Telluride’s Opera House presents Greensky Bluegrass

12 Jan Telluride’s Opera House presents Greensky Bluegrass

[click “Play” for Anders Beck’s conversation with Susan]

What happens in Telluride does not stay in Telluride. Witness Greensky Bluegrass. Since winning the Telluride Bluegrass Festival’s band concert in 2006 and returning in 2007 to sell-out Nightgrass, it’s been blue skies everyday for Greensky Bluegrass. The band circles back to where it all began, performing this time at the historic Sheridan Opera House on January 14. Show time is 8 p.m.

Greensky, now firmly on the jamgrass radar, emerged at the birth of the new millenium in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a healthy distance from the Blue Ridge mountains. Its style is a mix of classic folk, bluegrass, and country with roots in traditional bluegrass. On any given night, the band – most recently, dobro player Anders Beck, banjo player Mike Bont, guitarist Dave Bruzza, bassist Mike Devol, and mandolin player Paul Hoffman – might treat its growing fan base to originals (many of the best penned by Hoffman), bluegrass laced with rock and roll, or selections of the Talking Heads, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead or Bob Marley with a bluegrass spin. Bottom line: you’ll be shaking a shoe.

Greensky now tours constantly, playing over 170 shows a year. Highlights include sharing the stage with role models such as Tony Rice, Peter Rowan, Sam Bush, Yonder Mountain String Band and Railroad Earth. (Tim Carbone of Railroad earth produced Greensky’s last studio release in 2008, “Five Interstates.”)

Greensky’s new release, All Access:Volume One, is scheduled to go live the week of January 11, so the Telluride concert is, in effect, a CD-release party. Along with two dozen original tunes on All Access: Volume One, Greensky Bluegrass pushes the envelope on the genre to bursting, exploring electrifying covers of tunes by such outside-the-bluegrass-norm acts like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Pink Floyd.

On the subject the his group’s latest triumph, Beck says: “It’s about the jams and the improvisation. Our live shows are where we are able to give our original songs a life of their own each night. Many of our songs are explored well in this latest show, as many of them stretch over the 10-15 minute mark.” 

To learn more, click the “play” button and listen to Anders Beck’s podcast.