Welcome to the 41st gathering of Festivarian Nation. This summer season is extra sweet and emotional for Planet Bluegrass and the many folks effected by the floods of last September. After rebuilding our headquarters and festival site in Lyons this winter and spring, it’s an incredible feeling to host the best musicians on the planet together with old and new friends in one of the most magical musical settings. Let us send out a hearty summer solstice howl at the moon in honor of Sam Bush, who as the festival’s driving force and honorary King of Telluride marks his 40th year! And in another Telluride first, we welcome Béla Fleck and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra to the stage. Along with Sam and Bela, Tim and Peter, John and Jerry, Edgar and Chris, we bring you an unforgettable collection of performers. To honor and remember the first forty years of the festival, we’re unveiling the limited edition Telluride Bluegrass Festival: Forty Years of Festivation coffee table collectors book on Thursday at the festival Country Store. It’s written by our very own Pastor Mustard who provides a first-person perspective on the evolution of the festival that will keep you smiling whenever you pick it up. Our friends and partners at New Belgium Brewing have elevated our very own Summer Bliss (renamed Summer Helles) into their summer seasonal beer— thanks to the enthusiastic response from Festivarians over the past two years—available here at the festival and around the country.
Festival Director: Craig Ferguson Director of Odds & Ends: Steve Szymanski Festival & Box Office Manager: Shauna Nashak Production Supervisor: Rich Estes Operations Supervisor: Chad Soulia Festival Grounds Supervisor: Michael Stephens Production Crew: Ross Caswell, Sean Flynn, Eric Kean, Ryan Kean, JF LaLonde & Zach Tucker Chief of Security: John Cohn Security Supervisor: Gary Hickox Crowd Management: Damion Alexander, Josh Blakeman, Jake Cohn, Frank Hensen, Aaron Lae, John Macias, Clifford Pastor, Joe Piche, Artie Sowinski, Dan Zemke Customs Gate Supervisors: Franny Cohn, Debby Guarino, Tina Tharp, Ruth Hensen & Erin Thompson TP Camp Gate Supervisors: Marilyn Branch & Larry Stewart Pedestrian Bridge Supervisor: Calvin Poon Backstage Security: William Buck & Scott Smith Pit Master: Hunt Worth Overnight Security: Shawn Williams, Gary Broughall & Ben Rich
Sustainable Festivation Supervisors: Kris Holstrom & Walter Wright Waste Station Crew: Julian Putnam & Andy Berger Camping Supervisor: Denise Mongan Town Park Campground Hosts: Tim & Laura Thomas Warner Field Campground Hosts: Carol, Randy & Aaron Reece Telluride High School Campground Hosts: Fawnda Rogers & Tucker Lane Lawson Hill Campground Hosts: Kathleen Morgan, Craig Wasserman, Brita Padgett & Jonny Dobbs Mary E Campground Hosts: Mo Hanna, Aaron Cooklin, Michael Miller, Johnny Daaz & Danny Norris Valley E-Team Supervisor: Steve Green Parking Supervisor: Dennis Green Vehicle Gate Supervisors: Matt Kroll, Ed Janus, Jessica Dumke & Kristin Milord Backstage Hospitality/Artist Supervisor: Julie Rakotz Aijala Backstage Hospitality: Lauren Lortie, Laurie Harper & Rick Morris
Backstage Catering: Markus Chesla Artist Transportation: Ed Kean, Buddy Kihm, Lorylee Britt, Kelli Coppage, Jeremy Matsen, Shea McWilliams, Nancy Farmer, Chris Newman, Kaiulani Schuler, John Williamson & Delanie Young Box Office Supervisors: Bill Carlson, Nichole Elmore, Laura Larson, Jasmine Lok & Geoff Wickersham Media Relations: Brian Eyster Concessions Supervisors: Jill Brzezicki & Dan Wessel Communications Supervisors: Luci Reeve, Sandy McLaughlin & Judy Lamare Country Store Supervisors: Patrick O’Kelly & Dustin Boyd Artist Consignment Supervisor: Kara O’Kelly Family Tent Supervisor: Patricia Sunfield Sponsor Tent/Greentown Supervisors: Wendy McFarland & Pete Russell Contest Supervisor: Charlie Bailey Elks Park Workshop Supervisors: Edee Gail & BJ Suter Elks Park Workshop Sound: Dean Rolley & Tom Fortier
While you’re here with us, please take good care of each other and remember to drink plenty of free locally filtered water in your favorite reusable container. Help Telluride conserve water whenever you can. Enjoy a prime spot on an empty tarp or chair until its owners return. Slather on the sunscreen. And savor the inspiration and friendships like there’s no tomorrow. On behalf of our hundreds of staff and volunteers, we’re so glad you’re here.
Elks Park Workshop Transportation: Tom & Nancy Richards Stage Design: Kahlie Pinello Park Beautification: Claudia Kean Libation Station Supervisor: Elizabeth Howe NightGrass Supervisor: Lindsey Dubey 2014 Poster Artist: Bruce White
Stage Crew
Stage Manager: Skip Kent FOH Engineer: Tom Holmes Monitor Engineer: Mike Bove Rigging/Stage: John Setzer FOH/Stage: Garth Michael Lighting Director: Dave Hall Lights: Jim Hurst Audio: Mark Miceli Patch/Stage: Melissa Britton Monitors/Stage: Brent Healy Stage Lead: Mark Dennis Stage: Danny Lane, David Oaks & Rhett Snyder Piano: John Delpit Labor/Spots: Tim Territo Spots: Tom Worth Public Service Announcer: Joe Craven Sound & Lights: Kingston Audio Backline: Production Services International
Program Staff
Editors: Brian Eyster & Steve Szymanski Design & Layout: Pat Creyts Contributing Writers: Charlotte Bell, Brian Eyster, Amy Haddon, Katie Klingsporn, Steve Leftridge, Justin Patti, Julia Stephens, Steve Szymanski Advertising: Dustin Boyd Photography: Benko Photographics, Mickey Dobo, Joshua Elioseff Printing: Matt Coburn at OneTouchPoint Cover Image: Bruce White
Planet Bluegrass Year-round Staff
President: Craig Ferguson Vice President: Steve Szymanski Director of Operations: Shauna Nashak Director of Communications: Brian Eyster Vendor Coordinator: Laura Larson Merchandise, Ticketing & Festivarian Relations: Dustin Boyd Volunteer Coordinator: Jasmine Lok
Festivarian Relations: Geoff Wickersham Ranch Manager: Chad Soulia Gardener: Cindy Kalyan Special Events Coordinator: Julie Rakotz Aijala Office Intern: Jessie Lowell
Thanks To our Festival Partners
New Belgium Brewing Company, Chaco, Renewable Choice Energy, Eco-Products, Klean Kanteen, Telluride Alpine Lodging, Shanti Guitars, Gibson Musical Instruments, Martin Guitars, D’Addario Strings, Leave No Trace, Sunsense Solar, EcoAction Partners, Red Bird, Allegro Coffee, and Eldorado Natural Spring Water
Planet Bluegrass would like to thank
The Town of Telluride with a special thanks to Stephanie Jaquet, the US Forest Service, the Town of Mountain Village, San Miguel County, Telluride Mountain Village Owners Association, and the Telluride School District
Enjoy Festivarians’ “Year of Understanding” responses throughout the program…
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… An absolute must-have for anybody who has ever felt the lure of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival… The book is like a career-spanning box set that is a phenomenally entertaining trip down memory lane.” – Marquee Magazine
“
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Limited h nsale at o editions
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The 216-page book is hardbound in Spanish Leather with an animated lenticular image of Sam Bush debossed into the center and Planet Bluegrass’s iconic yinjo-yangdolins in each corner. • Essays by Sam Bush, Chris Thile, Béla Fleck, Emmylou Harris, Tim O’Brien, Jerry Douglas, Winston Marshall (of Mumford & Sons), Del McCoury, Sara Watkins, & dozens more
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“That first tarp run. The joy, the excitement, the love.”
• Year-by-year remembrances by longtime festival MC Pastor Mustard • More than 350 photos curated from all 40 years • Gorgeous full-page reproductions of each year’s festival poster
41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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This year’s poster artwork is a tribute to the uniquely homegrown feel of our country’s bluegrass music. And what fun! Born from the idea of combining a nostalgic fruit crate with an array of ripened bluegrass instruments, the result is a fresh harvest of the best music around, in a spectacular Rocky Mountain setting. I used Golden’s fluid acrylic paints on Aquabord (a watercolor paper textured surface on 1/8” hardboard). The original layout was done roughly with pencil on paper, refined numerous times, and hand transferred in pencil to the Aquabord. Careful attention to detail—from each of these “straight-fromthe-fields fruits” to the weathered wood and the crate’s throwback label—creates a truly authentic finish to another piece in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival Collection.
Enjoy! Bruce White
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It left the factory perfect 46 years ago. Then it got better.
Willie Nelson’s beloved Martin N-20. To find a guitar you‘ll love to pieces, visit martinguitar.com.
The snowcapped peaks and cascading waterfalls of Telluride are as essential to Telluride Bluegrass as Sam Bush and Tim O’Brien. So twelve years ago we formed a GreenTeam to examine the impacts of our festival on this breathtaking environment. We began that first year with compost and recycling. Each year since we’ve expanded our efforts to embrace renewable energy, carbon offsets for travel emissions, free locally-filtered water, organic local food, leave no trace camping, and more.
This year we’d again like to celebrate you, the Sustainable Festivarian: your thoughtful preparations, your mindful journey, your greenconscious behaviors at the festival, your wealth of green ideas that ring throughout the year.
Over the years our GreenTeam has grown to encompass all of Festivarian Nation, as the terms “sustainable” and “Festivarian” have become synonymous.
Tell us how you’ve become a Sustainable Festivarian and you might be the lucky winner of a Martin D-16GT Guitar.
You’ve already done the work of becoming a Sustainable Festivarian. Completing the eco-punchcard is easy: 1. Find the punchcard on the back of the Pocket Schedule. 2. Check the box next to each of the items you’ve completed. You’ve probably already done a few. Take a few minutes each day to complete a few more. 3. When you’ve checked at least 7 items, visit any of our partners in Greentown to have them validate your punchcard and deposit it in their entry box. Don’t forget to provide your personal info in case you’re the winner. 4. Festivate! You deserve it! And watch for the grand prize drawing on the main stage at 6:00pm on Sunday.
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To learn more about any of the punchcard items…
Look for the green footers at the bottom of many pages in this program. Or visit any of our partners in Greentown. Here are this year’s 10 punch items. 1. Prepare 2. Toolkit 3. Transportation 4. Camping 5. Compost 6. Water 7. Micro-Trash 8. Knowledge 9. Stories 10. Share
#1 Prepare - Adjust thermostats, unplug unnecessary electronics, use reusables when shopping and packing.
Last summer as we celebrated forty years of festivation together, we also paused to take the pulse of the Festivarian community. We wanted to know more about you, and in a series of surveys, questions “This festival inspired me to play guitar….I learned and audio interviews we asked: What is an exceptional festival about renewable energy...You can sit on a tarp that’s experience? What have you learned at Planet Bluegrass? How would not yours; it made me share with others.” you like Planet Bluegrass to move into the future? We named this project the “Year of Understanding” and 600 of YOU shared your insight. Thank you, everyone for your input. We’ve included many of your magical moments in the footers at the bottom of this program. Here is what you told us: It’s all about the music. Whether in Telluride or Lyons, music on the stage and in the campgrounds inspires and transforms you. “I really like more kinds of music than I ever realized. Just having the opportunity to listen to many different artists in one weekend.” We’re a big family. For many, Planet Bluegrass is a long-term relationship among multiple generations, genders, colors, ideologies, politics, and religions. “I love the sense of community. Everybody shares.”
“Everything you are doing is exceptional meaning that you really stand out as a pioneer in term of environmental conservation and sustainability and progressive practices.” This year, we are digging deeper into our sustainability mission. We will meet with staff, volunteers and campers for their sustainability suggestions. As always, we welcome your input! Visit the Sustainable Festivation booth in Greentown to learn more about our programs, offer your feedback, and see more YOU responses. We would love to meet you!
All Natural Chicken
You learn about.…Music, community, and sustainability. And every year, you take a bit of Planet Bluegrass home with you .
You appreciate Sustainable Festivation. You are willing to take part in Planet Bluegrass sustainability initiatives and are happiest when sustainability is woven into the overall festival vibe.
The
Visit our booth and support local chef's from Colorado. All proceeds go to the Colorado Chef's Association
www.redbirdchicken.com
Education Fund. www.acfcoloradochefs.org
Since 1949
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“A shooting star over the waterfall last night….oooh Telluride.”
