Song Book. Featuring crooner Rocky Pase on vocals, Richard Robinson (sax, clarinet), Preston Brahm (piano) Thom Nold (Bass) and Bruce handloff (drums). Come out, enjoy a beer and swing with us!
Lake Eagles Blues Band is a side project which began July of 2022. Its base consists of Michael Curry on bass, vocals, and harmonica; Jake McBain on guitar; and Brent Nunn on drums. Jake and Michael are both currently members in The Stone Drifters. Michael also currently plays with local bluesman, Lloyd Whitley. Bringing in a tasty blend of classic and modern Rockin’ Blues, with a nice serving of funk, some soul, and some other flavors to spare! The band’s joy and energy comes from the honor of entertaining others through music. Some of their influences include Freddie, BB, and Albert King, Tom Petty, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Record Company, and Sonny Boy Williamson II.
The BACK PORCH BOYS dig into the glorious roots of American music from the Delta blues in Mississippi to New Orleans up to Memphis over to Austin and jumpin’ to Chicago. Singer-guitarist RICH COWAN and harmonica enthusiast VIRGIL THRASHER put their combined 90 odd years of playing music on display. You will hear the likes of Tampa Red, Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Fats Domino among other icons from the early days.
Alecia Haselton: Alt-folk/rock a la Jewel, The Cranberries, Alanis Morissette
Singer and musician Alecia Haselton is excited to be back in her hometown for this show, visiting from Nashville where she now sings professionally full time. She plays original music and covers, and is happy to play any song request! Her originals can be found online wherever you listen to music.
Arindam Krishna Das has been active in the local music scene since arriving in Santa Cruz’s mystical mountains in the early 90s.The Jamissaries are Arindam on guitar and vocals, Jonathan Kessler on bass, Alex Bahler on lead guitar and John Burton on drum kit, featuring Arindam’s original tunes and sharing music they love. This includes songs by The Beatles, Yes, Led Zepplin, The Doobie Brothers, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Tenacious D and more. Join them on their musical odyssey.
Local Honey is a Santa Cruz-based band that drips with honey sweet harmony and hums with tight, inventive musicianship. Local Honey’s repertoire pays homage to some of the the big voices of the last seven decades, including Big Mama Thornton, Rachael Price, Gladys Knight, Stevie Nicks, Grace Slick, and Amy Winehouse, among other divas. We seek out feel-good songs with strong vocals and infectious beats and make them our own. Though Local Honey is a new band, all of us are veterans of the Santa Cruz and Monterey music scenes. Members have worked with Honeytone, Ten O’Clock Lunch, Come Together, Backyard Birds, Menage, and Bay Bop. Over the years we’ve played in different combinations at many venues, including Michael’s on Main, Chaminade, Davenport Roadhouse, Hallcrest Vineyards, Joe’s Bar and the Food Lounge.
Snake Oil Road Show is a Monterey County acoustic style power duo composed of long time music veterans and collaborators Adam Stafford and Mr. X. Their elixir for what ails you is found in the multi-colored sounds that they deliver through various instruments and vocal harmonies. With influences that span across numerous genres and musical renditions that cross and blend them all together, this eclectic and versatile combo is guaranteed to provide an experience that includes some musical remedies that’s good for everyone.
Moonshine Crossroads plays Rollicking Americana Music – everything from jazz standards and doo-wop classics to outlaw country and classic rock. With strong vocal harmonies and vibrant electric guitar and kanzoo solos, their eclectic repertoire is sure to include a song that is “your” song and will get your toes tapping.
Lucas Lawson is a young contemporary folk artist who grew up on a farm just north of Santa Cruz, California. In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, while spending time alone on the farm, Lucas developed the 5 songs that make up his debut EP, Revisited Harbor. This isolation encouraged him to complete the process of recording Revisited Harbor by himself. Once finalized on October 23rd of 2020, Revisited Harbor came to the ears of Lucas’s growing community.
Lucas’s upbringing on an organic farm exposed him to the balance and harmonies that all living things have to offer. At a young age, Lucas began attending bluegrass barn dances on the farm, where he first learned to play the guitar alongside local group, the County Line Pickers. When those sadly came to a halt in March of 2020, Lucas found himself writing songs more than ever.
Faulty Plan is an acoustic cover band out of San Jose playing a wide variety of music including Grateful Dead, Phish, Neil Young, Bowie, Stones, Clapton, The Band, Dylan and much more. Popular and deep cuts.
