Winter Flowers performing at Pappy and Harriet's during the Clean Air, Clear Stars Festival.

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Pioneertown, located a few miles outside Yucca Valley near Joshua Tree National Park, was originally built as a movie set for Western movies.  Many buildings have been converted into homes.

Winter Flowers at Pappy and Harriet's in Pioneertown, out in the desert near Joshua Tree National Park.  This Los Angeles-based group creates beautiful, delicate Misty Mountain folk music with ancient three-part harmonies reminiscent of Pentangle or Fairport Convention. 

I first saw them with Lavender Diamond (who have also played with Crooked Cowboy at Redcat - a shame Lavender Diamond wasn't out here for this festival!).  We'ree lucky that there is so much good music coming out of Los Angeles right now, including Lavender Diamond, Crooked Cowboy, Winter Flowers, and I See Hawks in L.A.

There's some bands that virtually defy description...often, my favorite kind of music.

Los Angeles-based Crooked Cowboy plays music with eerie unison female vocals (shown here), propulsive psychedelic rhythms, Moog synthesizers, and projections.

Jesika von Rabbit of Joshua Tree-based Gram Rabbit.

Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times has gushed: “[Gram Rabbit] appear ready to claim a place in the line of self-reliant, independent-minded artists who germinated in Southern California’s deserts, from Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart in the 1960’s to Queens of the Stone Age in the ‘90s.”

The band mixes up an odd bit of psychedelic disco cowboy twang with deadpan torch-song vocals, creating a sound completely their own.

We've seen Gram Rabbit numerous times, including last year at Pappy and Harriet's for their record release party for "Cultivation". 

Gram Rabbit at Pappy and Harriet's, playing underneath the night sky of the desert near Joshua Tree.

See two pages of photos of Gram Rabbit from 2006.

Jesika von Rabbit has a nachos dish served at Pappy and Harriet's now.  Perhaps it's the blue cheese that separates it from other nachos.

See two pages of photos of Gram Rabbit from 2006.

The festival took place almost exactly one year from the devastating Sawtooth Fire, where a year later, charred circles of earth and blackened remains of Joshua Trees remain.  The fire came dangerously close to obliterating Pioneertown, burning 61,000 acres and destroying 60 homes and 170 businesses.

The festival will also raise awareness for Joshua Tree National Park, which scientists call "the world's most endangered national park."  Joshua Tree is the only place on the planet where the large fragile Yucca plants grow.  The slightest disruption of this fragile eco-system could wreak havoc on all its inhabitants.