Once again, San Francisco concert promoter (((folkYEAH!))) is teaming up with The Mother Hips to host the third annual Hipnic festival in Big Sur, California. (((folkYEAH!))) has been generating a major buzz lately with its coveted psych-rock and folk concert series nestled in the redwoods of the Big Sur Valley. The man behind it all is Brit Govea, who, along with Tim Bluhm of The Mother Hips, took the time to talk with Relix/Jambands.com about their collaborative festival taking place on May 13 and 14 at the Fernwood Resort in Big Sur, Cal.

Can you tell us how (((folkYEAH!))) got started and what the company is all about?

BG: It began in January 2005 with two Superwolf (Bonnie “Prince” Billy & Matt Sweeney) shows in Big Sur. Those two shows were a game changer for me. (((folkYEAH!))) was blessed to have come out of the gate presenting one of the most exciting and best songwriters in the world, my friend Will Oldham. There are just not that many artist that have been as interesting and fun to watch evolve and grow as Bonnie “Prince” Billy. I respect his approach to all things music, art and performance greatly. He goes with the gut, that voice within that always points the way. I fully believe he’ll [Will Oldham] go down as one of the greatest performing artists of our time because of his fearless approach to his art. I have a few exciting things planned for 2011 too including the launch of my new 7 inch label called “Spiritual Pajamas.” The first release will be a Bonnie “Prince” Billy 7 inch.

The first year there were maybe eight weekends of shows and then the second year there were maybe 20, then by the third year it was getting close to probably 60 shows. Now, it’s a lot of shows. But what the prerequisite was in the early days, and still is for the most part is today, is my record collection – I have a fairly large record collection. My goal is to present as many of these bands that I listen to and collect records by as possible. That’s kind of been the prerequisite this whole time. It’s varied a little from time to time, but that’s the underlying theme of the “curation.”

How did (((folkYEAH!))) team up with The Mother Hips to create the Hipnic?

BG: I got turned on to The Mother Hips in ‘98 and started following them a little bit after that. Then, I kind of knew them a bit and as time grew on – about three or four years into my series at Big Sur – I got with them and was like “Maybe we should do a day-long show in Big Sur where we kind of co-curate and make a whole day out of it.” That quickly turned into two days and the first one was two years ago on the 4th of July. They came up with the name Hipnic and it’s just kind of grown since.

So this is going to be the third one now, and the date has kind of moved to its final date in mid-May, which is where it will be now going forward. I’ve just had a lot of admiration and respect for those guys for their devotion to the California sound, for one, which is something that they’re hugely influenced by.

I’m really honored because this year, I was trying to take that California sound to the next level and I was able to get my friend Al Jardine of The Beach Boys to do a mini-set with The Mother Hips as his backing band, which is going to happen at Hipnic three. So it’s kind of like a full circle for them. We’re all very excited. Now we’re finally going to have ultimately one of the more contemporary examples of the California sound these days, The Mother Hips, playing with one of the inventors of that sound, Al Jardine, who is a founding member of The Beach Boys. I’m super thrilled for that, The Mother Hips are too. I think it’s going to be exceptional and unique for all those that come to [the Hipnic].

What was the approach you took this year with regard to selecting artists for the festival?

TB: Well, to some degree there’s a core of groups that we want to have every year – it’s kind of like the theme of the festival. The theme is that it’s sort of The Mother Hips family. My wife Nikki Bluhm and her band The Gramblers play it every year and she probably always will, because she’s my wife. [Laughs]. And then Little Wings is another band that’s really good friends of ours so they always play.

Then this year, we were also trying to expand our horizons a little bit so we got Pegi Young and her band The Survivors. Nikki and I got to open for her a few months ago in San Francisco, so we invited her to come and she’ll be there.

So in a sense the The Hipnic holds true to its name in that it’s somewhat of a family affair.

TB: Yeah, it’s our chance to curate a music festival and have the bands that we want there. Usually, you’re just saying “yes” to an offer from some other festival. But this time, we actually get to create it from the beginning. It’s an exciting process.

Do you feel that the lineup this year leans more toward a folky-Americana sound, whereas previous years have included more psych-rock acts?

BG: Well, that’s a really honest and observant observation. Obviously, I like to create environments that people can come and enjoy and feel comfortable in. But as comfortable as I like to make them feel, I liked to pick one or two things that really push the envelope on them as well, without being over the top. So, Citay was definitely that the first year.