Suppose there may be a couple questions surrounding one beer in particular this year. Summer Bliss? Summer Helles? Are they the same or not? What happened to the festival beer I fell in love with? What the heck is going on?! These are pretty exciting times in the beer world for us here at New Belgium Brewing Company and for all of you here at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. In early 2012, Steve Szymanski and the rest of Planet Bluegrass approached New Belgium with a simple, yet mysterious question: “Can you brew a special festival beer to celebrate the 40th anniversaries of RockyGrass and Telluride Bluegrass?” Very quickly, our CEO Kim Jordan said she thought that was a great idea and gave the project a wholehearted green light. Shortly after that, Summer Bliss was born. Summer Bliss made its debut at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in June 2012. Festivarians put the beer where their mouths were and, holy smokes, did you all do it quickly. We ran out of every single one of the 112 kegs we brought down in less than 2 days and we immediately knew we had a winner on our hands. Summer Bliss made its return in 2013 to similar, yet somehow, even greater excitement and enthusiasm. The
hype was too big to ignore. Many of you giddily asked, “Will New Belgium ever make this beer to sell outside of the festival?” Well, it happened! “So, what do I call it?” Glad you asked. Throughout its history at New Belgium this beer has had a few names. From Hagdorn’s Helles, to Summer Bliss, to Summer Helles. The recipe was originally created in 2010 by our very own Andrew Hagdorn, hence the original name. Then it became Summer Bliss, the name most of you know very well. And now, in an effort to provide our consumers with a name that includes a description of the style, we renamed it Summer Helles. Call it what you want, we are just excited to have such a great German style lager to share with all of you, not just here in the beautiful confines of Telluride, but now everywhere New Belgium beer is sold. Cheers to all of you for being a part of this beer’s unique and storied history. We couldn’t do it without you.
High Fives & Hugs From All of Us At New Belgium
Our friends at New Belgium Brewing have once again brought some beloved favorites including the Festivarian homecoming of Summer Helles. Lots of sampling opportunities for your bluegrass weekend in the sun. Enjoy!
Fat Tire
Named in honor of our co-founder’s bike trip through Europe, Fat Tire Amber Ale marks a turning point in the young engineer’s home brewing. Belgian beers use a broader palette of ingredients (fruits, spices, esoteric yeast strains) than German or English styles. Together with co-founder Kim Jordan, they traveled around sampling their homebrews to the public. Fat Tire won fans with its sense of balance: toasty, biscuit-like malt flavors coasting in equilibrium with hoppy freshness.
Snapshot Wheat
Snap! You just captured an unfiltered wheat beer full of refreshment and a flash of tart at the finish. Smile-inducing aromas of citrus hops jump from the nose, accompanied by the sweetness of coriander and grains of paradise. But the real enticement is the snap of tart. New Belgium’s affinity for sour beers led to the in-process blending of lactobacillus to pucker up Snapshot’s base—an extra step to get this beer ready for its close up.
Ranger IPA
Bring out the hops! This clear amber beauty bursts at the starting gate with an abundance of hops: Cascade (citrus), Chinook (floral/citrus), and Simcoe (fruity) lead off the beer, with Cascade added again for an intense dry hop flavor. Brewed with pale and dark caramel malts that harmonize the hop flavor from start to finish, Ranger is a sessionable splendor for all you hopinistas. Thank your Beer Ranger!
Sunshine Wheat
Sunshine Wheat is a great beer for trouncing thirst. Yet, it has a depth of character that inspires a quiet moment’s reflection. Sunshine Wheat swirls in the mouth with ripples of coriander and orange peel tartness, settling nicely into a tranquil sea of apple and honey tones. A filtered wheat beer, Sunshine offers a crisp, refreshing alternative to heavierbodied hefe-weizens.
Check out the back cover of this program for details about how to win a New Belgium bike!
1554
1554 Black Lager uses a lager yeast strain and dark chocolaty malts to redefine what dark beer can be. In 1997, a flood destroyed the original recipe, so our brewmaster Peter Bouckaert traveled to Belgium to retrieve this unique style lost to the ages. The first challenge was deciphering antiquated script and outdated units of measurement, but trial and error (and many months of in-house sampling) culminated in 1554, a highly quaffable dark beer with a moderate body and mouthfeel.
Summer Helles
This Summer Helles (known to many Festivarians as Summer Bliss) pours a brilliant gold, with soft, white foam. The aroma is fresh grains and honey with a spicy-herbal twang. This danceable lager carries the pleasant sweetness of pale and German Pils malts, and levels off with the light and noble bitterness of Hallertau and Tettnang hops. Summer Helles finishes crisp and dry, and is sure to refresh even the thirstiest Festivarian ready to drink in the festival season.
41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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A S on i c Smor gasbord
If there’s one thing the musicians who grace the Telluride stage agree on it’s this: Festivarians are an open-minded lot, eager to embark on any musical adventure. Over the past four decades, audiences have been treated to as diverse a panoply of musical genres as you will find anywhere. We’ve traveled from traditional bluegrass to newgrass to jamgrass. We’ve rocked out to hard-driving bands like Little Feat and David Byrne, and chilled to jazz legends like Chick Corea and Marcus Roberts. We’ve danced to traditional, old-time gospel and immersed ourselves in the awesome vibrations of the Drepung Monks. What we haven’t experienced under Telluride’s cerulean skies is the sound of one notable, traditional form of acoustic music—a symphony orchestra. Until this year.
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This Friday, Béla Fleck and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Scott O’Neil, will present Béla’s most formidable composition yet: The Impostor Concerto, for banjo and symphony orchestra. Scott met Béla years ago when the Flecktones performed with the Utah Symphony. “I was so impressed with his musicianship back then,” he says. “He’s the real deal. It doesn’t take much to realize just how amazing he is as a musician. When there was a chance to perform his concerto with this orchestra last season, I said, ‘Absolutely!’ I know
#2: Toolkit – Pack your water bottle, bag, utensils, beer cups.
by
Charlotte Bell
that he’s been heavily involved in the Telluride festival since its formative years, so getting to play in his house with him is a huge honor.” This is not Béla’s first classical music project. His Grammy-winning 2001 CD, Perpetual Motion, featured banjo-based transcriptions by Bach, Debussy, Chopin, Beethoven and Paganini, among others, and spotlighted such classical music heavyweights as Joshua Bell, Evelyn Glennie, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile. “[The concerto] is a project I’ve had a longstanding appointment with,” says Béla. “I’d seen friends like Edgar Meyer and Mark O’Connor premiere their concertos in the early ’90s, and I understood that a banjo concerto would be a great challenge, but one that could be very worthwhile. Seeing my friends do their concertos took the idea out of the realm of the impossible.” Béla’s house band cohort, violinist Stuart Duncan, has played with everyone from Nashville Bluegrass Band to the classically oriented Goat Rodeo with Edgar, Chris and Yo-Yo Ma. “What would seem to be very different worlds—bluegrass and classical music—in the right hands can be joined and aligned,” he says. “Béla is someone with the right ears and imagination to accomplish that.” He honed his orchestral writing skills by co-writing a double concerto with Edgar, and a triple concerto with Edgar and Zakir Hussain. “It was kind of like having master classes with the best, co-writing those pieces with Edgar.”
“ There was a lot of trial and error, but I always figured I was the one who had to like it ... that’s my only bellwether of what is good.”
The concerto took about six months to write, often late at night on the Flecktones’ tour bus. Béla describes the process: “I just wrote a bunch of ideas and messed with them until they sounded interesting. I used the Sibelius program, which allows for playback of the ideas on simulated orchestral instruments. That helped me to imagine what it would sound like, and make educated guesses about things. “Eventually I had a structure, and kept filling in more of the orchestration. There was a lot of trial and error, but I always figured I was the one who had to like it. That’s how I’ve approached everything from bluegrass to newgrass to world music to the Flecktones. I have to like it, and that’s my only bellwether of what is good.” Because concertos are primarily intended to showcase soloists, the orchestral parts are often written to be subservient to the solo part. Not so for The Impostor, says Scott. “Some of my favorite concertos, like Brahms’s Piano Concerto no. 2, are like symphonies for solo instrument and orchestra,” he says. “To me that’s the mark of excellence. I feel the same way about Béla’s concerto. It’s a complicated piece, and it’s incredibly challenging for everybody in the orchestra. There are interesting parts for everyone to play.”
41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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“When you get a musician like Béla and give him no limitations it’s like, ‘Hold on tight!’” Music stands rarely make an appearance on the Telluride stage. That’s because most folk/bluegrass artists play by ear. Some, like Stuart, have learned to read music for when he plays complicated arrangements, because the notation shows him where his part fits into the whole. But in order for an ensemble of 50-plus musicians to play together, musical notation is essential, and not just the notes, but also the dynamics (volume) and the character (smooth, percussive, calm, accented, expressive, etc.). This was new for Béla. “Every single note for every single person had to be written out. In most situations I play in, I create a sketch with chords and melody, and maybe some bass line or counterparts. I don’t need to write out for Sam Bush the way to play a G chord, ya know? Or Future Man, I don’t notate a funky beat for him. I just play the song and they figure out a natural way to fit in. In this piece I had to write out everything. And I had to notate what volume to play every phrase on every instrument, and even the attitude. I’ve never done that before.” What makes symphony orchestras such an enduring paradigm is the endless array of sound combinations available to a composer. A cello doesn’t sound anything like a piccolo. An oboe is a completely different animal from a tuba. Yet, master composers can blend these colors together to create a symbiotic whole, and use various combinations of instruments to create entire new soundscapes. “People sometimes tell me they don’t like classical music,” says Scott. “Of course, there are so many ways to define classical music, and we all have preferences. But I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like orchestral music. There are so many colors to work with that there are no limitations on what you can create. When you get a musician like Béla and give him no limitations it’s like, ‘Hold on tight!’” The opportunity to create music with such a varied palette of color was fun for Béla. “I loved that part. And hearing the music on the real instruments is totally thrilling. One of the things I don’t get to do as a banjoist is sustain a note for 20 seconds or longer. The instrument can’t do that, unfortunately! So I made the orchestra musicians do that for me. I could create some pretty rich tensions and let them hang in the air for a long time, something I can’t do on the banjo either. Coloring and sound painting potential are some of the great things a symphony orchestra can do.”
them wasn’t practical, but at least I could get to know the section leaders. I asked them to tell me what got them into playing their particular instruments, and what I should think about in writing for them.” Concertos include at least one cadenza. In a cadenza, the orchestra stops playing so that the soloist gets a chance to play freestyle, and display his/her virtuosic chops. Because a cadenza’s tempo can be slippery, bringing an orchestra back in at the end of it can be tricky for a conductor. Béla’s concerto is no exception. “One of the most challenging parts is when he goes into his cadenzas,” says Scott. “The way he feels music is very fluid. There’s a certain elegance to the way he feels time. He uses a lot of mixed meters [time signatures that change measure to measure] and moves through them very rapidly, and they’re not the traditional mixed meters that we’re used to. They’re very sophisticated. But of course, people who know Béla won’t be surprised at this.” The concerto is 36 minutes long, leaving a bit of time for more music. Béla suggested that the orchestra play a few classical pieces, including one by a great 18th-century innovator. The orchestra will perform two movements of Mozart’s Symphony no. 41, nicknamed “Jupiter.” Mozart’s last symphony, Jupiter showcases the composer’s imagination and sophistication. Listen for a five-part fugue—a huge innovation at the time—that weaves together the main themes about five to six minutes into the fast movement, just after the orchestra slows down and pauses for a brief moment. It’s the mark of a great composition—like Jupiter—that it can be played and enjoyed over and over again. Béla has performed The Impostor with more than a dozen orchestras, and has plenty more scheduled in the next year. Scott says that if Béla asked his orchestra to tour the concerto around the country, he’d say, “Sign me up.” The piece is that good. “The orchestra plays all the time,” he says. “When you’ve played enough, there’s a certain level of, ‘this is just Sunday’s show.’ For something to stand out it has to be very special. The fact that they really like playing this piece is notable. Every time you play with a great soloist it’s inspiring. It’s doubly inspiring when you like the soloist. We enjoy playing this concerto on so many levels.”
While he was composing, Béla met with the principal players of all the sections in the Nashville Symphony, the orchestra that premiered the concerto. “I wanted a more intimate relationship with the orchestra, as I have with most of the musicians I work with. Hanging out with all 90 of Charlotte Bell is a writer, musician, and yoga and meditation teacher living in Salt Lake City. She has played oboe and English horn in the Salt Lake Symphony since 1996, and has written two books: Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life and Yoga for Meditators.
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“When the moon is rising, the sun is setting, and you just look around and think, ‘This is all there is’ and everything is perfect.”
