[click "Play" to listen to Kristin Holbrook's conversation with Susan] The much ballyhooed 38th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival is in full swing. The energy in Town Park is whiz slam high, on and off the stage. The Park perimeter is...
Bela Fleck & the original Flecktones return to Telluride for the 38th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival, June 16 – June 19, 2011. Yes, you read that correctly, the original, the Fab Four, together again for the first time in just over 20 years on the Fred Shellman Main Stage: pianist/harmonica player Howard Levy, "the man with two brains," reunited with Bela, uber bassist Victor Wooten, and innovative percussionist/ drummer Roy "Futureman" Wooten.
Some reunions – think "The Big Chill" – produce joy; others, regret. This one produced "Rocket Science", a CD which includes some of the most forward thinking music of the group's long and storied career. Rocket Science is vintage Flecktones, a meeting of musical minds fluent in classical, jazz, African, electric blues and Eastern European folk dances. Trying to describe this indescribable hodgepodge is like trying to hold on to quicksilver. Impossible. I go with what one critic said:
The Infamous Stringdusters visit Telluride so often, the progressive acoustic group is starting look like the boys next door. They return after their last visit in March, when they performed at the historic Sheridan Opera House, to perform on the Main Stage at Telluride Bluegrass, Friday, June 17.
"The young Nashville bluegrass sextet continues to evolve their sound from Nashville bluegrass to a bigger music targeted at larger rock clubs," explained Planet Bluegrass's Brian Eyster. "And for trivia buffs, bassist Travis Book lived in Durango before joining the band in 2005."
It takes a lot more than water. To grow a band requires blood, sweat, and tears. Also, you need to find someone to do your laundry. The Western premiere of the show-all, tell-all feature-length documentary, "How To Grow A Band," takes place during Telluride Bluegrass. The FREE screening is scheduled for Saturday, June 18. 2011, 11 a.m. at The Nugget. (Seating is limited, so reserve your ticket in advance at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/181677)
"This film documents the beginnings of Chris Thile's grand vision for a truly modern stringband and the struggles to realize this vision," explained Brian Eyster of Planet Bluegrass. "Personally I am very excited to see the results of the filmmakers' efforts. They will be on-hand for the screening and the band may join them."
“…A gripping look at the nature of creativity and performance art," raved The Tennessean.
Joe Pug is one of the new names in the line-up for the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, but Festival director Craig Ferguson is betting we will like his soulful voice and lyrical vignettes.
"Craig is a huge huge fan of this fine young Dylan-esque singer-songwriter," said Planet Bluegrass marketing director Brian Eyster.
Turns out Joe Pug is not just a talented troubadour. The young man also has a gift for marketing. But I am getting ahead of myself.
The 38th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival leads from strength with a performer who could well be the future of acoustic music. Sarah Jarosz opens the FirstGrass concert in Mountain Village. She is also scheduled for a set in Elks Park on Thursday, June 17, 2:45 p.m. But for sure, the rising star will make guest appearances on the Main Stage.
"Though she's just 20, the Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist is earning critical praise and lots of national attention for her second album on Sugar Hill Records, Follow Me Down," explains Planet Bluegrass's Brian Eyster. "Sarah is being described by critics as the next big thing in Americana/roots music. In addition to her scheduled sets, I would expect to see Sarah also making Main Stage appearances with Tim O'Brien, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Punch Brothers and others."
“One of very few bands in America that are hipster-approved but could heave a room of strangers into a hoe-down at any time…” - CITY PAGES (Minneapolis/St. Paul)
Ready to shake a shoe and your booty too? Expect a frenzy, a dance frenzy, when Telluride gets Trampled by Turtles. The progressive bluegrass band from Duluth, Minnesota is scheduled to do its thing Friday night on the Main Stage at the 38th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival. It's thing being forceful acoustic music delivered at a breakneck pace.
A rootsy bluegrass-like sound seems to be riding a wave, with bands such as the Avett Brothers and special Telluride Bluegrass guests, Mumford & Sons, on the crest – and TxT not too far behind.
(ed. note: Katie suffered a broken pelvis in a fall during a training ride last Friday, barely a week before the start of RAAM. Here's the "indomitable spirit" part: As of today, Sunday, June 12, she is looking for a handcycle, in the hopes of starting the race and putting in at least a few miles.)
kicker: Youngest solo rower ever hopes for world record, switching gears to bike for safe drinking water
Yes, this story has ties to Telluride. In fact what we've discovered over the years is that most roads lead to our remote mountain town, so read on. The overriding theme of Mountainfilm in Telluride, a key driver of world traffic, is "Indomitable Spirit," which the event celebrates. Katie Spotz certainly qualifies.
Not all of the action at the 38th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival takes place on the Fred Shellman Main Stage. Legendary banjo innovator Tony Trischka is in town for the launch of the new ArtistWorks Academy of Bluegrass via a workshop in Elks Park, Friday, June 18, 1:30 p.m. and an appearance at around 4:30 p.m. on the Main Stage.
For more than 35 years, Tony Trishchka's stylings have inspired a whole generation of bluegrass and acoustic musicians. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential banjo players of the latter part of the 20th century (and counting), largely in terms of his influence on succeeding generations of players such as virtuosic Bela Fleck, back in town for the Festival for the 30th year in a row, this time reunited with the original Flecktones – and his teacher. When he was just a senior in high school, Bela made trips to Bronx, New York to study with Tony, who he once described to me as his "hero."
"... the godfather of what's sometimes called new acoustic music," said The New York Times.
Telluride has its festivals. Nederland has Frozen Dead Guy Days. No kidding, celebrated annually from Friday – Sunday the first full weekend of March. A centerpiece of Frozen Guys Days is a screening of the film "Grandpa's in the Tuff Shed," a magnum opus which premiered at Mountainfilm in Telluride in 1998. A centerpiece of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival is another Nederland import: Yonder Mountain String Band.
Yonder – banjoist Dave Johnston, mandolinist Jeff Austin, bassist Ben Kaufmann and guitarist Adam Aijala – is back again for the 38th annual event, June 16 – June 19, 2011, kicking off the long weekend with a Nightgrass set at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village and appearing again on the Main Stage on Saturday.
