All in the Family: Grass Roots love for Nevada City

Over plates of seaweed salad in the Outer Sunset, Snegg's enthusiasm for musical chemistry expands beyond his romantic connections to the buddies-since-diapers ties of his hometown, Nevada City. That bucolic burg of 2,800 is where he, Newsom, his girlfriend, his marketing director Jesse Locks (who's also sipping miso soup with us), and the cast of characters on his Grass Roots label were born, raised, or added to the guest book by proxy. And while the Sierra Foothills gold rush town may not have a heady music history cachet compared to the Bay Area, Snegg and Locks are quick to name its past and present luminaries: Jonathan Richman, Terry Riley, a dude from Supertramp, Utah Phillips ... and Mötley Crüe ("There's a whole chapter in [Crüe biography] The Dirt about hanging out in [nearby] Grass Valley," laughs Locks.)