California Dreamin'

California Dreamin' is comprised of 3 long-time music industry pros, Annie Sims on keyboard and female vocals, Keith Baxter on guitars and baritone vocals, and Gil Sabatini on bass and tenor vocals. They use their own custom backing tracks to supply drums and percussion and some additional instrumentation. By not having a live drummer, they can totally control the volume so it's never too loud for the room. And hey, they pass the savings on to you, the client!

Annie "emcees" the shows, taking the audiences on a musical journey back to the days when peace, love, and music ruled the roost in the hills high above the Sunset Strip in the enclave known as Laurel Canyon. She relates some of the history of how the phenomenon came to be, when the folkies of Greenwich Village moved west and electrified the sound, and shares plenty of fun trivia about the antics of the singer/songwriters to whom they pay homage.

With their true-to-the record sound and entertaining banter, California Dreamin' will take you and your audience on a fun-filled, heart-warming trip back to the days of hippies, groupies, and Flower Power Rock!

California Dreamin' was conceived in Los Angeles in 2019 by founders Annie Sims and Keith Baxter. They had performed in a Fleetwood Mac tribute band together as well as a musical duo. Their thought was, as many tributes as the L.A. scene had, no one was paying homage to the great singer/songwriters and bands who came through Laurel Canyon in the '60s and '70s. With the documentaries "Echo In the Canyon" and "Laurel Canyon" just coming out, as well as the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, they decided it was an idea whose time had come.

They formed their 5-piece band (with an additional Neil Young soundalike on request) with pro players who also loved the idea and started playing at wineries around SoCal as well as multiple shows at the world-famous Canyon Clubs. Their biggest feather-in-the-cap was getting booked at the downtown Los Angeles Pershing Square Concert in the Park in the summer of 2020, but, alas, Covid-19 had other plans for this intrepid little band.

With the new, "feel free to move about the country" mode of thinking, Keith left L.A. first in 2021, moving to the lake in Loudon, Tennessee, then Annie and her husband followed him to their old stomping grounds of Knoxville, where the East Tennessee natives had both graduated from U.T. with music degrees. Keith's former bandmate buddy, Gil Sabatini, moved from Modesto, California in the summer of 2022, which allowed them to re-form as a 3-piece band. They decided to create stellar backing tracks to fatten up the sound and so people can get up and dance, which they almost always find themselves doing!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how California Dreamin' history was made!

California Dreamin' is available as an all-in, self-contained band, with state-of-the-art sound and lights, capable of supporting an audience of up to approximately 250 - 300 people.

When pro sound is available at a festival or venue, we can run our sound to your board. Please message us for more details.