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Festivals

[click "Play" to hear Peter Rowan's conversation with Susan]

Prowan This iconic performer is about to join the ranks of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival's 30-something club, an elite fraternity that includes among its members The King, Sam Bush, dobro king Jerry Douglas, and Grammy winner Tim O' Brien. He is Telluride Bluegrass veteran Peter Rowan.

Peter Rowan performs at the 37th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival Friday, June 18, 2:30 p.m., in Peter Rowan and Crucial Country with Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas. The event marks a reunion of musical titans.
18 June, 2010 /
[click "Play" to listen to Tim O'Brien's conversation with Susan]

Tim O'Brien 2010 Telluride is on a first-name basis Tim O'Brien. He's been here for so many Telluride Bluegrass Festivals, so many nights at the Sheridan Opera House as well. We all know by now, Tim O'Brien is an entire rhythm section unto himself. And a bandleader, songwriter, vocalist and mentor to boot. We know Tim's sound by heart, a hybrid of country, folk, bluegrass and swing often described simply as "Americana." Music with a comfortable, comforting old slipper feel. But with Tim as the filter, everything old comes out new again.

It's no big secret Telluride's on again, he's off again 30-year relationship with Tim is not exclusive: the Grammy (Traditional Folk Category) Tim won in 2005, not to mention countless nods from organizations such as the International Bluegrass Music Awards, is proof, positive his peers and the rest of the world love him too.
17 June, 2010 /
[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 /