As Telluride’s ancient tones rise up into the box canyon from the fanciful 1920’s phonograph horns and Atwater Kent speakers, we invite you to take a deep breath, listen and sing, and revel in the magic of this moment together in one of the most magnificent places on earth. When we received the Pollstar Award for “Music Festival of the Year” last February—the first bluegrass festival to earn this recognition—we accepted on behalf of this special community: the artists, volunteers, staff, and thousands of Festivarians who come together to create festival magic every Summer Solstice here in Telluride. While you’re here, please remember to tread lightly on this fragile environment. Campers, enjoy newly-built free filtered water stations in each campground. But please be mindful of your water use. You may even glimpse a Green Goddess flouncing through your campsite sharing stories of best camping practices. As Sustainable Festivarians, we hope you enjoy this year’s Eco-Puzzle crossword inside the program. Fill in the answers on the pocket schedule for a chance to win a deluxe camping package from our newest partner, Kelty. Thanks to our long-term partners at Sunsense Solar, along with a donation from Keen, we’re proud to be powering our year-round offices in Lyons using solar panels at the Planet Bluegrass Ranch. As you soak in the inspiration from your tarp, give some creative thought to what our Yinjo-Yangdolin means to you—moments when opposites create balance and harmony at the Festival. Read examples from Festivarians in
Festival Director: Craig Ferguson Assistant Festival Director: 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 & Zach Tucker Sustainable Festivation Supervisors: Kris Holstrom, Walter Wright & Jack DeBell Festival Trash Crew: Andy Berger Chief of Security: John Cohn Security Supervisor: Gary Hickox Crowd Management: Damion Alexander, Josh Blakeman, Jake Cohn, Frank Hensen, Heather Platt, Joe Piche, Kate Redmond & Artie Sowinski Customs Gate Supervisors: Franny Cohn, Debby Guarino, Ruth Hensen, Tina Tharp & Erin Thompson TP Camp Gate Supervisors: Marilyn Branch & Larry Stewart Pedestrian Bridge Supervisor: Calvin Poon
Backstage Security Supervisor: Tara Doran Pit Master: Hunt Worth Overnight Security: Shawn Williams, Gary Broughall & Drew Meeker 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 & Colten Rogers Lawson Hill Campground Hosts: Kathleen Morgan, Amy VanDerBosch, Michelle Foote & Jonny Dobbs Mary E Campground Hosts: Aaron Cooklin, James Addoms, Davis Shamburger & William Alex Wissing Valley E-Team Supervisor: Steve Green Parking Supervisor: Dennis Green Vehicle Gate Supervisors: Kristin Milord, Ed Janus, Ryan Patrick & Mary Alice Wagner Backstage Hospitality/Artist Supervisor: Julie Rakotz Aijala Backstage Hospitality: Lauren Lortie, Laurie Harper, Rick Morris & Traver Albair
Backstage Catering Supervisor: Markus Chesla Artist Transportation Supervisors: Ed Kean & Jeremy Matsen Box Office Supervisors: Laura Larson, Jasmine Lok, Geoff Wickersham, Nichole Elmore & Bill Carlson Media Relations: Brian Eyster Concessions Supervisors: Jill Brzezicki & James Thomas Communications Supervisors: Luci Reeve & Sandy McLaughlin 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 & Teresa Walter Contest Supervisor: Charlie Bailey Elks Park Workshop Supervisors: Edee Gail & BJ Suter Elks Park Workshop Sound: Dean Rolley & Tom Fortier Elks Park Workshop Transportation: Tom & Nancy Richards Stage Design: Kahlie Pinello Park Beautification: Claudia Kean
the footers of this program and share your own on the back of the Eco-Puzzle page of the pocket schedule. Enjoy a pint of New Belgium Brewing’s light and refreshing Summer Bliss (only available on Planet Bluegrass). Slather on the sunscreen. Go for a hike or a bike. Drink plenty of free locally filtered water. Enjoy a spot on an empty tarp until its owners return. And most of all, savor the inspiration and friendships born of this magical place. On behalf of our hundreds of staff and volunteers, we’re so glad you’re here.