As a songwriter/storyteller, March is a modern day throwback to the melodic, progressive country music stars of several decades ago when folks like Mickey Newbury, Kris Kristofferson and Glen Campbell were regularly heard on radio and seen on evening television. March’s live performance skills have garnered him opening positions for Johnny Cash’s legendary backing band the Tennessee Three, folk icon Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, the popular Steve Forbert, bluesmen Nick Gravenites and John Hammond, Straycat Lee Rocker and western soul cult heroes the Hacienda Brothers.
Richard is a Sacramento Area Music Award (SAMMIE) winner for Outstanding Male Vocalist, received a Best of Sacramento award from Sacramento Magazine for best local Americana artist, and was awarded Best Locally Produced Album in the Sacramento News and Review’s 2007 “Best of” issue. Richard can be heard on NPR’s Blue Dog Jams and has been heard on Air America as well as other various outlets in California and Oregon, has made several local television appearances, and is considered to be at the forefront of the Americana scene in the Sacramento area.
Singer/Songwriter Gary Blackburn returns to our Beer Garden.
Central Coast celebrated singer songwriter based in Santa Cruz, Gary Blackburn, brings together his smooth vocals, and stylized guitar picking to his original compositions, and cool covers in the Country, Rock, Folk, Blues genres. Blending old school with contemporary, the Gary Blackburn Band will weave a memorable musical performance of songs that tell stories of love, forgiveness, and the paths that we choose. With a well-rounded repertoire, Gary will show both his versatile soft folk blues side along with his high energy rock side.
Ezzie DeGiovanni was born into music, with two musician parents and a house full of guitars, accordions, fiddles, drums, and horns. Joel Murach has spent the last 30 or so years in the SF Bay Area music scene playing in bands such as Paddlefoot, 86, and the Low Rollers. Together, the multi-generational duo of Ezzie and Joel bring timeless songs, sweet harmonies, and sublime acoustic guitar interplay for your listening enjoyment.
On his Central Coast tour from Austin, Texas, Lynn Crossett will be playing songs from his Top 10 Americana Country album, “In the Company of a Song,” along with songs from his next album to be released in 2024 produced by the same Grammy-winning producer, Lloyd Maines. And there will likely be some gems written by some of his songwriting heroes!
Based in Santa Cruz, The Shady Characters have been playing together for nearly 10 years.
They feature many styles of popular music from such artists as Lucinda Williams, Marvin Gay, Eilen Jewel, Boz Scaggs, The Cure, Black Keys, Rolling Stones, Hall and Oates, and many others, and enjoy choosing songs that will inspire dancing!
7th Wave is a very musical, acoustic band with three lead singers, three guitars, flute and percussion. Each member is vocally featured and beautifully blended to create stunning three part harmonies backed with finely executed instrumentation. 7th Wave’s song choices span the spectrum of many decades from the 60’s to present. Together the three musicians create a synergy of harmony, charisma and fun in their performances.
Junebug Bayer is a singer/songwriter from Santa Cruz, California who specializes in folk-fusion fingerstyle guitar, occasionally adding harmonica, tap dance, autoharp, kazoo, ukulele, and banjo into the mix.
Brian Fitzgerald (7- and 6-string guitars) is an active member of the Bay Area music scene. An accomplished jazz guitarist and teacher, he draws from a deep musical background and education, covering a wide range of influences. He has toured and performed extensively as both a sideman and band leader. In addition to a wealth of studio and recording experience, he is well versed in both jazz and classical theory and composition, and has had years of experience writing and arranging for big bands, R&B groups, and jazz ensembles.
A short list of the venues includes Monterey Jazz Festival, Cabrillo Music Festival, Los Gatos Fiesta de Artes, Bing Music Series at Stanford, Santa Cruz Jazz Festival, Scotts Valley Art & Wine Festival, Capitola Art & Wine Festival, Artichoke Festival, Begonia Festival, and Jazz On The Wharf.
He is the dynamo behind the scenes at Kuumbwa Jazz who handles all the education programs (including their Summer Jazz Camp) and manages all the booked artists.
“My actual bio is long and boring, but diverse and very Irish. It includes much formal classical and jazz training and education, some great programs and teachers, tons of coffee and endless hours of disciplined practice.”
