If there ever was a local music legend in Butte County, Gordy Ohliger (known as The Banjo-ologist) is it.
Ohliger has been performing in and around the Chico area for 42 years and makes a living at it. He is also a Camp Fire survivor and discussed his experience, as well as the song he wrote expressing what he went through as a resident of Butte Creek Canyon during the fire.
“I was out there watering around the house, and it looked more and more intense. Then they cut the electricity off and then the phone and all of a sudden, we had nothing,” said Ohliger.
He explained that the firefighters were not hesitant in telling him and his wife to “run for it”. Ohliger grabbed as many instruments as he could and some other things but once he evacuated, he said he realized there were plenty of other things he should have grabbed.
Although he had to flee and was away from his home for several weeks Ohliger’s house was one of the few in the area that survived the most destructive fire in California’s history. He tried to go back to see if his house was still standing but was stopped several times by both sheriff’s deputies and military personnel.
“Can I just go up there and see if I still have a house?” Ohliger said.
He told the guards that he was a banjo player and said that the next time he tried to get home they had looked up his music online and were really impressed with his music. At that point, they let him up to check on his house.
The banjo player knew he wouldn’t get back in the burn area if he left.
“So I had to live up there for a couple of days just living on rice and beans and water from the creek,” he said.
Ohliger had a scheduled music gig and finally left, knowing that he wouldn’t be let back in afterwards.
“The fire didn’t last for a day or three it went on for weeks and weeks and weeks and we stayed in various people’s houses in Chico,” he said. Ohliger explain how his wife had a horrible time with the smoke as she has difficulties with asthma so they left the area and went up north for a while so she could breath. When they came back Ohliger found out that the fire had surround his house but somehow skipped his residence and burn all around it.
For more on Gordy Ohliger and his music go to: http://www.banjoman.info/
Also see him perform “Fire Wall”, the song he wrote about his experience as a Camp Fire survivor and listen to all E-R Sessions on our YouTube playlist.
