For the first time since the pandemic, Marin County’s RockSteadyFest is back. Get ready for an upbeat, inspirational afternoon of live music and poetry performed by sober artists, staged outdoors in bucolic Olema. With the clear and catchy slogan “Skip the alcohol, enjoy the music,” the show – which begins with the fast-rising teen cover band F.A.T. Betty – unfolds from 1 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, September 20, Olema’s Sacred Heart Church.
“It’s a beautiful spot for an intimate concert,” said RockSteadyFest organizer Jeffrey Trotter. “Before the pandemic, we’d done a few of these. We were building a good head of steam, but then everything stopped. I’m so happy to be bringing this back to the North Bay. It’s going to be a wonderful day of fellowship, food and performance, with some of the best sober artists in the area.”
This time, the festival will begin with a youth-focused, 90-minute concert. To set the mood, Trotter reached out to F.A.T. Betty, a hard-rocking Marin County group of teenage musicians playing classic rock covers from bands like Rush, Steely Dan and Led Zeppelin.
“We do a lot of Led Zeppelin,” said lead singer Petra Betti, a student at Archie Williams High School in San Anselmo. They also do original songs that are clearly inspired by the sound and spirit of ‘70s and ‘80s rock ‘n roll. “We’ve started putting out our own songs on YouTube, and they very much represent that same style of music, which we obviously all love. Our latest song is really bluesy. We’ve started introducing a jazz element, too, because we all are in our school’s jazz band – so we can’t help but be influenced by that.”
The rest of the band features Fin Donnelley, Teo Donnelley, Noah Casey and Alex Casey.
“I think our band’s biggest draw is that we’re teenagers in 2025 who really love classic rock,” Betti said. “You don’t see a lot of people who are 15 and 16 who would rather listen to Led Zeppelin that a lot of contemporary music. A lot of other people my age have never even heard of Rush. We all come from pretty musical families, and we grew up with rock music, so that’s what we want to play.”
As F.A.T. Betty has made a name for itself with concerts in Marin and San Francisco, they often find themselves playing in venues like The Sweetwater in Mill Valley or at school fundraisers. The band’s inclusion in the Olema festival will give it an opportunity to expand its audience.
“I think the whole idea of the RockSteadyFest, with its focus on sobriety, is really awesome,” said Betti. “We’ve played for a lot of audiences who are not sober, which is a little odd because we’re all in high school, right? It’s nice to get to perform in a festival with some really well-known musicians, but not have to worry about the alcohol thing. We’re really looking forward to it.”
After F.A.T. Betty’s set, the festival will open floodgates to a steady stream of veteran plays, including the outrageous rock ‘n roll bagpiper The Dame of Drones (formerly known as Chelsea the Piper), singer-songwriters Tyler Allen, Chris Holbrook, Jesse DeNatale, Sara Rodenburg, Nicolette Gottuso, Nicole Frazer and Tom Finch, and poets Danielle Vantress Salk and Kristy Greenwood.
Tickets are $20-$25 on a sliding scale, or $12 for just the youth concert. The box office will open at 12:30 p.m., and gates will open at 1 p.m. Sacred Heart Church is at 10189 CA-1, in Olema. Lawn chairs welcome.
