Napa Porchfest Music Spotlight: Larry Otis & John Ruch

A new Napa festival, making its debut the last day of this month, celebrates two of the city’s best-kept secrets: its historic neighborhoods and its grassroots music scene.

From 2 to 5 p.m. on July 31, presents a three-hour, self-guided tour of live music performed on porches in some of the city’s most picturesque neighborhoods, including Alta Heights, Fuller Park, Old West Napa and the Alphabet Streets.

Sponsored by Napa County Landmarks and Napa Patch, Napa Porchfest brings together a diversity of music reflecting the city’s lively cultural communities.

The guitar duo of Larry Otis and John Ruch, who'll be performing on the porch of David Mahaffey and Linda Brown's home at 256 Franklin St., represents a lively blend of folk, country, blues and down-home string wizardry.

Longtime Napa resident Otis, who has played guitar around the Bay Area for over 40 years and worked in Los Angeles with Ike and Tina Turner, is currently playing with the steampunk band Coffin Hunter (featuring members of metal icons Exodus), Napa’s Juliane Band and a slew of other area bands.

Otis has recently expanded his instrumental arsenal to include mandolin, National steel guitar and 12-string guitars.   

Ruch is a founding member of acclaimed Napa groups the Juliane Band, which he co-founded with Otis, and the Mean Time Playboys, led by guitarist Sean Allen.

A six-string electric and acoustic guitar player for more than 40 years, Ruch has recently taken up the eight-string baritone acoustic guitar.

With so many strings in play at once, the pair creates a big sound that will appeal to any fans of acoustic music.

Otis and Ruch's set list for Napa Porchfest includes original Otis compositions, acoustic blues and instrumental standards like "Apache" and "Sleepwalk." 

Free to all ages, Napa Porchfest encourages musicians to get out of their garages to play, and listeners to get out of their cars and stroll or cycle the city’s neighborhoods, enjoying the sounds of today's live music along with the sights of historic homes from earlier times.

In the words of Napa architect, preservationist and City Council member Juliana Inman, “vernacular porches and homegrown music” make the perfect match for a summer afternoon.

So mark your calendar for July 31, and watch Napa Patch daily as we build an interactive map with links to performer profiles, music photos and videos of all the musicians, with the addresses of the porches where they’ll be playing.

Other Napa Porchfest performers include Deluna, Ove the Garden, John Kelly, Whiskey and Stitches and many others we'll be spotlighting daily throughout July.