Stephen Mougin and Collings Guitars In Telluride, visit Telluride Music Company. Located in the historic business district at 201 E. Colorado Ave, (970) 728-9592
Stephen Mougin of the Sam Bush Band with his Collings D2H Serious Guitars | www.CollingsGuitars.com | (512) 288-7770
CELEBRATING
12 YEARS OF SUSTAINABLE FESTIVATION Planet Bluegrass + Renewable Choice Making Environmental Responsibility a Priority at Telluride
When Planet Bluegrass and Renewable Choice Energy began their partnership in 2003, the idea of a commercial entity purchasing large volumes of green power via renewable energy credits (RECs) was in its infancy. So was renewable energy in the United States. At the time, less than 2% of the national electric grid was made up of renewables, including large-scale hydropower. After discovering the significant percentage of carbon that was created traveling to and from the festival, Planet Bluegrass was an early adopter of “offsets,” recognizing them as a valuable means to reduce the environmental impact of its events, a value that resonates with the Festivarian community. Fast forward to 2014. Planet Bluegrass has expanded its initial green power commitment to include an annual inventory of all its greenhouse gases, along with purchasing carbon offsets to neutralize Festivarian, crew, and artist travel and implementing zero waste practices at their offices and events. They’ve gone from early adopter to leader in the sustainable event space.
Planet Bluegrass has partnered with Renewable Choice to offset the environmental impact of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival by supporting wind power development and carbon reduction. This commitment includes offsetting the emissions created by the following activities: Electricity used at the festival Traveling to and from the event Electricity used for lodging Shuttle bus operation
During that same time period we’ve seen a rapid evolution in energy generation. Thanks in part to voluntary purchasers like Planet Bluegrass and many others in the Festivarian community, renewable energy has made tremendous strides. Renewables now make up 13% of the total U.S. energy grid and falling prices in some sectors of renewables (like solar) means that the cost of renewables is approaching grid-parity alongside traditional fossil fuel sources. This alone will be a game changer. Collectively, US corporations now use billions of kilowatt hours of green power every year and residential use of solar power has increased more than 600 times since 2008. We’re proud to continue our partnership for a greener event with Planet Bluegrass, and look forward to seeing you in Telluride and in Lyons to share more about the renewable energy revolution.
To learn more about how to reduce your impact, stop by the Renewable Choice booth during the festival.
www.renewablechoice.com
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#3: Transportation – Carpool, use public transportation, hybrids, biodiesel.
The Family Tent provides whimsical, musical and educational activities for children and their parents from noon-5pm on Thursday and 10am-5pm Friday thru Sunday. Most activities are free, but we ask that parents please accompany their kids at all times.
Living Folklore
Have a Goodtime
START WITH A GOODTIME BANJO Photo by Suzanne Gipson
Since 1998, Living Folklore has brought clowns, stilt-walkers and giant puppets to Telluride Bluegrass. The family vibes and community feel of the festival have been a catalyst for the growth of Living Folklore over the years. This year they’ll be featuring a new giant Queen Bee Puppet to celebrate Nature’s pollinators. She will be joined by The Ladybug Faerie, the Hill-Billie, a garden of flowers led by Gala the Flower Faerie, Gumbo Wobbly the clown, and a band of merry stiltwalkers. Come play with us and experience the magic of The Family Tent! Learn more at www.livingfolklore.com
Musical Performances
We’re happy to feature the playful, interactive and educational children’s music of Lesley Kernochan—bring your teddy bear and cuddle-up for some great music at A Teddy Bears Picnic! And on Friday we welcome the empowering kids music of Kristin Andreassen & the Bright Siders.
Betty Hoops
Join The Hoop Dance Coach and 4-time World Record Holder, Betty Hoops, for free hooping lessons. Decorate and keep your own kid and adult-sized hula hoop with fuzzy fabrics, rainbow-colored tapes, and 3D stickers.
Jugglers’ Grove
Lauri Watson welcomes new and experienced jugglers for lessons and free juggling balls each day.
Kids Talent Show
The ever-popular talent show returns Saturday afternoon for the 18th year.
18th Annual Kids Parade
Learn more at: goodtimebanjos.com (800) 845-7791
Proudly Made in the U.S.A. by
Carry a flag, umbrella, or one of the new giant puppets as Gumbo Wobbly leads this beloved Telluride tradition through the festival grounds on Sunday afternoon at 2:30pm.
41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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Festivarians Urged To Conserve Water With a major anniversary to celebrate, a lineup of big-name bands and clear blue skies, the 40th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival last summer saw record attendance in Town Park. Roughly 12,000 tarp-toting, straw-hat wearing music fans filled the park to its boundaries each day to catch acts like Leftover Salmon, Feist and The Masters of Bluegrass. And even more visitors—several thousand, the town estimates—were hanging out outside of the festival grounds. Festivarians kicked up dust during Yonder Mountain String Band, ate hundreds of dumplings and scores of corn dogs, danced to Bluegrass legends and went through 663 kegs of New Belgium beer. And despite the big numbers, all seemed well inside the park. But unbeknownst to Planet Bluegrass and the thousands of Festivarians dancing on their tarps, town officials were less than relaxed during the four days of the festival. That’s because an enormous spike in water and wastewater use pushed the town’s water availability to the limit.
by Katie Klingsporn 18
“We walked to the festival this year – from our wedding in Silverton directly to Town Park!”
“I can’t describe for you well enough how close we were to really having a major issue. We’re just right at the limit of what we can do.” According to town records, the Mill Creek water treatment plant, which is the town’s primary source of drinking water, treated some 1.2 million gallons on June 20—the Thursday of Bluegrass. The town’s daily treatment numbers topped the 1 million mark for the next four days, including 1.7 million on June 21. (As a comparison, the town treated 678,500 gallons on June 6). And this was at a time when dry conditions had prompted the town to enact water restrictions. “Even with restrictions in place, we saw consumption of water spike to almost double what it was the previous year,” said Town Manager Greg Clifton. “At the time this was happening, there were a number of us who were convinced that there was a break in a pipe somewhere.” There was no break. Instead, a huge number of people were taking showers, filling water bottles, flushing toilets and running washing machines. Clifton said the town believes there were 20,000 people in town during the festival weekend.
And in light of that, the Town of Telluride and Planet Bluegrass are both urging Festivarians to be mindful of their water use, conserve as much as possible, and maybe even tweak their daily routines to help the system. Clifton said that the town saw the biggest spikes in water and wastewater in the morning hours—which makes sense, because that’s when most people shower, brush their teeth and use the bathroom. “Festivarians can help us out immensely if they will alter their daily routines a little bit,” Clifton said. “If we can get our guests and visitors to do their heavier water-consuming activities like showers, washing dishes, washing clothes … in the later part of the day or in the evening, it would reduce that spike considerably.” “Don’t get up first thing in the day and do all your water chores,” added Karen Guglielmone, a project manager for the town. “If we can lower the peak flow and have it more consistent throughout the day, it’s what we’re aiming for.” Planet Bluegrass officials, meanwhile, don’t believe water use will be as big of an issue this year because they are not expecting the crowd to match the size of the 40th anniversary festival.
“We had no cushions,” Clifton said. “When you get in that sort of environment, you are one emergency away from things becoming a crisis.”
“The biggest thing is, we’re going to have fewer people at the show,” said Planet Bluegrass Vice President Steve Szymanski.
And concerns about the water treatment plant actually paled in comparison to those about the wastewater treatment plant; the system that pumps sewage to the plant was bumping up against capacity during the festival, with no room for error.
The Town of Telluride approved a maximum crowd size of 11,750 for this year’s festival. That’s down from the 12,000 it approved for the 2012 and 2013 events—the town trimmed it out of concern for its utilities. (It’s still higher than the normal allowed maximum of 11,500).
Public Works Director Paul Ruud said months later that if there were any failures or the volume had come up more, there may well have been raw sewage in the San Miguel River. “I can’t describe for you well enough how close we were to really having a major issue,” he said. “We’re just right at the limit of what we can do.” Clifton explained that while the plant itself performed fine, the pumps inside the lift station next to the plant were “totally maxed.” “We were on borrowed time with that lift station,” Clifton said. “We were testing the capacity of that, and fortunately we got through it.”
Here are a few water conservation tips for 2014 Festivarians: Take short showers—keep them under five minutes— and if it’s possible, take them later in the day. When washing your hands, turn the water off while you lather. While washing dishes by hand, don’t let the water run. Fill one basin with wash water and the other with rinse water. If it’s yellow, let it mellow.
The town has budgeted for and was planning to retrofit the lift station at the plant, which is expected to alleviate the situation. However, the project was still pending state approval this spring and officials were not entirely sure it would be finished by the summer solstice weekend.
Plug the sink while shaving instead of running the faucet.
“We believe those permits will be issued,” Telluride Public Works Director Paul Ruud said in early May. “We’re hopeful of getting that done prior to Bluegrass.”
Reward kids for water-saving tips they follow.
If doing laundry, match the water level to the load size, and again, run laundry later in the day or at night if possible.
Katie Klingsporn has written about the Telluride Bluegrass Festival for the Daily Planet newspaper since 2006. She's a fan of fiddles, loves Del McCoury's suits, and makes sure she makes it to the hula-hoop pit at least once a festival.
41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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6th Annual With nearly 4,000 campers in and around Telluride during the festival, it is essential for each of us to embrace the “leave no trace” camping philosophy. In collaboration with the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics and Eco-Products (supplier of free BioBags for your campground compost), we will again be honoring campsites that excel in creative, sustainable camping.
How Do I Participate?
Campers in any of the Planet Bluegrassmanaged campgrounds are encouraged to enter. To nominate your campsite (or one of your neighbors):
1. Submit a campsite entry form at the Leave No Trace booth in Greentown, including a rough sketch of your campsite and a hand drawn map to help us find your campsite. 2. Visit the LNT booth each day to comment
on the latest campsite entries. Random winners will be chosen each day.
3. Planet Bluegrass will select the grand
prize winner after the campground pack-out on Monday. The winner will be announced in the next “Notes from the Planet” e-newsletter.
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How Do I Win?
We will be judging on three criteria:
Cleanliness. Are you repackaging the food
you bring? Are you keeping a tidy campsite? Are items secure and not susceptible to wind gusts?
Sustainability. Are you separating recycling and compost? Are you reusing products? Are you using alternative energy sources? Did you bike or carpool to the festival? Are you offsetting carbon emissions? Did you do anything to reduce your home’s energy while attending the festival? Creativity. Does your campsite have
a theme? Are you utilizing unique and innovative camping techniques?
#4: Camping – Visit Leave No Trace booth to enter the campsite challenge.
What Do I Win?
Each day we will randomly choose 1 campsite entry to win: New Belgium Beer, Leave No Trace memberships, Chaco sandals, Planet Bluegrass music. Our judges will choose one grand prize winner to win a pair of Town Park Campground passes for the 2015 Festival. “It takes a village and we owe thanks to every camp in Town Park who brought Camp Cascadia's Dome to life and to over a dozen Cascadians who pushed through sleepless travel, mechanical issues, and some serious tarpology to make Camp Cascadia what we are so proud to have become.” – 2013 Grand Prize winners Camp Cascadia
Pastor Mustard (aka Dan Sadowsky) first played the TBF main stage in 1975 (with his Ophelia Swing Band mates Tim O’Brien and Washboard Chaz); he took over the MC duties from Festival founder Fred Shellman in 1978 (after Fred’s infamous day 3 remark “How many people have been here all 4 days?”); and in 2007, as he writes: “Pastor Mustard burned up in a freak oil stove fire. And died, hardly ever to return.” Six years after the accident, Pastor Mustard has returned to tell the tall tale of Telluride Bluegrass and its Forty Years of Festivation. We spent a few minutes with Pastor on leave from the afterlife to attend a press junket at Dunton Hot Springs… What surprised you about the book?
I found Marikay’s comment—that Fred [Shellman] was a secret Hee-Haw fan— to be very revealing. I can just imagine Fred saying, “Okay honey, I’ve gotta go work on the DW Stevens” (or some excuse), then go down into the basement and do all sorts of psychedelic drugs and watch Hee Haw. What could be a better use of a person’s time, you know? And yet it did inform how he wanted the festival to go. And damnit, if you can imagine the television show, there’s a template there that does sort of fit, in an irregular sort of way, over what goes on at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. It comes from the show’s format through the years. It’s a continuation of some archaic forms of entertainment: medicine shows, vaudeville, tent shows.
Is there a year that jumps out as a favorite?
If I were to pick out a set to replay over and over again it would be The Band. (And I do actually replay that concert in my mind.) They were absolutely spectacular. I realize that’s not bluegrass, but those guys absolutely killed it. Just the presence of Levon Helm was quite spectacular.
“ My major artistic achievement was never once saying, ‘Hey! How’s everybody doin’ out there,’” writes longtime festival
Pastor Mustard
in the new book Telluride Bluegrass Festival: Forty Years of Festivation.
How about a performance that remains under-appreciated?
