Live Music in the Garden: Craig McLaughlin

The museum is excited to bring back live music in the garden on Tuesdays throughout July and August 2023. This is a free live music series brought to you by our generous sponsors. We will have drinks and snacks available for purchase.

Maughlin got his music inspiration while living in Box Canyon, the north end of San Fernando Valley in the early ’70’s. “There were musicians all over the place. It was close to Topanga Canyon where Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Jackson Brown, and some of the Eagles all lived,” he says of the place put into song by Joni Mitchell in her “Ladies of the Canyon.”

in 1998 after a moved to Crested Butte, Craig went to the open stage performance at the Crested Butte Center for the Arts and was thoroughly inspired by Kevin Donovan and Karen Janssen performing. Eventually he and Kevin started playing together. Craig attended the Rocky Grass Academy and that reignited his interest in bluegrass. He met local fiddler Lizzy Plotkin in 2012 and the two booked weddings, bar and random gigs together. Craig would also be motivated by all the festivals he attended, playing in the campground circles.