Love, The Folks on Planet Bluegrass
Libation Station Supervisor: Elizabeth Howe NightGrass Supervisor: Lindsey Dubey 2015 Poster Artist: Willy Matthews Master of Ceremonies: Chris Daniels
Stage Crew
Stage Manager: Skip Kent FOH Engineer: Tom Holmes Monitor Engineer: Mike Bove Rigging/Stage: John Setser FOH/Stage: Justin Milner Lighting Director: Dave Hall Lights: Jim Hurst Audio: Mark Miceli Patch/Stage: Craig Rovello Monitors/Stage: Brent Healy Stage Lead: Mark Dennis Stage: Danny Lane, Rhett Snyder & Nick Allard Labor/Spots: Tim Territo Spots: Tom Worth 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, Steve Leftridge, John Lehndorff, Julia Stephens, Steve Szymanski Advertising: Dustin Boyd Photography: Benko Photographics Historic Photos: John Arnold, Arthur Siegel & Sam Siegel, Steven Spinder Photography Printing: Matt Coburn at OneTouchPoint Cover Image: Willy Matthews
Thanks To our Festival Partners
New Belgium Brewing, Renewable Choice Energy, Eco-Products, Klean Kanteen, Keen Footwear, Kelty, Telluride Alpine Lodging, Shanti Guitars, Gibson Musical Instruments, Martin Guitars, D’Addario Strings, Nechville Banjos, Leave No Trace Center For Outdoor Ethics, Sunsense Solar, EcoAction Partners, Red Bird, Allegro Coffee, and Eldorado Natural Spring Water
Planet Bluegrass Year-round Staff
President: Craig Ferguson Senior Vice-President: Steve Szymanski Vice-President of Operations: Shauna Nashak Vice-President 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 Special Events Coordinator: Julie Rakotz Aijala
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, Lawson Hill Property Owners and the Telluride School District
Festivarians share their own Yinjo-Yangdolin moments throughout the program…
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YEARS OF SUSTAINABLE FESTIVATION
Planet Bluegrass + Renewable Choice Making Environmental Responsibility a Priority at Telluride
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 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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Ears popping on the drive up, boots stomping for the boogie down! –Anni Leff
“[Author Pastor Mustard’s] synapses explode like overheated popcorn. His signature banter is nonstop, displaying an off-beat, wry wit reminiscent of Tom Robbins.” –Telluride Inside...and Out
“A gonzo-style look at a community brimming with creativity, energy, and a frontier spirit.” –Relix Magazine “Every single contributor reiterates the same thing: the sacredness of these four short days. It’s impossible to capture what happens here. But at least this written capsule can remind us of what we love for those other 361 days.” –The Bluegrass Situation
“Not many music festivals can boast such loyalty, and not many books can capture such devotion so well.” –Boulder Weekly
“216 pages of pure bliss… The photographs are so good that those of us who have been there are thrown back in time to those moments on the tarp as we wondered whether life could get any better than this.” –No Depression
Featuring more than 350 photos; full-page reproductions of each poster; essays by Sam Bush, Chris Thile, Béla Fleck, Tim O’Brien, and dozens of others; and year-by-year accounts by Pastor Mustard.
This year’s poster marries the simple idea of bringing music to the natural canyon of Telluride. As always, I wanted an image which was new and different from anything in the past, with a whole new palette. I gathered some of the old speakers from my collection and positioned them above the falls to fill the valley with the chimes of bluegrass. The poster is square. I have always loved that square shape, since my early days of designing album covers. It seems so long ago that I did work for New Grass, the Dillards, Doc Watson, Pete Rowan, Béla Fleck, John Hartford and Hot Rize!
It ’s always a pleasure!
Willy Matthews
Since painting his first Telluride Bluegrass poster in 1984, Colorado artist Willy Matthews has helped shape the visual aesthetic of the Festival. A major exhibition of his work was featured this spring at the Denver Art Museum; he is the subject of the new documentary film William Matthews: Drawn to Paint.
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imitation is the highest form of flattery
Martin D-35 turns 50
D-35 Brazilian 50th Anniversary
martinguitar.com
The cascading waterfalls and jagged peaks of Telluride are as essential to Telluride Bluegrass as Sam Bush and Tim O’Brien. So thirteen 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. Over the years our GreenTeam has grown to encompass all of Festivarian Nation, as the terms “sustainable” and “Festivarian” have become synonymous. In the spirit of Festivation, this year we’ve created a fun Eco-Puzzle to highlight the key aspects of Sustainable Festivation. The answers to all these puzzle questions are available around the Festival: on our new Sustainable Festivation posters, from our partners in Greentown, and even in articles inside this program. Using the questions below, fill in the puzzle answers on the back of the pocket schedule and deposit your completed card in one of the boxes in Greentown. Watch for the grand prize drawing—for a deluxe camping package from Kelty—on the main stage at 5:15pm on Sunday. You need not be present to win.
Eco-Puzzle Questions ACROSS: 4. To neutralize Festivarian travel, Planet Bluegrass purchases carbon offsets that mitigate what greenhouse gas? 6. Your Festivarian ________ includes resusable containers, utensils and bags. 10. The first step in Sustainable Festivation is being ________ for your actions.
DOWN: 1. The efforts taken by Planet Bluegrass to offset our carbon footprint are currently ________. 2. Telluride just finished a $20 million water collection and treatment system at the 300-ft. deep ________ Lake above Bridal Veil Falls. 3. What is the largest US renewable energy source? 5. ________ campers recycled and composted 50% of their waste in 2014.
13. Reducing waste is just as important as ______ waste.
7. Enter the Campsite Challenge at the Leave No Trace booth in ________.
14. 215 ________ could be powered with New Belgium’s solar array in Fort Collins.
8. Festivarians drank over twelve ________ gallons of water at the water station last year.
15. The Sunsense booth in Greentown offers free ________ charging in the festival grounds.
9. Win free sandals at the Keen booth by being the first two Festivarians to pick up a quart baggie of ________ each day.
Eco-Puzzle Grand Prize
Kelty camping package including a Como 4-person tent, 2 Redwing 44/40 backpacks and $1000 in Kelty Cash
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11. Thanks to your efforts, 70% of all waste inside the Festival was diverted from the ________ in 2014. 12. What item available at the Sustainable Festivation booth can be used as a reusable utensil?