I would say last year was kind of the beginning of what it’s become. Yeah, I mean it’s kind of got an Americana vibe to it for sure this year. Although there’s some really unique, special things that are happening like with Vetiver, the Fruit Bats and Richard Swift doing a trio set together. That is totally unique to this festival, and I have no idea if that’s going to be more country-ish or rockish or what. I’m very excited for it, but I can’t say that I put that together or tried to fall into more of an Americana vibe. I think this year with Pegi Young – who’s definitely got an Americana vibe – and Nikki Bluhm there’s definitely leaps towards [Americana]. But there’s a few more that we’re going to be adding that might tip the scale a little bit on that. So it’s not quite done yet.

TB: Whatever it is, it definitely was random. And it’s cool, I’m glad that you noticed that. I like to notice those things also. But there was definitely no theme; we just signed the bands that we were all interested in. Between the band members, managers, and Brit there are seven or eight people that are all trying to bring acts in. The ones that were chosen were just the ones that we agreed on. But I guess it is a bit more folk this year, huh? That’s cool. There was some folk last year too.

By not focusing on a specific “scene” or genre, do you find that your festival acts as a catalyst for fans of all different types?

TB: I definitely do. I think that, in a way, Big Sur is kind of in the middle between L.A. and San Francisco. In the California music scene it seems like there’s L.A. and there’s San Francisco, and they’re very different. This festival, I think, does a good job of getting a group of people to come up from Los Angeles, and another group to come down from San Francisco. Because, what it is is people flying in from all over the place. But that location of the festival I think is cool in that it blends the two major music scenes of the state. I think that’s pretty cool, and I can’t think of a ton of other music festivals – I can’t think of any other ones – that are kind of in that in between zone.

There are only 300 tickets being sold to the Hipnic. Do you have plans to grow the festival into something where you could sell more tickets and have larger crowds?

BG: This could very well be the last intimate one. We have plans to take it [to another location] at some point. But right now, we’re kind of digging the vibe of it. It turns out to be way more than 300 people with all the bands and the guests. There’s 300 tickets sold, but it ends up being more like 400 people. Which makes it intimate – it’s not so intimate that you’re going to walk away at the end of the weekend and know everyone’s names, but it is intimate enough that if you wanted to you could forge a relationship with people there. So yeah, I like the intimate level of it.

Like all things, including the series itself, thing just don’t stay the same. So I’ve learned to embrace change, because it’s foolish to fight it. That said, when it gets bigger, it would never get that much bigger. I think it would be cool to get it to six or seven hundred people, only for the budget. With a bigger budget we could bring in a few more artists.

TB: We’d like to see it get a little larger, but not big. It’s not about making money, it’s just a good time. There’s another site a few miles north of the Fernwood [Resort] where you could have about 1000 people. We’d like to eventually move it to that site. It could be a little bit bigger and we could have a bigger budget and get more cool bands. Obviously, it takes a bit of money to get good bands to come play. So, we do have to think about the money a little bit. But 1000 people would be about the biggest that I would want it to be. At that point it’s still really small and you can still talk to every single person at the festival.

What have you taken from past years to make the festival, now in its third year, better and more enjoyable?

TB: Well, when it first started it was pretty home-grown. So I feel like we’ve made a few improvements this year on the production value – the stage, the sound, the lights and things like that. Last year, the lights were cool – they were dramatic – but they were very one-dimensional. This year we’re going to get a little bit better production and I think it will be a bit more enjoyable. That’s really about it though. We want to keep it basic. It’s just about camping with your friends and your family and checking out some bands. We have some sponsors, but it’s not quite nailed down. Sierra Nevada, the Chico brewery, is going to brew a beer specifically for this festival. So that’s exciting and it’s something new.

In terms of your own festival experiences, have you taken lessons that you learned as a fan and brought them to your own festival?

TB: Yeah, when I first met [Mother Hips guitarist] Greg Loiacono in Chico, I was from southern California and I’d never been to Northern California. It was kind of like hobbit-land – all stony and weird – and very different from growing up in Los Angeles. We drove up 101 to somewhere up in Sonoma County, or something like that, and there was this festival Electric on the Eel on the Eel River. It was Ry Cooder and David Lindley and it was just all these hippies on the side of this river and all these redwood trees around us. The setting was so stony and I’ll never forget it.

The music was amazing, but the setting was just so amazing and that became the ideal vision in my head for what music and a listening experience should be. So many festivals don’t have that, they’re at fairgrounds and they’re all dusty, sweltering and over-crowded. There’s people passing out and going crazy…The alternative to that was really about the setting. Where do you want to go to see music? You want to go to the trees and the river.

What are some acts that you’d like to see play the festival in the future?

TB: We actually had a lot of luck this year with people who wanted to do it. But it’d be great if My Morning Jacket showed up and played a set, or Levon Helm – that would be so amazing. They’d love it I’m sure, but I don’t know them well enough.