Above from left, Joseph Christensen and Drew Snodderly.

Two of California’s best young musicians sit on a couch in a Lodi living room, quiet and appearing a bit uncomfortable as they’re interviewed.

They’ve been on the streets, but they don’t brag about their money, their cars or their girlfriends, and they’re not wearing gold rope chains — although Drew Snodderly does have a gold fiddle on his belt buckle. They also don’t boast about the statewide honor they recently received.

Unlike many popular musicians today, Snodderly and Joseph Christensen, who join with Joseph’s brother Nathanael Christensen to form the Lodi-based Campbell Creek Gang, seem to prefer to let their music do the bragging for them.

And the Campbell Creek Gang’s music speaks loud and clear. It’s high-energy, foot-tapping bluegrass that’s built around the quick-fingered fiddling of Snodderly, 16, and Joseph Christensen, 15.

The duo’s fiddle work earned them the title of 2008 California Junior Twin Fiddle Champions in a statewide competition earlier this month.

“You actually learned you took first when they announced who got second, because then you’re the only one standing there that hasn’t go a trophy. It was pretty exciting,” Snodderly said.

Snodderly and the rest of the Campbell Creek Gang have been exciting fans old and young since 2005.

Guitarist Nathanael Christensen, 18, said the group even got young punks dancing at a 2006 Lodi talent show.

“We have played for young crowds and been amazingly accepted,” he said. “I was nervous at first, people would laugh at us (and say we’re) playing old people’s music.”

Bluegrass has been gaining a small but dedicated young fan base in the area recently. Stockton bands The Second String Quintet and The Lonesome Valley Shiners have developed a following by incorporating elements of bluegrass and old-time music into their sets.

“Everyone in this area likes it, and it’s exciting music,” Nathanael Christensen said.

The three members of the Campbell Creek Gang took similar musical paths before arriving at bluegrass, as each has classical training. Snodderly said he’s been playing fiddle for about five years, and that he became interested in bluegrass after earning a scholarship for musical training from a Northern California fiddle organization. He introduced the Christensen brothers to the genre, and soon the three were playing for tips on the streets of downtown Lodi. That drew the attention of some passers-by who began booking the group for private shows.

While it still plays mostly private gigs, the Campbell Creek Gang also take the stage at the occasional festival.

“It’s fun when we get a sound system and when we get a stage,” Snodderly said. “It’s really cool and the audience gets involved.”

The group wants to record a CD and hopes to remain together for the long term, even as it considers its plans for the near future. “Hopefully, if we choose colleges near each other, we’ll stay together,” Nathanael Christensen said. For more information, check out www.campbellcreekgang.com.

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