There’s a moment that I couldn’t believe people didn’t make more of a fuss about – and I couldn’t remember the year while I was writing the book. There was a moment when Bruce Hornsby did a little duet with Shawn Colvin. Their voices together—it seems like I can still hear their harmonies. Just astonishing. Amazingly great.
As a writer, whom do you look to for inspiration?
Whenever I’m in the bathroom I will always read a couple pages of Tom Robbins. Sometimes I’ll take it out of the bathroom; I’ll bring it out onto the couch or go to sleep reading a chapter or two of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues or Jitterbug Perfume. I think Tom Robbins is great and quite an inspiration. And as far as authors go, I think you’d be pretty remiss as a Boomer not to put Kurt Vonnegut in there. Seeing as how I’ve lived many decades up in Aspen, I’d also include Hunter S. Thompson. I had the good fortune
of meeting him and actually having reliable conversations with the guy about this and that. He was always easy to talk to if you started out with a genuflect: oh my god, I read this thing of yours. On the other hand, he was really something. And he did know my family, and got to know my kids and they him. So it was great to have that intimacy with Hunter S.
Tell us about the experience of writing this book.
It was cathartic. It was really emotional. If you don’t take the time to really review your life, pretty soon decades go by and you’re only looking far enough ahead to do your taxes, go on vacation and take care of the immediate future and past. But honest to god, the enormity of 40 years gone by... I went into this thing as a 26 year old— barely knew how to work my daddy’s razor. And coming out of it as a 65 year old looking back—holy crap, man! I almost hate to form the words, but it’s very much the work of my life. And what a joy to have spent it with these people. It’s been amazing.
Telluride Bluegrass Festival: Forty Years of Festivation features year-by-year essays from Pastor Mustard as well as nearly 400 photos and writings from dozens of artists and crew including Sam Bush, Chris Thile, Tim O’Brien, Béla Fleck, Emmylou Harris, Jerry Douglas, and Winston Marshall (of Mumford & Sons). The limited hardcover edition is available at the Country Store.
41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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Every June songwriters and bands from around the world converge in Telluride for the prestigious Troubadour and Band contests. Offering beautiful instruments, cash prizes, and international recognition, these contests showcase the next generation of Telluride Bluegrass artists. Join us in welcoming these talented performers on Thursday and Friday at Elks Park, then celebrate with the finalists Saturday on the Main Stage.
Troubadour Contest
For the twenty-fourth year, the Troubadour Contest introduces ten inspiring young songwriters to the Telluride audience. One of these artists will join past winners Catie Curtis, Deb Talan, Gregory Alan Isakov, and Reed Turner as the 2014 Telluride Troubadour. Any singer-songwriter not currently signed to a major recording or publishing deal is invited to submit songs beginning in December. In April, our panel of industry professionals selected these ten finalists from hundreds of submissions. During two rounds of Elks Park performances, Troubadours will be judged on the quality of their songs’ composition, vocal delivery, and overall performance. On Saturday evening the winning Troubadour will receive a handmade Shanti guitar, featuring quilted Big Leaf Maple back and sides, Sitka Spruce sound board, and a Telluride Bluegrass inlay. Enjoy the Troubadours throughout the festival as they perform songwriter-in-the-round sets at Elks Park, ‘tweener songs on the Main Stage, and live in-studio on KOTO.
2014 Troubadour Schedule Troubadours will perform in a randomly selected order. Final Round Friday, June 20 3:00pm Elks Park Stage
Preliminary Round Thursday, June 19 Noon Elks Park Stage
The winning Troubadour performs a fifteen-minute Main Stage set on Saturday, June 21 at 5:45pm
The winner will be announced Friday, June 20 at 5:00pm on the Elks Park Stage.
Band Contest
2014 Troubadour Finalists Allie Farris
David McMillin
Kristen Grainger
Emily Mure
Kevin Higgins
Brian Payne
Michael Kirkpatrick
K.T. Vandyke
Jacob Latham
David White
Nashville, Tennessee
Salem, Oregon
Hondo, Texas
Fort Collins, Colorado
Bloomington, Indiana
One of the foremost contests for acoustic stringbands, the Telluride Band Contest has helped launch the careers of Dixie Chicks, Ryan Shupe & the Rubberband, Greensky Bluegrass, Front Country, and dozens of other past winners. This year’s bands will be competing around a single microphone for a spot on the 2015 main stage lineup.
Bands Score in These Categories
2014 Contest Bands The Olora Brothers
Trout Steak Revival Denver, CO
• 30% Instrumental Performance ability of soloists and overall blend
Running Out of Road
The Turnbacks
• 30% Vocal Performance lead and harmony
After Jack
The Green Boys
Gold Top County Ramblers
The Kitchen Dwellers
Eagle, CO
Grand Ole Ditch
The May North
Durango, CO
Ferrum, VA
Sperryville, VA
Cumberland, MD
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Richmond, VA
Bozeman, MT
• 30% Material Selection taste, difficulty, authenticity, originality
Minneapolis, MN
“Howling at the moon with Sam Bush.”
Alba, TX
• 10% Stage Presence
Chicago, Illinois
New York, New York
Boulder, Colorado
Johnson City, Tennessee
Franklin, Tennessee
Band Competition Schedule Bands will perform in a randomly selected order
Preliminary Round Friday, June 20 10:00am Elks Park Stage Final Round Saturday, June 21 9:45am Main Stage
SUSTAINABLE FESTIVATION One Klean Kanteen steel pint is all you need to keep your drinks flowing and your impact minimal at Telluride Bluegrass.
KleanKanteen.com
June 20th June 19th 10:00am Gates Open 11:00 - Noon Chris Thile 12:30 - 1:45pm Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen 2:15 - 3:30pm The Lone Bellow 4:00 - 5:15pm John Cowan, John McFee and Friends
9:00am Gates Open 10:00 - 11:00am Chatham County Line 11:15 - 12:15pm Aoife O’Donovan 12:30 - 1:45pm Keller Williams with The Travelin’ McCourys 2:15 - 3:30pm Jason Isbell 4:00 - 5:15pm Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott
5:45 - 7:00pm Del McCoury Band
6:00 - 7:30pm Béla Fleck and the Colorado Symphony
7:30 - 9:00pm Nickel Creek
8:30 - 10:00pm Dave Rawlings Machine
9:30 - 11:00pm Brandi Carlile
10:30 - Midnight Steve Winwood
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“Dancing with friends for decades.”
June 21st
June 22nd
9:00am Gates Open
9:00am Gates Open
9:45 - 10:45am Telluride Band Contest
10:00 - 11:00am Dailey & Vincent
11:00 - Noon Front Country
11:30 - 12:45pm Béla Fleck & Brooklyn Rider
12:30 - 1:45pm Peter Rowan’s Twang an’ Groove featuring Yungchen Lhamo 2:15 - 3:30pm Punch Brothers 4:00 - 5:30pm Yonder Mountain String Band with special guests
1:15 - 2:30pm Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers 3:00 - 4:15pm Jerry Douglas presents The Earls of Leicester 4:45 - 6:00pm Greensky Bluegrass
Jason Carter & Ronnie McCoury
6:30 - 8:00pm Ray LaMontagne
5:45 - 6:00pm Telluride Troubadour
8:45 - 10:45pm Telluride House Band
6:15 - 7:30pm Andrew Bird & The Hands of Glory 8:00 - 10:00pm Sam Bush Band 10:30 - Midnight Leftover Salmon featuring Bill Payne
featuring Sam, Béla, Jerry, Edgar, Bryan & Stuart with special guests Alison Krauss & Del McCoury
*Workshops subject to change. Please check for daily updates on sign boards.
June 19th
June 20th
June 21st
June 22nd
11:00 Pete Kartsounes
10:00 Band Contest: Preliminary Round
10:30 Michael Hornick, Bobby Wintringham & Friends: Instrument Building
11:30 Troubadours: In the Round
12:00 Troubadour Contest: Preliminary Round 2:00 Melody Walker & Jacob Groopman 3:15 Troubadours: In the Round 4:30 Greensky Bluegrass: Happy Hour
12:00 Yonder Mountain, Sarah Jarosz & Sara Watkins 1:45 Peter Rowan & Yungchen Lhamo: Mountain to Mountain 3:00 Troubadour Contest: Final Round 3:45 Bryan Sutton & Chris Eldridge: Sing & Play Guitar 5:00 Troubadour Contest: Winners Announced
11:45 Sara & Sean Watkins: Watkins Family Hour
1:00 Stuart Duncan & Noam Pikelny: Fiddle & Banjo
1:00 Dave Bruzza & Paul Hoffman: Phoffman, Bruzza & 2 Guitars
2:30 Willie Watson: Sea Shanties, Work Songs & Sing-Alongs
2:15 Troubadours: In the Round
4:00 Aoife O’Donovan, Tift Merritt, Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins: Songwriting
3:30 FrazierBand: New Newgrass from Nashville 4:45 Adam Stockdale & Friends: Albatross
Most activities are free, but we ask that parents please accompany their kids at all times.
June 19th
June 20th
June 21st
June 22nd
12:00- Jugglers’ Grove, Hoop 5:00 Making, Arts & Crafts
10:00 Jugglers’ Grove, Hoop Making, Arts & Crafts
10:00 Jugglers’ Grove, Hoop Making, Arts & Crafts
10:00 Jugglers’ Grove, Hoop Making, Arts & Crafts
12:00 Funny Bone Logic & Clown Yoga
12:00 Funny Bone Logic & Clown Yoga
12:00 Clown Yoga with Gumbo Wobbly and Friends
1:00 Gumbo Wobbly’s Quackers & Kazoos Class
1:00 Storytelling with Gala The Flower Faerie
2:00 Kristin Andreassen & the Bright Siders
2:00 Drama Class & Talent Show Sign-ups
1:00 Lesley the Flying Fox: Original Songs for the Whole Family
3:00
2:30- 18th Annual Telluride 4:00 Kids Talent Show
A Teddy Bear’s Picnic: Songs for the whole family with Lesley The Flying Fox
2:00 Parade preparations
(until parade begins)
2:30 18th Annual Children’s Parade (through festival grounds during set-break)
3:00 Closing Circle
41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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Thursday, June 19th
Chris Thile
11:00 - Noon
There are a few neo-bluegrass musicians who are geniuses of their instruments—innovative, stylistic, technical masters. Then there’s Chris Thile. In 2000, Nickel Creek hit Telluride, fronted by Thile, a 19-year-old boy wonder, whose prodigious talent on the mandolin was matched only by his enthusiasm for the musical heroes whose legacy he was to inherit. Over the next decade, Chris would continually thrill Telluride audiences and astonish every musician who plays here as Nickel Creek redefined progressive bluegrass and Chris grew another band into the amazing Punch Brothers. All the while, Chris obliterated any remaining boundaries in bluegrass as a mando-wizard of incomprehensible skill—the ubiquitous dueting, guesting, blazing, contorting livewire with a brain-tofingers continuum unmatched in the annals of history. For last year’s 40th Anniversary, Chris played a solo set to open the festival, an honored role that fittingly went to an artist who represents the genius, passion, unbridled experimentation, and reverence for tradition at the heart of Telluride Bluegrass. Chris responded as only he can—moving from traditional bluegrass to classical to Celtic to indie-rock with unremitting beauty and sizzle. For years, Chris Thile was the future of the Festival. With three uniquely essential sets this year, that future is now. So to launch the next 40 years, we once again ask the incomparable, generationdefining Chris Thile to hit leadoff.
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Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
12:30 - 1:45pm
Frank Solivan’s journey to the Telluride stage has taken him from his native California to a tenure in Alaska to the U.S. Navy (playing in the renowned Navy bluegrass band, Country Current) to a career as a chef and finally to D.C. where he formed the sterling bluegrass quartet, Dirty Kitchen. Since then, the group has given the entire bluegrass community the vapors, first with 2010’s redhot self-titled record and then with last year’s On the Edge, an expertly-played set of ringers that landed at #1 on national Best Bluegrass lists. These albums launched the band to the top of the contemporary scene by combining in-the-pocket instrumental precision, gale-force vocals, and soulful songwriting. Furthermore, Frank and the Kitchen have earned a reputation as one of the genre’s fiercest live bands, and when these boys let it rip on stage, secure your loose belongings. Solivan is a mandolin and fiddle force, and his Dirty Kitchen features esteemed banjo shape-shifter Mike Munford (the 2013 IBMA Banjo Player of the Year), rubber-wristed bassist Danny Booth, and look out for IBMA Momentum Award winner Chris Luquette, a 22-year-old Martin-shredding guitarist who plays flatpicking breaks few can match. Telluride Bluegrass is a deliciously wide-ranging genre, but on Thursday, if you like your bluegrass tight, fast, and power-packed, FS&DK have the chops to set your tarp aflame. Dig in.
