Berkeley Bluegrass

How did a guy from Berkeley ever get into this kind of music?

That question is put frequently to Herb Pedersen, the banjo- and guitar-pickin’, sweet-voiced tenor of the Laurel Canyon Ramblers. Kentucky, Virginia or maybe the Carolinas are where you’d look for his kind of folk-country music.

However, before student demonstrations thrust UC Berkeley into the national news in the mid-60s, it was the site of an annual folk festival. In fact, Pedersen recalls seeing some of the biggest folk acts perform there in the late 1950s.

“They would import these great bands from all over the world, and at least one act would always be a bluegrass band,” Pedersen said during a recent phone interview. “I saw Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers and even Bill Monroe. . . . It was folk music in overdrive.”

Pedersen grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area listening to a variety of music, from the rich vocal harmonies of the Everly Brothers to the Bakersfield country of Merle Haggard and Buck Owens to the folk songs of the Weavers and Kingston Trio.

One record affected him as no other.

“When I heard bluegrass for the first time, it just turned my head around,” said Pedersen, 55, who lives in the San Fernando Valley with his wife, Libby, a music editor. “The Flatt & Scruggs all-instrumental LP ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’ literally changed my life. There was so much fire to it. I knew this was the kind of music I wanted to make.”

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Pedersen’s 40-year musical journey has been filled with many colorful side trips, including hanging out with pre-Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia. Until he formed the Laurel Canyon Ramblers in 1994, though, he had played mostly supporting roles.

In the 1970s, he played and sang alongside some of that decade’s biggest hit-makers, including Linda Ronstadt, John Denver, Jackson Browne and Emmylou Harris.

He then strapped on a rhythm guitar and teamed up with ex-Byrds, ex-Flying Burrito Brothers member Chris Hillman in the Desert Rose Band, the chart-topping country band that released six albums during the ‘80s. The two joined forces again for 1996’s delightful tribute to Buck Owens, “Bakersfield Bound.”

Pedersen has spent time picking in Hollywood, playing banjo for “The Rockford Files” TV series and in such films as “City Slickers,” “Maverick” and the Steven Seagal movie “Fire Down Below.”

With the Laurel Canyon Ramblers, which perform Saturday at the San Juan Capistrano Regional Library, Pedersen is now the focal point of a band.

The lead singer-banjo-Dobro player and his pals use tradition as a springboard to carve out a contemporary sound they call “West Coast bluegrass.”

What makes the Ramblers distinctive, Pedersen believes, is that “Each guy in this group has some unique interest or experience to share.

“[Fiddler] Gabe Witcher also plays jazz, pop and rock; [mandolinist] Kenny Blackwell is a big fan of Homer & Jethro [a country-comedy team that featured pioneering mandolinist Jethro Burns]; [bassist] Bill Bryson also loves jazz and old-timey music; and our guitarist [Roger Reed] is from Arkansas . . . so he’s the most tradition-minded player of the bunch.”

“Back on the Street Again,” the Ramblers’ third album, was released in July and is steeped in ‘50s- and ‘60s-era bluegrass sounds. It features crisp ensemble work and soaring harmonies. Well-crafted originals blend nicely with slightly twisted versions of tunes by James Taylor (“You Can Close Your Eyes”), Vern and Ray (“I’ll Be Happy”) and the Louvin Brothers (“When I Stop Dreaming.”)

Over the years, Pedersen has become more focused on uncovering emotional nuances in his playing.

“Sure, when you’re young, you like to play fast and furious,” Pedersen said. “But as you develop your skills, you want a sound that’s more true and fat. . . . One thing I learned from Earl [Scruggs] was it’s not just the notes you play--it’s the notes you leave out. It sounds kind of corny, but what’s really important are the three Ts--tone, timing and taste.”

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Scruggs was responsible for giving Pedersen his first big break. In the mid-’60s, when Scruggs was temporarily sidelined after hip surgery, he picked Pedersen to fill his role as the banjo player in Flatt & Scruggs, arguably the most famous bluegrass band of all time.

At the time, Pedersen was 22 and little-known. He said Scruggs got his name through the musicians’ union and recruited him by phone.

“I thought it was one of my buddies making a prank call,” Pedersen said with a chuckle. “But it was, in fact, Earl, and he said he’d seen me play with Carl [Tipton & the Midstate Playboys.] So he invited me over to his house, adding . . . ‘and bring your banjo.’

“Well, I drove over there . . . to his real nice place in Madison, this suburb of Nashville where I was also staying at the time. I just sat in my car outside his ranch-style home for maybe 10 minutes. I kept wondering if he had any large dogs that were gonna come racing toward me once I got past his gate.”

Once in the house with Scruggs, he said, “We sat and talked for a spell before playing some. We played ‘Lonesome Road Blues’ and ‘Flint Hill Special.’ He asked me if I’d be interested in filling in on banjo a while for him. It was all just incredible. So the next Friday night he took me down to the [Grand Ole] Opry to meet [Lester] Flatt and the rest of the guys. And that pretty much was that.”

* The Laurel Canyon Ramblers perform Saturday at the San Juan Capistrano Regional Library, 31495 El Camino Real. 7 and 9 p.m. $3-$6. (949) 248-7469.