4 dirty days of Soul Cleansing –Nate Grant
The SJ-200
Bob Dylan Player’s edition
T
his premier signature model is based on Bob Dylan’s personal custom Gibson super jumbo guitar. Constructed with Adirondack red spruce and hand-selected AAA flamed maple. The headstock features the artist’s eye logo with a Bella Voce mother-of-pearl inlay on the fret board. Double pick guards feature an engraved design, with beautiful mother-of-pearl dot inlay. This vintage-style model comes equipped with an LR Baggs™ Anthem pickup.
gibson.com
Thanks to your thirst for New Belgium Beer—along with our new selection of Bloody Marys, Moscow Mules, Margaritas, and other cocktails—last year we donated $80,000 to local Telluride charities including: Telluride Volunteer Fire Department, Telluride Rotary Club, One to One Mentoring, KOTO, Angel Baskets, and the San Miguel Resource Center. Again this year, the tips you leave for our friendly beer booth volunteers will support a different non-profit each day:
KOTO
Thursday
Leave No Trace
Center For Outdoor Ethics
Friday
One to One Mentoring Saturday Raise your reusable cup high! Thanks for supporting the Telluride community.
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Telluride Rotary Club Sunday
I laughed so much I began to cry, I danced with the moon under the sky –Miki Leppert
Do you ever wonder where the best stories come from? Taking a few zags from the beaten path when everyone else chooses to zig. New Belgium loves swapping stories over a couple Fat Tires, and this summer we’re rolling down life’s less-traveled avenues with films from inside the brewery and across the country. Join us online as we ride along with Slow Rollers in Detroit, underground bike parks in Kentucky and vinyl record cutters in Denver. Then we’ll tour you through the brewery with our coworkers leading the way to reveal how a few turns from the norm can lead to a culture of smart sustainability. We also want to share your stories! Show us who’s #zagging in your life, join the digital beer banter happening on all our social channels, or gather in person at one of our fun events when we roll into town. From blockbuster giveaways like a trip to Belgium and a 2015 custom cruiser, to on-premise events like Zag Film Premieres and Rolle Bolle pick-up games, this summer it’s going to be a fun ride.
Come find us at the New Belgium space in Greentown and learn more. Be sure to ask how you can get your chance at winning a 2015 New Belgium cruiser bike each day of the festival too!
Zag on,
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 Bliss. Lots of sampling opportunities for your bluegrass weekend in the sun. Enjoy!
EMPLOYEE OWNED FORT COLLINS, COLORADO
Fat Tire
Named in honor of our cofounder’s bike trip through Europe, Fat Tire Amber Ale marks a turning point in the young electrical engineer’s home brewing. Belgian beers use a far 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, biscuitlike malt flavors coasting in equilibrium with hoppy freshness. Fat Tire: Pairs well with people.
Ranger IPA
Bring out the hops with Ranger IPA! This clear amber India Pale Ale 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 heavier-bodied heffe-weizens. Add a friend and a slice of orange for a delicious diversion any time of year.
Slow Ride
Kicking back and relaxing with a session beer requires little more than a couch, some free time, and a few pals. Slow Ride Session IPA is up for this easy-going challenge, starting with a pour of sheened gold and plenty of fluffy, white foam. A blend of eight hop varieties, led by exotic Mosaic and Nelson Sauvin, twist together brilliant tropical scents of melon, peach, lime and grapefruit for a vividly fruity aroma. The flavor mirrors the aroma, while balancing a malty-sweet yet clean start and hoppy bitterness in the back. Light bodied and extra quaffable, this sessionable India Pale Ale brings the finish line to you.
Summer Bliss
Brewed specially for the Planet Bluegrass festivals, this South German-style lager (which was available nationwide last summer as Summer Helles) pours a brilliant gold, with soft, white foam. The aroma is fresh grains and honey with a spicyherbal 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. Finishing crisp and dry, Summer Bliss is sure to refresh even the thirstiest Festivarian ready to drink in the festival season.
42nd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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By Charlotte Bell
Sometimes you just can’t get enough of a good thing. After a day of being wowed, surprised, touched and blissed out by the vast and varied array of musical artistry on Telluride’s main stage, what’s on tap for the end of the evening? More music, of course! At least that’s the prescription for many Festivarians and musicians. That’s where NightGrass comes in. While NightGrass became an official fullfledged concert series only a few years ago, the tradition of after-hours jam sessions is almost as old as the Festival itself. This year, for the first time since 1991, a whole new generation—maybe several generations—of Festivarians will get to meet the guy who came up with the idea for after-hours jams way back in 1981. And longtime Festivarians will get to reconnect with an old friend who not only conceived of the after-hours jams, but also closed the Festival’s Friday night main stage festivities from 1983
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Bluegrass under big sky –Bowiegal
to 1991. This year, the founder of the after-hours jam, Chris Daniels, will return to step into the role of main stage emcee. Chris first came to Telluride to perform in 1975, the same year that Sam Bush and John Cowan brought their groundbreaking bluegrass fusion quartet, New Grass Revival (NGR), to the Festival for the first time. Chris sang and played guitar, banjo and mandolin with his band, Magic Music, which he says was an acoustic cross between NGR and the British Isles band Pentangle.