The Lone Bellow 2:15 - 3:30pm
John Cowan, John McFee and Friends
4:00 - 5:15pm Telluride Bluegrass is fortified with old friends and annual champions Flashback to 1997: The night falls on who have defined the Festival and Telluride, and the moon shines above. established our most treasured tra- Leftover Salmon announces the midditions. But each year, we also look set arrival of a special guest. The forward to breaking fresh ground crowd squirms in anticipation. And and welcoming new friends—young out strolls…John Cowan—flowy artists who embody the grace, of hair and leathery of jacket, all musicianship, power, and commu- smiles and rock-star swagger—who nity spirit that have fueled 40 years steps to the mic, cocks his head of TBF magic. back, and belts out “Good Woman’s Enter the Lone Bellow, a band that Love,” sending concussive waves infuses three chords and the truth of power-tenor electricity over the with gut-punch beauty, singing rapturous crowd. about tragedy and hope, betrayal Cowan, the inimitable Voice of and redemption, with a passion- Newgrass, has put in 36 years’ worth ate mix of folk, blues, country, and of these appearances at Telluride, soul. This trio of Southern natives— first as the 22-year-old vocalist/bassprimary songwriter and lead singer ist of New Grass Revival, later with Zach Williams, mandolinist Kanene a decade of shows with New Grass Doheney Pipkin, and guitarist Brian cohort Sam Bush, and then with his Elmquist—formed in their relo- own mighty John Cowan Band. cated home of Brooklyn in 2010, In 2010, Cowan joined the Doobie finding a musical and spiritual Brothers as their touring bassist, kinship that attracted fans to their leading to some rare missed years chill-inducing club performances. at Telluride. This year, instead, Released in 2013, the trio’s Cowan brings part of that legendary self-titled debut was met with wide- band to us. spread critical acclaim as the group John McFee, principle member and sounded fully developed their first multi-instrumentalist for the Dootime out, offering gorgeous neo-folk bies, along with Doobs drummer Ed melodies, rootsy instrumentalism, Toth, will be on hand to help unveil and soaring three-part harmonies Sixty, Cowan’s McFee-produced new sung with holy-revival fire. album. Featuring an esteemed list Once the Lone Bellow hit the of collaborators (Sam, Leon Russell, road last year, playing everywhere Alison Krauss), John calls Sixty his from the Ryman to Red Rocks, the “proudest musical achievement.” band laid waste to audiences with Thursday’s performance marks the their aorta-exploding vocal charge album’s official release party and and almighty songs. Now it’s Tellu- Johnny C’s return to Telluride on the ride’s turn to welcome the Bellow, a 40th anniversary of his joining New soul-cleansing experience in a nat- Grass Revival. ural cathedral cosmically designed You are cordially invited to attend for just such an occasion. this unforgettable event.
#5: Compost – Compost inside the festival and at your campsite with Eco-Products Biobags
COMPASS RECORDS
ON STAGE AT TELLURIDE
JOHN COWAN
Sixty A Telluride Advance Release. Get it here!
THURS., JUNE 19, 4PM
John Cowan’s new album and most musically ambitious project to date is a stylistic journey through a 30+ year career. With over 25 guests, including Ray Benson, Alison Brown, Bonnie Bramlett, Sam Bush, Rodney Crowell, Chris HIllman, John Jorgensen, Alison Krauss, Bernie Leadon, Huey Lewis, John McFee, JIm Messina, Leon Russell and more, Cowan delivers a career album—arguably his finest to date. Produced by John McFee. SAT., JUNE 21, 2:15PM WITH THE PUNCH BROTHERS
New from Punch Brothers’ banjoist Featuring: Mike Bub, Stuart Duncan, Ronnie McCoury, and Bryan Sutton.
THURS., JUNE 19, 12:30PM
SAT., JUNE 21, 12:30PM
“…Ranked among the ‘buzz’ bluegrass bands…a razor sharp, confident quartet influenced by a broad range of the last four decades of bluegrass…” —Bluegrass Unlimited
Featuring: Jesse McReynolds, Del McCoury, Bobby Osborne, JD Crowe, Bryan Sutton, Buddy Spicher, Stuart Duncan, Dennis Crouch, Michael Cleveland, the Traveling McCourys and more.
NEW FROM COMPASS RECORDS
“The varied template—a combination of winsome waltzes, antebellum instrumentals, Cajun romps and songs that merge eastern and western tradition— offers a host of celebratory sounds…A downhome delight.” —Relix
compassrecords.com
GRAMMY-nominated Special Consensus’tribute to John Denver with special guests Dale Ann Bradley, Jason Carter, Michael Cleveland, John Cowan, Rob Ickes, Jim Lauderdale, Claire Lynch, Peter Rowan, Buddy Spicher, Rhonda Vincent and more.
“(A) gorgeous voice and sense of purpose, supported by a superb ensemble.” —The Washington Post With Bryan McDowell, Mark Schatz, and Matt Wingate.
johncowan.com
Thursday, June 19th
Del McCoury Band
5:45 - 7:00pm
“Singing with Del is like going to the mountain,” testifies Sam Bush when referring to the soul-stirring experience of performing duet shows with the great Del McCoury. Those concerts were part of Del’s busy, triumphant 2013, a year that also saw Del touring with the Masters of Bluegrass alongside fellow legends Bobby Osborne and J.D. Crowe (including a jubilant headlining set at Telluride) and releasing a new album, Streets of Baltimore, which grabbed the 2014 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. So after more than 50 years as bluegrass’s definitive male vocalist (he joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in 1963), Del continues to ride yet-higher crests of excellence and momentum. Del turned 75 in February, and this year’s Festival is an extended birthday celebration, including a Saturday NightGrass birthday bash, a special Del collaboration during Sunday’s House Band blowout, and the electrifying Del McCoury Band’s early-evening set on Thursday. Thursday’s set, of course, will be another joyous session with bluegrass’s platinumvoiced patriarch, the authentic carrier of the flame, the director of the world-class band that sets the bar for classic ensemble picking. Despite their status as champs of the traditional scene, the Del Band (Ronnie McCoury on mandolin, Rob McCoury on banjo, Jason Carter on fiddle, and Alan Bartram on bass) can flip the switch, incorporate new tunes into ancient tones, and rock every Festivarian from tarps to tents. In that way, Del has become bluegrass’s democratizing polestar, a common ground for all fans of all ages to gather and to smile and to dance. Del McCoury is in town. It’s time to go to the mountain.
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Nickel Creek
Brandi Carlile
After Nickel Creek wrapped up their “Farewell (For Now) Tour” in 2007 and the band members went their separate ways, fans wondered why the fire should have to die. After all, these California kids had, in the ‘00s, helped reinvent progressive bluegrass, pushing the genre in expansive new directions, gobbling up Grammys and IBMA awards, selling millions of albums, and bringing masses of new fans to acoustic music via Nickel Creek’s singular brand of brainy new-age folk-grass. Mandolinist Chris Thile went on to melt frontal cortexes everywhere as the most significant instrumentalist of his generation and as the leader of the phenomenal Punch Brothers. Fiddlin’ Sara Watkins spent a decade as roots music’s go-to sidewoman (the Decemberists, Jackson Browne) and released two acclaimed solo albums of vibrant folk-pop. Guitarist Sean Watkins joined the supergroup Works Progress Association (with sister Sara) and formed Fiction Family with Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman. So in recent years when the three Creeksters would happen to converge on Telluride in separate bands, fans whispered rumors and wiggled over speculations of possible Nickel Creek reunions, none of which materialized. Well, the wait is over. The Creek has risen. Their excellent reunion album The Dotted Line debuted in the Billboard Top Ten, the highest-ranking record of the band’s career, and critics have heaped praise on an album that incorporates the best of the band’s varied styles—celestial ballads, bumblebee instrumentals, rousing newgrass, indie-rock covers, and thundering genre-bending experimentalism. Three unique voices. A reunion seven years in coming. One incredible night.
After her 2007 hit “The Story” shot her into the national spotlight, Brandi Carlile’s powerful, elastic pipes have been imitated by many but replicated by none. That Voice is just one of the formidable weapons in Brandi’s arsenal, alongside an intuitive gift for genre-blurring—she’ll be your Loretta, your Dolly, your Stevie Nicks, and your Elton John, too—a penchant for original melodies that tickle your neurotransmitters, and the awesome twin-brother superheroes Tim and Phil Hanseroth on guitar and bass. Through a series of barnstorming tours, Carlile & Co. have taken the music straight to the people, cultivating an army of Brandiacs, and releasing four critically-adored albums, including 2010’s Rick Rubin-produced Give Up the Ghost and 2012’s stellar, woodsy Bear Creek, a record that soared into the Billboard Top 10. (Fun tip: Go hike the Bear Creek Trail on Thursday morning to prep your spiritual space for this show.) In 2010, Brandi played a sun-drenched mid-day set at Telluride, prompting fans to do blissful air-squats on their tarps, married couples to renew their vows, and Femalevarians to storm the clothing vendors hoping to replicate Brandi’s cool Annie Hall vibe. After her TBF set, Brandi proclaimed, “I can’t wait to do it again.” Neither could we. But for her Telluride return, we knew that Brandi had to rule the night. After all, when the sun sets on opening night, it’s hard to imagine a more perfect soundtrack to summer moonglow on the valley floor than Brandi’s silvery alto, bending before it breaks and drifting up into her celestial falsetto to circulate with the stars. On Thursday night, the story continues…
7:30 - 9:00pm
“Telluride is the greatest experience of my life. No joke.”
9:30 - 11:00pm
Friday, June 20th
Chatham County Line
10:00 - 11:00am
Aoife O’Donovan
11:15 - 12:15pm
We first met Aoife O’Donovan as the From 2003’s self-titled album through 2010’s much-admired Wildwood, lead singer of progressive string band Crooked Still, whose fragrant Chatham County Line have brewed a uniquely warm brand of bluegrass, acoustic music floated across five elegant albums. Those records sweetened by tender soul, graceful arrangements, mountain-ridge stomp, deconstructed traditional folk songs into cello, banjo, and double bass soothing melodies, and lead singer arrangements anchored by Aoife’s Dave Wilson’s twilight vocals. ethereal vocals. These four Carolinians—Dave Wilson (guitar), John Teer (mandolin, Indeed, Aoife (“eef-uh”) soon became roots music’s female guest vocalist fiddle), Chandler Holt (banjo), Greg Readling (bass)—take their instru- of choice, collaborating with everyone from Punch Brothers to Irish folk ments, suits, and single-microphone formation from classic Nashville tradi- singer Cathie Ryan to jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas. O’Donovan also lent tions. From there, the band repurposes string-band do-si-do and rich harmo- her snow-dappled vocals to the 2013 Grammy-winning Yo-Yo Ma-led project nies into ambrosial country-folk. Chatham employ a rural sen- The Goat Rodeo Session and co-wrote sibility drawn from Appalachian “Here and Heaven” from that album. So while Crooked Still established resonance and Opry reverence but Aoife as a versatile, captivating with the loose instrumental tangle of ‘60s folk and Wilson’s literate, singer, the songsmith within her sensitive songwriting. In this way, was still awaiting its formal showcase. 2013’s Fossils featured ten Chatham marry abiding principles (via narratives about travelers, min- Aoife originals and unveiled a major ers, gas-station attendants, trains, songwriting voice. Word spread fast: Alison Krauss covered the Fossils John Hartford) to a modernist’s view track “Lay My Burden Down” for her of urban alienation and refinement. own Paper Airplane album. The extraordinary new Tightrope Fossils affirms Aoife’s sensual continues the band’s evolution and streak of excellence. But to truly appre- songcraft: shadowed electric folkciate Chatham is to see them live, grass, textured Irish-influenced meditations, Boston-strong country, which brings us to Friday when CCL and exquisite breeze-borne ballads. make their long-awaited TBF debut. It’s a sound that evokes organic With Festivarians still buzzing over Thursday’s delights, but with the week- earthiness and celestial atmospheres, a weaving of soil and sky. end just beginning, Friday morning For a Telluride set guaranteed to is a glorious time at the Festival. The day’s opener will offer banjo-and-fid- optimize your emotional wellness, dle-abetted testaments to social justice, Aoife will be joined by Punch Brother romantic yearning, and shared expe- Chris Eldridge on electric guitar, Jacob Silver on bass, Robin MacMillan on riences. A Chatham live set allows the audience to contribute to that evocative, drums, and Kristin Andreassen on violin and backing vocals. revitalizing whole. Step to the Line.
