Seventeen years is a long time to be playing music together, but the Fruit Jar Pickers of Rough and Ready have decided that all good things must come to an end. The band got started on the front porch of the Rough and Ready market and founding member Everette Brukard says it was pretty informal.
click to listen to Everette Burkard

Soon more local musicians joined in, and the pickers moved to an abandoned car-repair garage across the street where both the band and the audience grew in numbers. They would print up song books so the audience could sing along. the band sometimes had 28 musicians of varying expertise and Burkhard says the audience was often over 200.

click to listen to Everette Burkard

In addition to playing on Sunday mornings in Rough and Ready the Fruit Jar Pickers played again in the afternoons at one of Nevada County’s retirement homes or convalescent hospitals. On Sunday morning, June 18th the Fruit Jar pickers will play one final time together marking the end of an era. The public is invited to hear them one more time.