PICKIN' AND GRINNIN' ANNUAL MUSIC FESTIVAL A HIT WITH YOUNG, OLD.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

AGOURA HILLS - Annie, get your fiddle.

That phrase could have been spoken Sunday by someone heading for the 44th annual Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest and Folk Festival, where players of old-time and bluegrass music went to show their best stuff in the contest or jam outdoors with fellow musicians.

``It's a community of people who like this kind of music,'' said Melanie Contreras of Studio City. ``I think that's the joy of this and why people come back year after year.''

Contreras brought her 13-year-old daughter, Rebecca, a classically trained violinist who began playing fiddle music a couple months ago. ``It is kind of hard because you have to have sort of a different technique and ... let all your training kind of go,'' the teen said.

Despite its name, the festival has not been held in Topanga Canyon since the 1960s because it draws too many people - an estimated 4,000 on Sunday. Since 1990, the event has been held at Paramount Ranch, a movie set used for Westerns.

Carol Leacock, 68, of Pacific Palisades hiked with a group of about 20 people from Malibu Creek State Park to the festival. Leacock is originally from England, but she said she could relate to the traditional American music being played.

``There's much more sort of public singing in England in pubs. Everyone knows the verses to 'Clementine' and you come here and they don't know the verses ... which amuses me,'' she said.

Standing on wood chips between buildings at the ranch, where several groups of musicians were playing, marriage counselor David Scrivner, 56, of Port Hueneme said he and his son came to the festival to jam. Scrivner said he does not write his own songs, ``but a lot of people do.''

Among the songwriters was George Dickey of California Hot Springs, a 61-year-old guitarist who joined with other musicians to sing a song he wrote about cowboys.

``They were the heroes of long ago/These cowboys that I know/They showed me the way that was right and I'll never let 'em go,'' Dickey sang.

While Dickey and other singers spun musical yarns, a group of women sat on the wooden decks of old movie sets and spun the real thing from dyed wool on wooden spinning wheels. Although there are sheep and alpaca farms where local spinners can get wool, buying it on the Internet is also a good option, said spinner Annie Toth, 45, of Moorpark.

Amid all the activity, Grady Daugherty, 59, of Santa Monica was one of those who came to the ranch just to listen to music.

``It's just a great feeling like once a year to come out here and ... kind of get rejuvenated, kind of touch base with the American heartland,'' he said.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Members of the band Monkey Chimp perform Sunday during the 44th annual Topanga Banjo Fiddle Festival, held at Paramount Ranch in Agoura, which drew an estimated 4,000 fans.

(2) Shannon Ho, 10, of Palmdale plays the fiddle in one of the competitions at the Topanga Banjo Fiddle Festival.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer