This past summer, for the first time, I attended the High Sierra Music
Festival in Quincy, Calif. It was, without a doubt, the best music
festival I have ever attended.
We have been lucky to have a steady flow of past and future High
Sierra performers coming through Sacramento recently, and the trend
continues Tuesday night.
Tuesday night, Harlow’s plays host to High Sierra personified, the
"Gospel Soul Ninja" himself, Zach Deputy.
Although I do not have the official count, I estimate that the
one-man-super-band from South Carolina played 38 sets in the 72 or so
hours that he graced the Quincy Fairgrounds with his presence. You
couldn’t swing a dead cat (or a kind-vegan-ganja-gooball, if you’re not into swinging dead cats) without hitting Zach Deputy, mid guerilla-style RV rooftop set. It was amazing and wonderful.
On a weekend where the smile never left my face, my smile was never
bigger than when Deputy was performing. Take a look at a description
from Deputy’s website.
"Put simply, Zach Deputy does what is called live looping: layering
sounds through the magic of technology to create a full band effect.
He isn’t the only performer out there doing this, but he has taken the
technique to the next level. First and foremost, however, Zach Deputy
is a songwriter, a shredding guitarist and a soulful singer with a 4+
octave vocal range… He is a one man dance party…"
Deputy combines rock, reggae, hip hop, soul, calypso and dancehall to
create infectious tunes that demand you stand up and get down. He’s like
the Pied Piper of happy-happy-fun-time. It might be a coincidence
that the sun is shining in Sacramento for the first time in weeks just
in time for Deputy’s arrival, but I doubt it.
Come to Harlow’s Tuesday and ring in spring with music that will make
you feel like it’s summer.
Zach Deputy plays at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29. Tickets are $12.
I’ll see you on the dance floor!