“They were even bigger hippies than we were. They brought band members’ wives and kids. They might have even brought a goat.” True to the era, Chris traveled to Telluride in the ’56 Ford school bus that also served as his home at the time. Sam says, “They were even bigger hippies than we were. They brought band members’ wives and kids. They might have even brought a goat.” That 1975 meeting between Chris and Sam turned into a lifelong friendship. “Sam’s become a mentor to me since that first year,” says Chris. “We met that first year and I was mesmerized by his playing, and he’s just been a great friend ever since.” Besides the jams Sam and Chris both participated in during those early years, NGR served as Chris’s backup band in 1983 and 1984. “I was astounded to get to play with them,” says Chris. “I was in heaven.” NGR equally enjoyed the collaboration. “Chris writes great songs, and he’s a great singer,” says Sam. “It was a chance for us to play new music. Even though Chris was an old-time banjo player, he was always dabbling in fusions and that was really fun for us.” In 1984, when The Band cancelled their scheduled Sunday night closing set at the Festival, Chris stepped in with Russell Smith and the Dawn Patrol, a band he’d been touring with for a few years. Not long after, when Smith decided to quit touring to focus on songwriting, Chris joined with the members of his group to form a new band, Chris Daniels and The Kings. They added a three-piece Tower of Power-style horn section and were off to the races. “We were only going to do it for one night,” he remembers. “Now 31 years later, we’re still performing one-night stands.” Chris and The Kings are still making music all over the U.S. and Europe and recently released a CD titled Funky to the Bone that’s in the Top 40 on the blues chart. This year Magic Music will release their first album in 40 years. Sam says that Chris is truly the hardest-working man in show business.
The Long Night of Jamming Begins
In 1981, Chris had the idea that it would be fun to invite all the main stage artists to convene after hours for some looser, more exploratory jamming. The first jam happened that year at the Red Garter. From there it moved to The Sheridan, the Quonset hut, the Nugget and eventually back to the Sheridan where it would stay until 1991, the last year that Chris and the Kings hosted it. After 1991, the after-hours hosting honors went to such jam mavens as Leftover Salmon and String Cheese Incident. This year’s sold-out NightGrass jams take place in four different venues. Hosts include the Punch Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, Leftover Salmon, Lake Street Dive, Yonder Mountain String Band, Steep Canyon Rangers and Trampled by Turtles, along with some new faces that will surely have Festivarians dancing in the aisles into the wee hours. Chris’s original idea for the jam was to let acoustic virtuosos strap on electric instruments and wail away on some rock, R&B, or whatever the music happened to evolve into on a given night. There wasn’t a set plan. But magic music happened nonetheless. Chris says the transcendent moments in those jams were countless. He remembers such once-in-a-lifetime collaborations as dueling bass solos between Victor Wooten and Edgar Meyer; Vince Gill on guitar, Pete Wernick on lap steel and Nick Forster on Chris’s old Gibson 125 backing Red Knuckles (who looks an awful lot like Tim O’Brien); Peter Rowan leading the audience in a “Panama Red” sing-along; and Béla Fleck pulling his brand new, first-ever electric banjo out of its box, plugging it in and taking off. The after-hours jams were the first time Lyle Lovett—before he formed his Large Band—experienced the joy of singing and playing with the Kings’ horn section.
42nd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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“It is our high school and college. It ’s where we’ve made musical friends ... Telluride was the aquifer for so many lifelong friendships for musicians. I think that ’s also true for the audience.” The jams would start after the main stage music had ended—often after midnight—and run until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. “Forty years ago, I’d go to the Festival and not sleep for four days,” says Sam. “We were jamming with lots of coffee.” Chris remembers jamming almost till dawn and showing up, slightly disheveled, for the Sunday morning gospel set, which during much of the ’80s and ’90s was a rather loose amalgam of main stage artists picking and singing stellar four-part gospel harmonies. (I personally remember seeing Chris striding through the backstage area one Sunday morning, guitar in hand, brushing his teeth on the way to the stage.)
Chris credits much of his musical career to the friendships he formed at Telluride, both onstage and after hours. “For a lot of performers Telluride was the place we made friendships and connections that have lasted a lifetime,” he says. “It is our high school and college. It’s where we’ve made musical friends. Sam and I have been friends for a gazillion years. I’ve been friends with the guys from Hot Rize forever. I took a banjo lesson with Pete Wernick about a year ago. Telluride was the aquifer for so many lifelong friendships for musicians. I think that’s also true for the audience.”
“The trick back then was saving your voice,” he says. “If I was playing on stage, after hours and then playing the gospel set, sometimes by Sunday morning I’d think, ‘Wow. I’ve become Tom Waits.’”
This year being the 40th anniversary of Chris’s first trip to Telluride he’s excited to be back. “I’m also aware that I have some big shoes to fill as emcee,” he says. “Pastor Mustard was the impresario for so many years. I’m really honored and thrilled.”
“The fun of the after-hours jams was to see normally acoustic musicians plugging in,” says Sam. “I especially remember Chris’s delight at seeing us all play other stuff. Chris is a great performer, and he is always the first guy to applaud and cheer you on. He’s a great cheerleader for musicians.”
Sam is also happy to see his longtime friend return as emcee. “Whether you’re playing music, sharing a stage or sharing a meal, it’s always an incredibly positive experience to be with Chris. I believe he will bring his positive energy to the Festival and it will be very welcome. I’m sure proud to call him my friend.”
Charlotte Bell is a writer, yoga and meditation teacher, oboist and Festivarian of 33 years living in Salt Lake City. She has published two books on yoga through Rodmell Press and is working on a third.