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Keller Williams
with The Travelin’ McCourys
12:30 - 1:45pm
Keller Williams is everyone’s favorite mop-topped, barefoot, guitar-shredding, live-looping, pedal-stomping, singing, buzzing, spinning, laughing, dancing, dreaming, Deadhead oneman jam band. A rhythmic dynamo and guitar wunderkind with a bionic picking hand, Keller’s dedication to bringing groovy music to the masses is unprecedented. He’s a prodigious recording artist, a constant touring force, and a tireless searcher for new sounds and partners, like String Cheese Incident (whom Keller first met at Telluride), Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, and countless others. The Travelin’ McCourys are the peerless picking unit from their silver-haired daddy’s band: Ronnie McCoury (mandolin), Robbie McCoury (banjo), Jason Carter (fiddle), and Alan Bartram (bass). In their day job, these boys flank a legend and set the standard for traditional bluegrass playing. As the Travelin’ McCourys, the suits are swapped for casual wear as the foursome stretches out into progressive explorations, crossing boundaries every which way, and jamming with the likes of the Allman Brothers and Phish. The meeting of K-Dub and the TMs’ kindred spirits resulted in 2012’s Pick, a collaborative record that runs the gamut from tradminded cookers to idiosyncratic Keller originals to reimagined covers from across the musical spectrum. Expect a similarly adventurous set on Friday—good and bluegrassy, but one in which a song-and-dance daredevil fronts musicians who have the chops to go anywhere his imagination dares them.
#6: Water – Conserve water, take (short) showers at off-peak times
Jason Isbell 2:15 - 3:30pm
Jason Isbell was raised in rural Alabama with a musical family and a Pentecost-preaching grandfather, thereby inheriting a fondness for G chords and the Grand Ole Opry, the fire of conviction, and the power of words. As a teenager in Muscle Shoals, Jason absorbed the soulsoaked rock and roll made famous in that city’s storied studios. At age 22, Isbell joined Southern alt-country outfit Drive-By Truckers as their gunslinging third guitarist and over three albums wrote and sang DBT fan favorites like “Danko/Manuel,” “Goddamn Lonely Love,” and the dramatic title track to Decoration Day. With such commanding songs, a solo career beckoned, coming first with Sirens of the Ditch (2007) followed by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (2009) and Here We Rest (2010), which featured “Alabama Pines,” the Americana Music Awards Song of the Year. Throughout, Isbell’s reputation steadily grew as one of the great singer-songwriters of his generation, bolstered by stirring live shows that highlighted Jason’s ace guitar work and hot-blooded vocals. Still, even such skyrocketing stock couldn’t prepare listeners for 2013’s phenomenal Southeastern. An instant classic and one of last year’s most-honored records, Southeastern delivers emotionally complex sketches of loss and hope, regret and redemption, within songs packed with resonant beauty. Friday is the distinctive chance to witness the Telluride debut of an American troubadour finding new heights within a remarkable peak period.
CHATHAM COUNTY LINE The new album, TIGHTROPE “It's not hard to imagine someone who’s never much bothered with bluegrass but loves Fleet Foxes finding a lot to love here.”—PITCHFORK photo: Tim Chumley
“...they tap into a. . . rich and vibrant seam of Americana.”—POPMATTERS “Not many bands bring together bluegrass' past and present the way Chatham County Line do, and fewer still can do it this well.”—ALLMUSIC
See Chatham County performing live. Available now via iTunes, Amazon and Yep Roc Records
“A must-listen.”—ROLLING STONE “...a vocalist of unerring instinct”—THE NEW YORK TIMES “The newest darling of the Americana set”—USA TODAY
aoife o’donovan
fossils Catch Aoife performing songs from her solo debut album Fossils Available now via iTunes, Amazon and Yep Roc Records
Friday, June 20th
Tim O’Brien & Darrell Scott 4:00 - 5:15pm
Tim and Darrell are both TBF mainstays whose songs, deft playing, and comfy-ol’-sweater vocals are woven into the fabric of the Telluride tradition. In the Festival’s history, Tim has logged more Shellman Stage time than anyone not named Sam, and the one year in the last 30 that Tim went missing prompted longtime Festivarians to hold their children a bit tighter. Darrell is one of the most comprehensively masterful musicians on the planet, and his TBF sets have left audiences dry-heaving in response to Scott’s instrumental expertise and emotional sway. Together they are the Wonder Twins with ultra-rare powers: an encyclopedic reservoir of tunes, jambidextrous picking prowess, airtight vocal harmonies, rousing improvisational dexterity, intuitive musical responsiveness with each other, and a warm rapport with their audience. Sure, they have sold multimillions as songwriters (penning smashes for the Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks, etc.), but with a lifetime of hobo-chic journeying and beard-on-the-fiddle storytelling, this pair is like Beckett’s Vladimir and Estragon wielding banjos and bouzoukis in a production of Waiting for Monroe. The live We’re Usually A Lot Better Than This (2012) is a hoot, proving the value of catching these two brilliant music men in person, when Tim and Darrell spread the love and joy of their alliance to the audience in real time, two masters creating an afternoon of memories and moments.
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Béla Fleck
and the Colorado Symphony
6:00 - 7:30pm
For the largest-scale musical production in the history of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Béla Fleck presents The Impostor with the renowned Colorado Symphony Orchestra. One of the nation’s premier orchestra ensembles, the CSO will bring over 50 musicians—strings, flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets, trombones, tubas, percussion—to the Shellman Stage, all under the baton of conductor Scott O’Neil and featuring principal cellist Silver Ainomäe and concertmaster/violinist Claude Sim as soloists. The Impostor is Béla’s first standalone concerto composition for banjo and orchestra, commissioned in 2011 by the Nashville Symphony. The program contains three movements: “Infiltration,” the cinematic exchange between banjo and orchestra, a conversation of string storms and delicate dreams; “Integration,” a series of intricate lyrical turns and thrilling eruptions of orchestral colors. And finally, “Truth Revealed,” when austerity gives way to heated complexity in a smoking finale that pays tribute to Gershwin and Scruggs in equal measure. It’s a virtuosic accomplishment, and the hero is the composer himself, who has integrated his banjo into an epic symphonic portrait of darkness and light, painting an exultant sonic world. Béla plays the modernist timetraveler, tangling with the symphony with Baroque muscle and Romantic luminescence. And as always, he does it with astonishing technique. We’ve never seen the likes of this at Telluride. Don’t miss a second of this historic event.
Dave Rawlings Machine 8:30 - 10:00pm
The all-star lineup: David Rawlings. Half of the most popular folk duo of the last two decades, a brilliant guitarist, songwriter, and producer who shifted to center stage for 2009’s celebrated A Friend of a Friend. Gillian Welch. The most-acclaimed folk singer of her generation, a songwriter (covered by everyone from Jimmy Buffett to Miranda Lambert to ZZ Top) and stylist of five tour-de-force albums including the monumental Time (The Revelator), consistently ranked among the greatest records of the ‘00s. JOHN PAUL JONES! The bassist who put the Led in the Zeppelin. The man who swung the Hammer of the Gods. Plant made you sing, Page made you writhe, Bonham made you quake. But it was John Paul Jones who made you dance. He’s here with his mandolin, as in the misty-mountain days of yore, to add a little Bron-Y-Aur stomp to the evening. Willie Watson. For years, a key instrumentalist in Old Crow Medicine Show, now a solo artist whose excellently rustic debut, Folk Singer, came out in May. Paul Kowert. The final cog in the Machine, the Punch Brothers’ bassist, the only thumper with the chops to back the Punchers and with the stones to play bass behind John Paul Jones. Put them together and it’s the coolest old-timey, roundtop-guitartangling, high-harmonizing, heartswelling, cup-hoisting, cowboy-hatrocking, Rock-Hall-of-Fame-representing hootenanny you’ve ever seen.
“Mumford set 2011. Singing to snow-capped peaks. Frostbite. Worth it!”
Steve Winwood
10:30 - Midnight
One of the key singers, songwriters, instrumentalists, and arrangers in the annals of rock and roll, Steve Winwood brings historical magnitude and starpower to the Telluride stage the likes of which we’ve rarely seen. He began as the soul-shouting keyboard prodigy in the Spencer Davis Group, writing and singing the R&B classics “I’m a Man” and “Gimme Some Lovin’” when he was still just a teenager. In 1967, Winwood formed Traffic, the landmark psychedelic jazz-rock band and architect of the jambitious lava-lamp rock that would inspire decades of bands, including the progressive roots music embedded in the Telluride scene. In 2004, Traffic was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1969, Winwood united with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker as Blind Faith, releasing their eponymous platinum-selling hard-psychedelicblues masterpiece. Later, Winwood became a solo superstar with a parade of hits, including #1 singles “Higher Love” and “Roll With It,” ubiquitous smashes of the MTV era. In Telluride, Paul Booth (saxophones, organ), José Neto (guitar), Richard Bailey (drums), and the legendary Café da Silva (percussion) will join Winwood’s famous tenor (he’s ranked #33 on Rolling Stone’s all-time greatest singers list), his axis-shifting Hammond B3 playing, his fierce lead-guitar slinging, and his long list of seminal songs. It’s Friday night in Telluride: We’re back in the high life again.
www.tellurideblues.com
41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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saturday, June 21st
Front Country
11:00 - Noon
Elsewhere in this program, you’ll find the Festivarian Bill of Rights, which includes such inalienable truths as “Festivarians shall have plentiful access to free filtered local drinking water” and “Festivarians shall assume the right to occupy empty tarp spaces until said owners return.” You are also hereby informed that “Festivarians shall assume the right to enter the Band Contest, win that sucker, and thereby land a full TBF set the following year.” Say hello again to Front Country, the Bay Area newgrass sextet who not only destroyed the Telluride competition, but also won the RockyGrass band contest, making them only the third group in history to win at both festivals. It’s a talent-stuffed group (bassist Zach Sharp, guitarist Jacob Groopman, mandolinist Adam Roszkiewicz, banjoist Jordan Klein, fiddler Leif Karlstrom, singer Melody Walker) whose 2013 EP This is Front Country shows off their technical precision and songful flair. The accolades are piling up: Walker won the Songwriting Contest at MerleFest, and Roszkiewicz was nominated for a Grammy for his mandolin quartet. Look for a new Front Country album in the fall. For now, don’t miss a group that has joined the ranks of the Dixie Chicks and Greensky Bluegrass as former TBF band-contest winners. As with those bands, Front Country have the skills and the charisma to charge to the front of the country scene indeed.
36
Peter Rowan’s Twang an’ Groove
featuring Yungchen Lhamo
12:30 - 1:45pm
Peter Rowan is the great American archetype—the rambler, the rolling stone, the spiritual and musical seeker, the shaman, the rebel, the pioneer. In composing his earth opera, Rowan has taken us down medicine trails and midnight moonlights, encountering Navajo and muleskinners and Dust Bowl children and Texican badmen. And he’s done so with a restless search for sounds: bluegrass, reggae, crucial country, blues, rockabilly, high lonesome yodels, and intimate conversations. For the man who wrote “Walls of Time,” Rowan brings eternal properties to Telluride, and his dedication to the Festival he has helped shape and his enthusiasm for finding fresh life in his beloved songs are among our favorite annual celebrations. Joining Peter is special guest Yungchen Lhamo, the world’s foremost Tibetan singer. Currently living in exile in New York City, Lhamo shares the splendor of her culture and spreads understanding about Tibetan struggles through her soothing, sacred songs. Her name translates as “Goddess of Song,” and rightfully so: Often performing entire concerts a cappella in her otherworldly soprano, Lhamo has mesmerized audiences and released two superb albums on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label. Saturday morning is a perfect time to center in the present moment as two deeply spiritual artists meld hearts and hemispheres to offer meditations of tranquil, transcendent beauty.
Punch Brothers
2:15 - 3:30pm
The Big Bang theory proposes that the universe was once so hot, dense, and energy-packed that it exploded, shooting particles outward into space to form separate galaxies. In the modern progressive-bluegrass universe, Punch Brothers are the singularity before the Big Bang. The components: Chris Thile—the morbidly talented mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, already lauded for his meteoric stretch in Nickel Creek and his mindsplintering solo albums, collaborations, and concert appearances. Noam Pikelny—the finest banjoist since Béla Fleck who emerged as a headline-worthy solo star with his recent Noam Pikelny & Friends tour and 2013’s best-selling instrumental album. Gabe Witcher—the fiddle whiz formerly of the Jerry Douglas Band and an in-demand session player who recently arranged and performed the string pieces for HBO’s True Detective. Chris Eldridge—a Tony Rice protégé, former Infamous Stringduster, Aoife O’Donovan’s current guitarist, and duo partner with jazz artist Julian Lage. Paul Kowert—a former double bass student under Edgar Meyer, which led to a stint with Mike Marshall’s Big Trio, the formation of his own HaasKowert-Tice trio, and his current run with Dave Rawlings Machine. How long can this supergroup hold together before it bursts into separate trajectories that form the future of the acoustic music cosmos? No telling. Just catch them as Punch Brothers in Telluride while you can. It’s bound to be a blast.
