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Festivals

[click "Play" to hear Bryan Simpson talk about Cadillac Sky]

Cadillac Sky 2010 Promotional Photo Listen: Cadillac Sky comes straight from red dirt country to the Main Stage of the 37th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival, on a high from the heat their brand spanking new CD, "Letters in the Deep," is generating.

Telluride Bluegrass Festival's marketing guru Brian Eyster described "Letters in the Deep" as "one of the coolest bluegrass albums of the year."  He raves about Cadillac Sky's great songs, virtuosic picking (the band includes national champions on fiddle and banjo), and no-holds-barred delivery. Their stage setup includes lots of effect pedals (for distortion and other tricks of the trade), as well as a small drum kit one band member or another might sit at "when the energy needs to go to 11."
17 June, 2010 /

Telluride Bluegrass Festivarians should see some familiar faces in the grounds this year –  and not just on stage. Telluride-based The New Community Coalition once again has a booth in the "Green Zone," sharing space with the Drepung Monks. Visitors can...

16 June, 2010 /
[click "Play" and listen to Nora Jane Struthers speak about her music and career]

Struthers01 When Nora Jane Struthers hits Telluride to compete in both the Telluride Bluegrass Festival's Troubadour and Band contests, she'll be doing it in style – vintage style.

She loves vintage threads. Just last week, Nora Jane visited vintage outlets in her hometown of Nashville, where she made a video of herself playing a couple of songs and chose vintages togs fans and fellow vintage addicts can sign up to win. (The videos are live on her website.)

15 June, 2010 /
[For Ben Sollee's conversation with Susan click "Play"]

Ben_main You have seen Ben Sollee with his cello on the Telluride Bluegrass Festival's Main Stage, performing with Abigail Washburn, and with Bela Fleck in the Sparrow Quartet. But this time when he steps onto the stage in Telluride's Town Park Friday morning, 10 a.m., Ben Sollee will be all alone in the morning sun. And he will shine.

Ben Sollee looks like central casting for the son in the father/son Patek Philippe watch ads that appear, well, like clockwork in The New York Times Sunday magazine: a handsome preppy with a geek bent. But looks, as we know, can be deceiving. Ben Sollee was not to the manor born. His roots are in the blue grass of Kentucky, where his grandfather owned a farm. Not to put too fine on point on it, the tag line for those watch ads, however, does ring true: "Begin your own tradition." That's just what Ben is doing – with great success.
14 June, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Keller Williams in conversation with Susan]

Keller:Keels 2010 credit Melissa T. Colombo I'm just saying. Throughout its wild and wooly history, Telluride has been a haven for misfits and miscreants, so Keller Williams fits right in no problem. I mean this is a guy whose latest album is entitled "Thief." No accident.

For "Thief," Williams' first ever all-covers collection, the iconoclastic one man band broke with tradition and enlisted the help of the husband and wife team of Larry and Jenny Keel, a former Telluride guitar champ and bassist respectively.
14 June, 2010 /
World Premiere of Tom Shadyac’s "I Am", Record Attendance Highlight 32nd Annual Festival

Telluride, Colorado (June 8th, 2010) – Mountainfilm in Telluride enjoyed record attendance this year with more than 15,000 seatings in theaters, up some 25% from 2009. Despite sunshine and warm temperatures, often deterrents to theater-goers, Mountainfilm venues operated at or near capacity throughout the Memorial Day weekend. “We benefited from several factors,” said Mountainfilm Executive Director Peter Kenworthy. “We received very favorable regional press leading up to the event. The weather lured a lot of people within driving range who might otherwise not have come. And, word-of-mouth momentum has been building steadily the past three years.”

13 June, 2010 /

HistoricalPoster_WESTFEST Telluride is crazy about Squids. And not just breaded and served with a side of marinara or aioli sauce. We like ours on stage.

Saturday, June 12, is the first day of the second annual Heritage Fest, which continues through Sunday, June 13.

Heritage Fest is a celebration of the history of the Telluride region. The family fun includes lots of activities especially for the young and young at heart: Galloping Goose Railcar Rides at the Ah Ha School, Stagecoach rides down Main Street, demonstrations of sheep sheering, blacksmithing, double and single jack drilling and gold panning, a Nickel Grab at the county courthouse, face painting at Ah Haa, more contests in Elks Park, and a reenactment of the Butch Cassidy bank robbery. The five-star Wilkinson Public Library is showing films in keeping with the historical theme: "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "We Skied It."

12 June, 2010 /

The afternoon breezes that threatened to stop the Telluride Balloon Festival's Saturday evening "Glow" on Colorado Avenue abated by sundown Saturday evening. Main Street in Telluride was full of balloons, crews and watchers. And everyone got his money's worth: Colorado Avenue was ablaze...

06 June, 2010 /