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BÉla’s Banjo & Sisters’ Dumplings –Joseph E. Piche
Stephen Mougin and Collings Guitars In Telluride, visit Telluride Music Company. Located in the historic business district at 333 W. Colorado Ave, (970) 728-9592
Stephen Mougin of the Sam Bush Band with his Collings D2H Serious Guitars | www.CollingsGuitars.com | (512) 288-7770
As you enjoy life on your tarp this weekend, we seem to have all the water we need—to dip our toes into the San Miguel River, brew our cowgirl coffee in the morning, and wash ourselves clean of Festivarian dust at the end of the day. Behind the scenes, however, is another story. Meet Greg Clifton, Telluride town manager. He’s part of the team that works hard to ensure that Telluride has enough water for its 2,400 residents year around, and for the thousands of Festivarians that fill the canyon this weekend. “Festivals help make summers in Telluride wonderful, but they can also be challenging when it comes to accommodating the quick surge in demand upon the public infrastructure,” says Greg. Telluride has experienced its share of droughts and water shortages over the years, but the new $20 million Pandora water treatment facility will help stabilize the town’s water supply system well into the future. Fed by Blue Lake above Bridal Veil Falls, this system captures, stores, purifies and can deliver an extra million gallons of water per day. In spite of this increased capacity, Greg says that focusing on conservation remains important. “Telluride exists as a headwater community, but water rights are over-allocated downstream,” he explains. “We are always conserving here.”
Living within the limits in this tiny community also extends to treating the water after it’s been used. “The Telluride wastewater treatment system has adequate capacity normally, but when festival weekends come around the constraint lies with the aging pipe delivery and pump system that moves water to the treatment plant,” says Greg. He recalls a recent Bluegrass when the system was almost overwhelmed by sudden spikes in morning water usage. “The system was taxed and in danger of going over capacity,“ he explains. “Fortunately, it didn’t happen but we upped our game with making some improvements and stressing conservation.” Greg suggests a few tips that will help lessen our impact on the water delivery and wastewater treatment systems: Try taking showers or doing laundry later in the day to spread out the demand; take shorter showers, or no shower at all; be conservative especially in the morning hours. And thanks!
Made in Spring Valley, CA U.S.A.
The Master’s Choice
Everyday we are building tomorrow’s classics. Make your choice a Deering.
Graham Sharp of the Steep Canyon Rangers with his Deering Terry Baucom Model
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These strangers are my best friends! –Sarrygarcia7
deeringbanjos.com info@deeringbanjos.com
With nearly 4,000 Festivarian campers sharing this gorgeous mountain environment, it is vitally important for each of us to be mindful of our camping footprint. 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 rewarding campsites that excel in creative, sustainable camping.
How Do I Participate?
We encourage camps in any of the Planet Bluegrass-managed campgrounds to enter. To nominate your campsite or one of your neighbors:
1. Submit a 1-page entry form at the Leave No Trace booth in Greentown.
2. Visit the LNT booth throughout the
How Do I Win?
We will be judging campsites using 3 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
Festival to comment on the latest campsite entries. Each day we select 2 winners—one random, one staff choice—for prizes.
recycling and compost? Are you reusing products? Are you using alternative energy sources? Did you bike or carpool to the festival? Did you reduce your home’s energy while attending the festival?
3. Watch for the announcement of
Creativity. Does your campsite have a
the grand prize winner after the campground pack-out on Monday.
theme? Did you decorate your campsite with lights, flags, or banners? Are you utilizing unique and innovative camping techniques? Are you upcycling any items from home?
What Do I Win?
Each day we will choose 2 campsites to win: New Belgium Beer, Kelty gear, Klean Kanteen reusables, Leave No Trace memberships After the pack-out on Monday we will select grand prize winners to receive a pair of 4-day passes and camping for the 2016 Festival.
The 2014 Campsite Challenge winners: Camp Blow It Out
“This contest has added to our camp traditions; it has become a part of our conversations, a part of our planning and actions; and it brings a fun challenge to Camp Blow it Out to keep practicing and mentoring ways of ‘reducing the waste but not the good times.’”
42nd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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by John Lehndorff
Sometime this Autumn after the final festival of the year in Telluride, the Fred Shellman Memorial Stage in Town Park will be demolished—down to the bare ground. A new stage, long in the planning, will debut in 2016. After a quarter century of full-blast Festivation, this old stage is naturally showing its age. Shoehorning Béla Fleck and a 50-piece orchestra onstage in 2014 underlined some of its drawbacks. But when it was constructed in 1991—during the administration of George H. W. Bush, in the year Sarah Jarosz was born—it was absolutely state of the art. It was also at least the third Telluride Bluegrass Festival stage, depending on how you count them over the past 42 years.
Stage 1 Odds and ends
In the beginning there was no budget, so improvisation was required. The 1st Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival on July 6, 1974 featured the Black Canyon Gang, Denver Bluegrass Band, Normal Heights Lounge Lizards and the homegrown host band, Fall Creek, featuring Fred Shellman, John Herndon, J.B. Matteoti and Kooster McAllister. “That first stage was built by a bunch of us out of whatever scraps of wood we could put together. Nobody got paid or anything,” McAllister said. The 15- by 15-foot platform had no sides and just some tarps overhead. The platform wasn’t all that far above the dirt field where about 1,000 people were watching. Comfy grass sod and Killer Flank Steak were among the festival amenities yet to be invented.