Yonder Mountain String Band with Jason Carter & Ronnie McCoury
4:00 - 5:30pm
This is Telluride. And that has always meant an equal balance of two festival pillars: a reverence for tradition, paying tribute to the forms and pioneers of the past, and a continual push forward, breaking boundaries and exploring new directions. Straddling those two pillars are Yonder Mountain String Band, pickers of traditional bluegrass instruments who are steeped in the heroes of history but who also embody the intrepid spirit of the adventure, the surprise, the jam. Subsequently, Yonder have recruited a new generation of fans—the Kinfolk—many of whom never knew that they adored bluegrass. This year, after establishing 15 years of their own Telluride traditions (Wednesday’s kick-off show, the Saturday-afternoon mainstage bash), Yonder open up a new chapter with the departure of mandolinist Jeff Austin. So in true Telluride tradition, we give thanks for where we’ve been and for the memories that have united us, and we also delight in the opportunities provided as new paths open up before us. And this from bassist Ben Kaufmann: “Here’s a promise to you all. Yonder will still put on the best party in town.” Kaufmann, guitarist Adam Aijala, and banjoist Dave Johnston will stage three of those shindigs this weekend, and to round out their lineup, they’ll have the pick of the bluegrass litter. After all… this is Telluride.
#7: Micro-Trash – Grab a bag from the Chaco booth and fill it with micro-trash for a daily chance to win free sandals & other prizes.
adventure music new releases
Darol Anger “E-AND’A”
Clarice Assad “Imaginarium”
Mike Marshall & the Maeve Gilchrist Turtle Island Quartet “20 Chandler Street”
Ricardo Silveira & Vinicius Cantuária “RSVC”
Benjamim Taubkin
“Al Qantara/The Bridge”
Adventure Music is pleased to support the
Trust for Public Land
All Adventure Music releases available from CDBaby/Amazon/iTunes
in its efforts to conserve the mountains that frame Telluride’s annual bluegrass festival. Support www.TPL.org
saturday, June 21st
Andrew Bird & The Hands of Glory 6:15 - 7:30pm
Singer, songwriter, violinist, poet, film score composer, and freakishly fantastic whistler (“He went to Julliard for whistling,” Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy recently joked), Andrew Bird has synthesized a range of styles—traditional folk, early jazz, classical, country blues, Gypsy music, electronica, and indie-pop —into a quirky and sophisticated fusion. A musical changeling, the Chicago-based Bird has released a dozen albums since 1997, each with a distinct, idiosyncratic sonic footprint, first with his band Bowl of Fire then riding a wave of popularity and critical admiration with ambitious solo records like 2007’s Armchair Apocrypha and 2009’s Noble Beast, which climbed into Billboard’s Top 15 albums chart. In concert, Bird increased his cult following by becoming a one-man orchestra, playing violin, guitar, and glockenspiel while singing and whistling, looping the layers into a rich stew and deconstructing his own songs into original arrangements each night. More recently, Bird’s music has grown increasingly Telluridian and band-minded, gathering friends in an old barn in Illinois to record 2012’s Break It Yourself (Top 10 in the US), finding a comfort zone in more organic Americana forms. Things got even woodsier with Hands of Glory, on which Bird’s new acoustic combo gathered around a single microphone for a lovely set of stately, dusky folk. To Telluride, Bird brings the Hands of Glory, featuring bassist Alan Hampton, drummer Kevin O’Donnell, pedal-steel player Eric Heywood, and a very special guest in the sensational Tift Merritt, one of roots music’s most cherished singer-songwriters who herself commanded this stage in 2008.
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Sam Bush Band 8:00 - 10:00pm
How many of you have been at the Festival all four days? How about for 40 consecutive years? If you still have your hand up, your name is Sam Bush. And when that hand comes down across the strings of “Hoss,” his 1937 Gibson F5, it’s the chop heard ‘round the world. Listen to the mandolin reign. This weekend we celebrate 40 years of Slammin’ Sammy at Telluride. 40 years of his tenacious musical explorations, of his lacerating mandolin and fiddle playing, of his virtuosic improvisations, of his shaggy-haired playfulness, of his bobbing and marching stage maneuvers, of his embodiment of the Telluride spirit. Back in ‘74, Sam was a teenage national fiddle champion, the Lean Machine from Bowling Green, who formed New Grass Revival, a supernova that launched a musical and cultural revolution. From the hippified ‘70s to the electrified ‘80s, New Grass Revival led the history-making charge that found its annual rallying point here in Telluride, and, unfailingly, it was Sam Bush at the tip of the spear. Since then, Sam has remained our most thrilling instrumentalist and live performer, and at TBF, he’s everyone’s bucket-list jam guest, and Sam’s original songs have captured the Telluride Transcendentalism that continues to embody our better natures. Always with Bridal-Veil-high expectations among artists and audiences, Sam has stepped up and delivered, set after set, for 40 years at Telluride. An ageless, moon-howling, Cardinals-loving, barndance-fiddling, electric-mandolin-flamethrowing newgrass tornado, Sam is an inspiration to everyone who steps on the Shellman Stage. Those artists—past, present, and future—form circles around Sam, ever paying tribute to the King of Telluride.
“Climbing to Bridal Veil Falls. Music under the stars.”
Leftover Salmon featuring Bill Payne
10:30 - Midnight
Did you hear the one about the lovable bluegrass bear who stumbles into a bar? That was 25 years ago in Boulder, Colorado, when the bear, Vince, met a mandolin-mauling coyote named Drew, and the two married their fortunes together. That meant buying an old school bus and traveling the country playing rip-roaring bluegrass with electric instruments and drums, thereby kickstarting a jamgrass movement that gave rise to a million wayward Deadheads, road-trippers, banjo nuts, and anyone else who caught the most relentlessly fun, energetic, and well-played polyethnic Cajun slamgrass party on the planet. There have been a few bends in the river. We’ll never forget founding banjo stud Mark Vann, whom we lost in 2002, and the rhythm section has followed the evolutionary model. But the bear and coyote remain, still smoking, still dedicated to throwing the preeminent hotand-loud whiskey-down-your-pants rockgrass dance Festivaaaaal, during which the division between stage and tarps disappears. Indeed, no Telluride band has exemplified the seamless blending of artist and Festivarian more than Leftover Salmon. And good news: Joining banjo bazooka Andy Thorn, telepathic bassist Greg Garrison, and octopus-armed new drummer Alwyn Robinson will be Bill Payne, legendary piano picker and songwriter for Little Feat and one of the few cats with the chops to hang with two hours of Saturday-night Salmon jammin’. (By the way, if someone wakes you up by leading a rowdy singalong parade of classic-rock and Christmas songs through the campground at 3 o’clock in the morning? Trust me: It’s the bear.)
9th Annual • September 12-14, 2014 Pepsi Amphitheater * Ft. Tuthill County Park Flagstaff, Arizona
PETER ROWAN’S BLUEGRASS BAND TRAVELIN’ MCCOURYS with special guest BRYAN SUTTON
CLAIRE LYNCH BAND TOWN MOUNTAIN NEW REELTIME TRAVELERS
THE RAILSPLITTERS • THE SONORAN DOGS RUN BOY RUN • BURNETT FAMILY BLUEGRASS AND MORE!
kidzone • camping • jamming workshops • band contest
www.pickininthepines.org
HOT RIZE
First studio release in 25 years!
Watch for the new album coming in September from Pete, Nick, Tim and Bryan
to download a free track go to www.hotrize.com/freetrack 41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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sunday, June 22nd
Dailey & Vincent
10:00 - 11:00am
After three nights of hard Festivating, the Sunday-go-to-meeting set is a time to give your soul a rubdown and to change the oil in your crown chakra. Over the years, that’s meant everything from R&B rave-ups to Father’s Day story time to Tibetan-monk nose whistling. To start our next quadradecade, though, we’re bringing Sunday morning back home—traditional bluegrass-gospel style. And for that we turn to the duo that bangs out topshelf country-church bluegrass and a cappella quartet gospel that, brother, make the rafters ring. For the last few years, Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent have been selling their CDs (a Statler Brothers tribute, a gospel collection) at Cracker Barrel restaurants to a clientele whose meat and potatoes are these fellers’ Ryman-era harmonies and tight, crisp bluegrass, served up in apple-pie order. But can these boys bring it? Jesus Christ, yes. Check out the wigflippingly fast cuts from last year’s Brothers of the Highway or 2009’s Brothers From Different Mothers, a title that fits given D&V’s Louvinsstyle harmony perfection, which indeed seems heaven-ordained. On Sunday, Jamie and Darrin will sing selections from 2012’s Grammy-nominated The Gospel Side of Dailey and Vincent, backed by Christian Davis (guitar), Jeff Parker (mandolin), B.J. Cherryholmes (fiddle), and Jessie Baker (banjo). The pick-‘n’-praise starts at 10 sharp. And would it kill you to wear something nice?
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Béla Fleck
& Brooklyn Rider
Nicki Bluhm
& the Gramblers
11:30 - 12:45pm
1:15 - 2:30pm
For over three decades, Béla Fleck has annually invigorated, educated, and challenged Telluride audiences by multiplying the possibilities of the banjo, continually updating the modern history of the instrument, ingeniously and gracefully integrating those five strings into any genre—bluegrass, rock, jazz, world, classical—and bringing the world’s greatest musicians to Telluride as collaborators. Due to his range, ambition, and perpetual excellence, Béla, at 30 Grammy nominations (and 15 wins), has been nominated in more separate categories than anyone else in Grammy history. For Telluride this year, Béla showcases his recent achievements in classical music with Friday’s Colorado Symphony Orchestra performance and Sunday’s appearance with Brooklyn Rider. A string quartet of Juilliard- and Curtis-trained young guns, Brooklyn Rider—violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords, and cellist Eric Jacobsen— have been reinvigorating the string scene with their consummate yet adventurous playing and by teaming up with artists outside the classical realm. Consequently, they’ve attracted fans from both classical and rock circles, a versatile edge that inspired Béla to compose a concerto—“Night Flight Over Water”—specifically to play with Brooklyn Rider. It’s a swirling, rhythmic, enchanting piece, and look for Sunday’s engagement to conjure up additional delights as Béla and the Rider are guaranteed to inspire each other, blend their matchless talents, and make astounding musical magic.
Bay Area singer-songwriter Nicki Bluhm and her slick-picking band the Gramblers take their musical and fashion cues from ‘70s sweet-countrylovin’ and trucker-craze-era icons, but Nicki and her talent-rich husband Tim have been at it long enough that their musical alacrity on a variety of styles is refined and authentic. As unapologetically thrown-back as they are, their gone-viral covers (recorded while cruising down the highway in a van), reveal a band with a delightful range of influences and the ability to play them all, a versatility that complements darling Nicki’s melodic, free-spirited songwriting. Since her debut album, 2008’s Toby’s Song, Bluhm has specialized in California folk-rock, mellow waterbed soul, and bell-bottomed Americana, punctuated with buttery harmonies, Tim’s golden-coast keyboards, and Nicki’s summer-breeze vocals. 2011 brought the universally praised Driftwood (featuring live staples “Jetplane” and “Kill You to Call”), and last year’s breakthrough self-titled album, featuring lead single “Little Too Late,” which launched Nicki and the boys into the national spotlight. On Sunday, look for the Bluhms, along with Deren Ney (lead guitar), Dave Mulligan (guitar/vocals), Steve Adams (bass), and Mike Curry (drums), to offer timeless treasures, synthesizing Laurel Canyon cool, The Band, and Fleetwood Mac with your favorite Carter-era country-pop nostalgia—a dash of Juice Newton, a shake of Linda Ronstadt, and a bushel of denim-and-sunburn fun. Everybody Gramble!
#8: Knowledge – Take the energy quiz at the Renewable Choice Energy booth in Greentown
Jerry Douglas presents The Earls of Leicester
3:00 - 4:15pm
Thank you, friends and neighbors. You’re all really wonderful. Hey, I know some of the newer bluegrass here sounds more like that rockand-roll boogly-woogly. If Lester Flatt were in Telluride, he’d play his classic “I Can’t Tell the Boys From the Girls.” So today, buddy, we’re gonna keep it country…with a tribute to Flatt and Scruggs. Filling in for Uncle Josh is a fella who plays the fire out of the dobro. Put your hands together for Jerry Douglas! Next, we’d like to bring out the old boy who plays the mandolin. You’ve heard about people that don’t know anything? This guy don’t even suspect nothing. How about a nice round of applause for Tim O’Brien! Singing and playing the flattop is a fella that just started shaving this week. (He cut both legs.) Please welcome to the stage Shawn Camp! We’re gonna turn this next guy loose on the fiddle. His daddy, Paul, played for Flatt & Scruggs in the ‘50s and ‘60s. That’s Johnny Warren! Make him feel at home. On those Scruggs breaks, here’s the banjo-playingest fella you’ll ever see. How about a nice Telluride welcome for Charlie Cushman! (If you think you could use him, you can take him home with you.) And finally back on the bass, here’s ol’ leatherbritches himself. It takes him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes. Please make welcome to the stage, Barry Bales! They’ll be out here pickin’ and singin’ for you on Sunday. Y’all come, hear?