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For the 2nd Annual Telluride Bluegrass, a new and bigger stage was built reusing some of the original stage to make room for newcomers New Grass Revival and Ophelia Swing Band with Tim O’Brien. “The first time I played, the stage was pretty rickety. I think they just put it up for the weekend,” O’Brien said. There were no backstage passes because there was no backstage. “There must have not been very much room onstage because I remember Duane Webster’s bass got kicked and broken. But he played it anyway,” O’Brien said.
Morning sunrise over Bridal Veil Falls then howling at the moon with Sam –Sue Mours
Stage 4 The importance of warm fingers “It ’s always a wonderful Kooster McAllister said the festival’s philosophy has always been: Take care of the musicians and the music will take care of itself. audience in Telluride.They are next evolution will be a $1.8 million, 56- by 44-foot modern stage obviously music appreciators.” Telluride’s that can hold 65,000 pounds, or about 50 pickers playing “Rollin’ in My Sweet Stage 2 Growing wings
Baby’s Arms” at the end of a Sam set.
In each of the following years the Telluride stage would be upgraded to protect the musicians from the elements and improve the sound. In 1977 wings were built on each side to accommodate sound equipment and more pickers for the all-star jams that were making the festival famous.
After decades of watching musicians bravely picking-on despite cold rain and snow, the new facility will provide heating for performers onstage, along with permanent bathrooms, showers, green rooms and a catering facility—to be built over the next two years. (Unsolicited plans to install a hot tub annex with cocktail service for Pastor Mustard and his flock were not approved.)
McAllister said that the festival’s founding fathers had one simple goal. “Everything we did was designed to impress the musicians who were coming here so they had a good time.“ This included pointing the stage toward the town end of the canyon. But there were some unintended consequences.
Beyond changes to make it easier for stage crews and truckers to work, the improvements help make these already green festivities a little more sustainable in this fragile mountain ecosystem. As much of this stage as possible will be repurposed, much like the festival itself which has found ways to make old music live again for modern ears.
Bluegrass and gospel music singer Sharon White has a vivid recollection of her first time performing here with her Dad, Buck White, in 1981. “I do remember baking onstage. My guitar got so hot it was hard to play,” she said, adding it was worth what it took to get to Telluride in those days. “It’s always a wonderful audience in Telluride. They are obviously music appreciators,” White said. As a member of Ophelia Swing Band, Hot Rize, and many remarkable Telluride-only bands, Tim O’Brien recalls how the festival experience has steadily evolved for the musicians and the audience. “It has gone from being very homemade to very smooth. It was good when we got dressing rooms. You didn’t have to walk a hundred yards from the green shed with all your stuff.”
Stage 3 25 Years of Legends
The Fred Shellman Memorial Stage debuted in 1991, dedicated to the memory of the father of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival who passed away in 1990. Giants of various genres have taken center stage here: Johnny Cash, the Drepung Monks, Earl Scruggs, Mavis Staples, Bobby McFerrin, Solomon Burke, John Hartford; plus jazz, blues, and rock royalty at the other Telluride festivals over the past 25 years.
Having engineered numerous live recordings at Telluride, Kooster McAllister’s fondest memory was playing on the early stages with Fall River and his own band. “After that I think of New Grass Revival. They were the reason the festival existed,” he said. Tim O’Brien’s Kodak moments—kids know them as reverse selfies—are personal. “In 1990 when [my son] Jackson was a 1-year-old, he was sitting onstage during Bill Monroe’s set. Bill says: ‘Bring that baby up here!’ So Bill Monroe ended up dancing with my son,” said O’Brien, still sounding amazed at the thought. “I’m a lucky guy. I’ve gotten to watch so much music from the side of that stage. I loved looking at Jackson Brown and all his guitars. It was cool.”
When the final notes ring out
For all the music history that has played out on them, Telluride’s stages have only appeared on 1 festival poster. But they remain the focus of Festivarians’ experiences and photographs.
The final rootsy notes of the festival on the Fred Shellman Memorial Stage will be sung Sunday night by Sharon White with her husband Ricky Skaggs, her dad Buck White, Ry Cooder and his son Joaquin. By the time the first tarps are run onto this field of musical dreams in 2016, a new stage will be ready to carry Festivarians through the 67th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival. It will perpetuate the bloodline running from Bill Monroe through Sam Bush and David Grisman to Drew Emmitt and Chris Thile and on to mandolin wunderkind yet to come, creating what Thile has called “this ambitious border-blasting music.”
Come close to the front of the stage and you’ll see a plaque—just below the middle, facing the audience— dedicating the Fred Shellman Memorial Stage. Around it is some heavily weathered barn wood that has traveled through time from the first and following stages. This part of the stage will also be part of the next, along with the wooden sign which hangs above. It was first hung in the early ‘80s; the anniversary number is repainted annually.
Veteran Colorado journalist John Lehndorff has written about the Telluride Bluegrass Festival since the late 1970s. 42nd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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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
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. Come play with us and experience the magic of The Family Tent! Learn more at www.gigglebubble.com
Musical Performances
We’re happy to welcome back the playful, interactive and educational childrens music of Lesley Kernochan. Bring your teddy bear and cuddle-up for some great songs at “A Teddy Bear’s Picnic!”
Betty Hoops
Join The Hoop Dance Coach and 5-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. Learn more at www.bettyhoops.com
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 19th year.
19th Annual Kids Parade
Carry a flag, umbrella, or one of the giant puppets as Gumbo Wobbly leads this beloved Telluride tradition through the festival grounds on Sunday afternoon at 3:30pm.
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Eternal happiness and elusive sleep –Australian Fan
“ Yes, we get music and concerts in The Beyond. They’re not unlike The Telluride Bluegrass Festival—you’d recognize the festival feeling.” I’m dead now, so you’d think I’d shut up. But ever since I wrote much of Telluride Bluegrass Festival: 40 Years of Festivation from beyond the grave, my work in the afterlife keeps getting interrupted on the 3rd weekend in June for a jolly jaunt to the other paradise, Telluride. How is it done, you wonder? “Knowing a guy” is out of the question when The Main Guy knows all. No, I have to earn it. No gliding weightless through ecstatic love rainbows for me, boy. That’s what the other disembodied do all day. What I do from the great beyond is I avert tribal uprisings by whispering nice thoughts in the dreams of bad men. For that I get extra afterlife-credit, which I am spending specifically to see Ry Cooder. Ry was invited to Bluegrass over and over during my thirty-odd (very odd) TBF years. Ten years after my tragic death in an oil stove explosion, great, here comes Cooder, all ready to go. His set with Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White closes the festival Sunday night, but will Ry jam it out with others? Ry honey, it’s just a suggestion. It worked out fine for Jean-Luc Ponty. Think about it. For you see, as a young and folky lad I wanted to be Ry Cooder. I was reasonably well positioned, immersed as I was in folk music, but Ry had advantages. At Ry’s childhood home, his mail carrier was a renowned ethnomusicologist who on ride-alongs, let Ry listen to absolute masters of you know, ethno-music. Jeez, as a young teen I didn’t even know my mail carrier. Ry hung out at the Ash Grove, an L.A. folk music club whose purist proprietor brought in luminaries from Bill Monroe to Mississippi John Hurt. Ry got lessons from Carter Stanley and Mike Seeger. In this matter our career paths sorta converge. I annoyed the New Lost City Ramblers in many green rooms. But I never asked Mike Seeger, or
Lesley Riddle, or Son House, or Spider John Koerner or other musicians I met in Rochester, NY to show me a lick. So kids—my advice? Always ask to see the lick. And there was the whole talent thing. Ry had more. So, you wanted to know—how does transmogrification work? Ah, yes—I dunno. One minute some decrepit wino is coughing over the rail of a hospital bed, the next, an orderly’s clipboard clatters in the hallway because the patient’s vanished. I get exclusive use of a sub-prime specimen for a short hall pass with strict instructions to keep my loaner clean, from his sagging, wrinkled hindquarters to his perforated septum. And what does God look like? Again, dunno. In glimpses I think I see a multi-dimensional amoeba-like presence flashing wild iridescence like a mighty sunset thundercloud. But I can see why you, the living, would interpret that as an enormous, muscular old man with a big white beard. Yes, we get music and concerts in The Beyond. They’re not unlike The Telluride Bluegrass Festival—you’d recognize the festival feeling. But for us it goes deeper, lasts longer. For we, the departed, have no urgent fashion mandate—being insubstantial, no substance issues, and we’re not looking for love, for love is us and everywhere. Don’t worry, you’ll get yours. In fact, you got yours now. But hey, I’m on vacation, not on a mission. Nonetheless, please join me in a short prayer: Please, Main Guy, now that he’s found the pleasures of Nashville and the marvel that is Telluride, make Mr. Cooder enjoy the heck out of his Bluegrass set so he comes back again real soon? Amen.
Pastor Mustard (aka Dan Sadowsky) was the Telluride Bluegrass Festival MC for 31 years. Last year he wrote the year-by-year essays for the hardcover edition book Telluride Bluegrass Festival: 40 Years of Festivation, now available at the Country Store.
42nd 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-fifth 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 Michael Kirkpatrick as the 2015 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 L-body guitar featuring beautiful Hawaiian Koa back and sides, German Spruce top, slotted peghead, and an inlay of the 42nd Telluride Bluegrass stage sign engraved into shell and stone. Enjoy the Troubadours throughout the festival as they perform songwriter-in-theround sets at Elks Park, ‘tweener songs on the Main Stage, and live in-studio on KOTO.
2015 Troubadour Schedule Preliminary Round Thursday, June 18 12:15pm Elks Park Stage
Final Round Friday, June 19 2:45pm Elks Park Stage
The winning Troubadour performs a fifteen-minute Main Stage set on Saturday, June 20 at 5:45pm
The winner will be announced Friday, June 19 at 4:45pm on the Elks Park Stage.
Band Contest
One of the foremost contests for acoustic stringbands, the Telluride Band Contest has helped launch the careers of Dixie Chicks, Greensky Bluegrass, The Hillbenders, and dozens of other past winners. This year’s bands will be competing around a single microphone for a spot on the 2016 main stage lineup.