Bryan Sutton
Into My Own PERFORMING SUNDAY
Sam Bush
Sarah Jarosz
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson
Build Me Up From Bones
Black Prairie Fortune
Nickel Creek
Circles Around Me PERFORMING THURSDAY PERFORMING SATURDAY & SUNDAY
Wreck & Ruin
sugarhillrecords.com
Dirk Powell
Walking Through Clay
41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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sunday, June 22nd
Greensky Bluegrass
Ray Lamontagne
With 30 mainstage spots to fill every year, TBF loves to welcome new musical voices. But we invite a few truly special artists to come back year after year. Since winning the TBF band contest in 2006, Greensky Bluegrass have been back five times, including each of the last three, a TBF hat trick that puts them in rarified air. And each year, they come with new, vigorous momentum as a jam nation favorite who can, and does, play anything, tearing into a live show overflowing with primetime picking, peak moments, and plenty of surprises. These Kalamazoo killers have torn up the Shellman, provoking dust-storms of twirling, jigging, and advanced hulahooping, and they’ve slayed at sweaty, heavily-rejoiced NightGrass shows. The fever has spread, as they’ve ascended to big-stage status at megafestivals like Bonnaroo and New Orleans Jazz Festival and have recently played full sets with Sam Bush himself. (You don’t suppose Sam will show up with his fiddle on Sunday, do you?) But despite GSBG’s propensity for beard-inthe-bongwater jam excursions—courtesy of the bullet-train banjo of Michael Arlen Bont, the quicksilver mandolin of Paul Hoffman, the trout-in-a-blender guitar of Dave Bruzza, the liquid-steel dobro of Anders Beck, and the jackrabbit bass of Mike Devol—the quintet has been equally praised for their soulful original songs, available on 2011’s hook-filled Handguns and the hotly anticipated new studio album If Sorrows Swim, coming in September. Thinking about Monday yet? Forget it. Greensky are here to take you away with an adrenalinecharged final-night throwdown.
Filtering through Ray LaMontagne’s barrel-aged voice is the history of Laurel Canyon folk-rock, Tupelo-honey blues, cigarette-machine country, Stax-era soul, and ‘60s psychedelia. Since arriving in 2004 with his debut album Trouble and its goosebump-raising title track, LaMontagne has, for legions of music lovers, carried the torch for authentically graceful and organic American roots songwriting and record making. Ray has done it the old-fashioned way, writing and arranging timelessly gorgeous music, opening himself up to whichever direction the muses take him, living quietly and simply, choosing not to make music videos, and performing his beautiful songs on the road for audiences who never forget that hearttwisting experience. One of the most popular singer-songwriters of the last decade, LaMontagne has continually evolved, impressing more and more fans and critics with 2006’s lovely Till the Sun Turns Black, 2008’s Gossip in the Grain (No. 3 on the Billboard albums chart), and 2010’s God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise (the Grammy winner for Best Contemporary Folk Album; “Beg Steal or Borrow” was nominated for Song of the Year). Now, with his kaleidoscopic new album Supernova, Ray goes further into the mystic. Produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, Supernova is another smash, an exquisite sunshower of California psych-folk and throwback sonic swirl, melding Ray’s hazy voice into some of his finest songwriting to date. We’re thrilled to finally welcome an artist who has long been at the top of our wishlist, the perfect singer to help cap a long weekend of radiant beauty in the valley.
4:45 - 6:00pm
6:30 - 8:00pm
Telluride House Band
featuring Sam, Béla, Jerry, Edgar, Bryan & Stuart with special guests Alison Krauss & Del McCoury
8:45 - 10:45pm
The House Band closed last year’s 40th Anniversary with Tim O’Brien leading a heartwarming version of John Hartford’s “Gentle on My Mind.” This year, we likewise bring together essential TBF elements— memory, love, rejuvenation, the annual celebration that merges friendship and music, Festivarian and artist, mountain and valley, sun and moon. Look around you. All smiles, right? Everyone here recognizes that this weekend we’re attending the single coolest party on the planet. Moreover, we’re aware that the artists who currently define TBF represent a Golden Age, the hurricane-riffing chief gods of the Telluride pantheon, the Superpickers whose talents are unrivaled in the history of this music. They play just once a year. Sam “Burnin’” Bush, the Plato of the Plectrum. Béla Fleck, the Fellini of the Five, the Ruler of the Roll. Thunder Thumb Jerry Douglas, the Lord of the Lap Steel. Edgar Meyer, His Holiness of the Half Step, the Timing Titan From Tulsa. Stuart Duncan, da Vinci of da Violin, serving up Reign Bow Stu. And Bryan Sutton, the Prince of Pentatonics, the Head Honcho of the Hammer-On. And as if that weren’t enough, these masters will be joined by the two greatest bluegrass singers of their respective generations: the incomparable Alison Krauss, who at 27 wins is the most-awarded living recipient in Grammy history, and the iconic Del McCoury, who has defined bluegrass authenticity for over 50 years. These two legends will help bring the 41st TBF to an emotional, exuberant finale. Festivarian Nation, this is your time. And these are the best of times.
All artist bios written by Steve Leftridge, a St. Louis-based writer, teacher, and musician who has written for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, PopMatters, and No Depression and has attended TBF since 1997.
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“Last year was my first. Now I am a lifer.”
November 7th—9th, 2014 d Richard Thompson d Ellis with Moors and McCumber d John Fullbright d Kevin Welch d Kim Richey d Ray Bonneville d Kris Delmhorst d Hardin Burns d Birds of Chicago d Taarka d Shook Twins d Richard Tyler Epperson Festival Pass: $130 • Single Venue Pass: $40 Early Bird 10% Discount through July 2, 2014 435-259-3198 • MoabFolkFestival.com
41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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The sun may set and the temperatures may drop, but the music has just begun... The NightGrass series makes the most of the shortest nights of the year. Board the Festivarian-filled gondola to Mountain Village on Wednesday afternoon for the free outdoor FirstGrass Concert in Sunset Plaza featuring Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen and The Lone Bellow. Then wander over to the Telluride Conference Center for Yonder Mountain String Band’s sold-out 13th Annual Kick-Off Party.
Wednesday June 18
Free FirstGrass Concert: Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen and The Lone Bellow Sunset Plaza, Mountain Village 5-8pm • All-Ages Free!
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Leftover Salmon Sheridan Opera House 11pm show Ages 21+* Sold-out!
Yonder Mountain String Band
Tim O'Brien & Darrell Scott Sheridan Opera House 11pm show Ages 21+* Sold-out!
Punch Brothers Sheridan Opera House 10:30pm show Ages 21+* Sold-out!
June 19
Yonder Mountain String Band
Telluride Conference Center 9pm show All-Ages Sold-out!
Jason Isbell with The Lone Bellow Palm Theatre 10:30pm show Ages 21+ Sold-out!
with special guests Jason Carter & Ronnie McCoury
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All NightGrass tickets are completely sold-out. Due to booming demand, this year (for the first time) we put all NightGrass tickets onsale via a single online lottery in early April. As always, we welcome your comments on this new process and the future of NightGrass ticketing.
Thursday
Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen with Front Country Fly Me to the Moon Saloon 11pm show Ages 21+ Sold-Out!
13th Annual Bluegrass Kick-Off Party with...
For the next few nights, sold-out shows are held indoors in Telluride—at the centrally-located Sheridan Opera House and Fly Me to the Moon Saloon, and at the state-of-the-art Palm Theatre inside Telluride High School on the west end of Colorado Avenue.
June 20
with special guests Jason Carter & Ronnie McCoury
Sheridan Opera House 11pm show Ages 21+* Sold-out! Aoife O'Donovan and Chatham County Line Fly Me to the Moon Saloon 11pm show Ages 21+ Sold-out! Greensky Bluegrass Palm Theatre 11pm show Ages 21+ Sold-out!
June 21
Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers with Willie Watson Fly Me to the Moon Saloon 11pm show Ages 21+ Sold-out! Del McCoury's 75th Birthday Extravaganza Palm Theatre 11pm show Ages 21+ Sold-out!
#9: Stories – Complete a camper survey at the Sustainable Festivation booth
June 22
* unless accompanied by parent
Another Peek Inside Forty Years of Festivation Check out the complete book at the Country Store or learn more at www.bluegrass.com/book
telluride music company ■ Acoustic & Electric
Stringed Instruments
■ Extensive Selection of
Vintage & Used Instruments
■ Lessons & Stringed
Instrument Repair
■ C.F. Martin, Collings & Godin
Roland & Boss Products ■ Music CDs, DVDs & Books
970-728-9592 201 e. colorado ave. www.telluridemusic.com
41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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Virtual Tarp
Throw down your virtual tarp year-round, commune with your fellow Festivarians, and be the first to hear about lineups, tickets, and giveaways…
festivarian.com • facebook.com/planetbluegrass
Finger pickin’ good! We are the largest dispensary in town conveniently located next to Elks Park, with the best selection of flowers, glass, accessories and apparel.
Open Tuesday - Sunday 10-6 For more info call 970.728.1834 www.alpinewellness.co ( 300 W. Colorado Ave. just above Maggie’s )
Online Survey
41 years in and we’re more committed than ever to creating the greatest Festival on the planet. We’re eager to hear about your Festival experience. Complete our 5-minute online survey and you’ll be entered to win a pair of passes to the 42nd Annual next June.
www.bluegrass.com/tbfsurvey
The Laundromat
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“Snow on the pines and bringing my daughter to her first Telluride.”
Sustainable Festivation & This Festival Program
FSC
This year’s program and pocket schedule are printed on FSC-certified Neenah Conservation 80# Cover and 70# Text paper at OneTouchPoint-Lange, an FSC-certified printer in Denver.
Placeholder
By using this 100% post-consumer recycled fiber made with 100% renewable energy, we saved 21,978 pounds of wood, 32,095 gallons of water, 6,664 pounds of carbon emissions, and 1,949 pounds of solid waste. Help extend the life of this program by sharing it with your tarpmates, protecting it as a lasting souvenir, or recycling it in the specially marked bins by the Festival exit.
Steep Canyon Rangers + Head for the Hills 07.27
presents
“True bluegrass, when done well, is a thing
of art and the Steep Canyon Rangers are the genre’s current Rembrandt.” Examiner.com
For tickets & complete line up, visit:
concer ts.botanicgardens.org The 16th Annual
Crestone, Colorado
Friday, August 1st
Paper Bird
Saturday, August 2nd
Ruthie Foster Sunday, August 3rd
Charles Neville with Youssoupha Sidibe & The Mystic Rhythms
Youth r & Seneios Pric er 12 nd Kids u EE! FR
25 Acts on 2 Stages
Multi Genre Y Multi Cultural
International Cuisine Y Colorado Libations Y Camping Y Vendors Y Family Fun
www.crestfest.org 855-85-MUSIC Y 719-256-4533
41st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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Dates to Remember Telluride Bluegrass June 18-21, 2015 June 16-19, 2016 June 15-18, 2017
Planet Bluegrass would like to thank our Lodging Partners
RockyGrass Academy July 20-24, 2014 July 19-23, 2015
RockyGrass
July 25-27, 2014 July 24-26, 2015
The Song School August 10-14, 2014 August 9-13, 2015
Rocky Mountain Folks Festival August 15-17, 2014 August 14-16, 2015
Kinfolk Celebration September 19-20, 2014
Lotteries for Town Park and Warner Field camping begin in November. All other 2015 Telluride Bluegrass tickets go on sale Friday, December 5. Visit Bluegrass.com beginning in October for more details.
Reserve your 2015 lodging now at
telluRiDebluegrass.com/loDging
156 DEF Society Drive Open Daily 970-728-5094 telluridebrewingco.com
Stop by Lawson Hill & buy some schwag, take home some cans or Sample Some of the finest beers The Telluride Valley has to offer!
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#10: Share – Share sustainable festivation inspiration by writing a postcard at the New Belgium booth
welcome to
TELLURIDE BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL
win this bike
VISIT THE NEW BELGIUM TENT EACH DAY STARTING AT 10:30AM to find out the daily challenge. Complete the challenge to collect one stamp per person, per day. ONE STAMP = ONE TICKET FOR CHANCE TO WIN THE BIKE! First person to complete the challenge each day gets 20 TICKETS! DRAWING ON SUNDAY AT 2:00PM Must be on festival grounds to win! We will call you. If you don’t answer, we won’t leave a message and will call the next person. Keep your phone charged and ready.