2015 Contest Bands Bands will perform in a randomly selected order Betty & The Boy
Eugene, OR
Gold Top County Ramblers
Bottom Dollar String Band
Sperryville, VA
Fireside Collective
Golden, CO
Austin, TX
Asheville, NC
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Gypsy Cattle Drive Hollowtops Bozeman, MT
Mary Bragg
Rachael Kilgour
Maria Brosgol
Brennan Mackey
Caitlin Canty
Ryan Pickop
Rob Drabkin
Carter Sampson
Spring Hill, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Albany, New York
Pittsford, Vermont
Denver, Colorado
Missoula, MT
Grand Rapids, MI
Nashville, Tennessee
Duluth, Minnesota
Denver, Colorado
Fayatteville, Arkansas
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Bands Score in These Categories
Band Competition Schedule
• 30% Material Selection taste, difficulty, authenticity, originality
Preliminary Round Friday, June 19 10:00am Elks Park Stage
• 30% Vocal Performance lead and harmony
The Lonesome Days
Grass Valley, CA
Hadley Kennary
The Mark Lavengood Bluegrass Bonanza
Running Out Of Road The Fearless Kin
Clint Alphin
Denver, CO
The Lil’ Smokies
Durango, CO
Troubadours will perform in a randomly selected order.
• 30% Instrumental Performance ability of soloists and overall blend
Honeybucket Cleveland, OH
2015 Troubadour Finalists
Final Round Saturday, June 20 9:45am Main Stage
• 10% Stage Presence
Run as fast as you can, so you have a place all day to rest your can! –Grassgrowsblue
The 2015 Telluride bluegrass festival
June 18th
June 19th
June 20th
June 21st
10:00am Gates Open
9:00am Gates Open
9:00am Gates Open
10:00am Gates Open
10:45 - 11:45am Noam Pikelny & Stuart Duncan
9:45 - 10:45am Mustered Courage
9:45 - 10:45am Telluride Band Contest
10:45 - Noon Rock My Soul
11:00 - Noon Johnnyswim
11:00 - Noon Trout Steak Revival
12:30 - 1:45pm Lau
12:30 - 1:45pm Robert Ellis
12:30 - 1:45pm Rhonda Vincent & The Rage
2:15 - 3:30pm Peter Rowan’s Twang an’ Groove
2:15 - 3:30pm Steep Canyon Rangers
2:15 - 3:30pm Brett Dennen
4:00 - 5:30pm Yonder Mountain String Band
4:00 - 5:15pm Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer
5:45 - 6:00pm Telluride Troubadour
5:45 - 7:00pm Greensky Bluegrass
6:15 - 7:30pm Lake Street Dive
7:30 - 8:45pm Kacey Musgraves
8:00 - 10:00pm Sam Bush Band
9:15 - 10:45pm Ry Cooder, Sharon White & Ricky Skaggs
12:15 - 1:30pm Jerry Douglas Band 2:00 - 3:15pm Robert Earl Keen 3:45 - 5:00pm Rhiannon Giddens 5:30 - 7:00pm Hot Rize 7:30 - 9:00pm John Butler Trio 9:30 - 11:00pm Telluride House Band
featuring Sam, Béla, Jerry, Edgar, Bryan & Stuart
4:00 - 5:15pm Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn 5:45 - 7:15pm Punch Brothers 8:00 - 9:30pm Janelle Monáe 10:00 - 11:30pm Trampled By Turtles
10:30 - Midnight Leftover Salmon
featuring The Fairfield Four & The McCrary Sisters
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
*
SUBJECT TO CHANGE. PLEASE CHECK FOR DAILY UPDATES ON SIGN BOARDS.
JUNE 18TH
JUNE 19TH
JUNE 20TH
JUNE 21ST
11:00 Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn: Banjo Love
10:00 Band Contest: Preliminary Round
11:30 Green Goddesses: Recycling is Sexy
12:15 Troubadour Contest: Preliminary Round
Noon Edgar Meyer: Bass Alone & Other Cultural Oddities
10:30 Michael Hornick, Bobby Wintringham & Friends: Instrument Building
2:00 Yonder Mtn String Band: Flocking Black Sheep
1:30
3:15 Dave Bruzza & Dave Simonett: Daves Play Dylan 4:30 Punch Brothers: Happy Hour
Pete & Joan Wernick: Basic Jamming, Only 4 Chords Needed - GCDA (Bring your instrument!)
2:45 Troubadour Contest: Final Round 3:45 Tim O’Brien, Kris Drever & Bridget Kearney: Short Order Sessions
Noon Troubadours: In the Round 1:30 Stephen Mougin: Mojo & Friends 3:00 Troubadours: In the Round
1:00 Trout Steak Revival: Performance 2:30 Troubadours: In the Round 4:00 Fruition: Performance
4:30 Robert Ellis & Kelly Doyle: Songwriting & Harmony (Bring your instrument!)
5:00 Ed Helms, Ian Riggs & Jacob Tilove: The Lonesome Trio
MOST ACTIVITIES AT THE FAMILY
TENT ARE FREE. WE ASK THAT PARENTS PLEASE ACCOMPANY THEIR KIDS AT ALL TIMES.
JUNE 18TH
JUNE 19TH
JUNE 20TH
JUNE 21ST
Noon- 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
Noon Clown Yoga with Gumbo Wobbly & Flopsy
Noon Clown Yoga, Silly Games for the whole family
Noon Clown Yoga with Gumbo Wobbly and Friends
1:00 Storytelling with Gala the Flower Faerie
1:00 Storytelling with Gala the Flower Faerie
2:00 Learn about Recycling with the Green Goddesses
2:00 Drama Class & Talent Show Sign-ups
1:00 Lesley the Flying Fox: Original Songs for the Whole Family
3:00
2:30- 19th Annual Telluride 4:00 Kids Talent Show
A Teddy Bear’s Picnic: Songs for the whole family with Lesley The Flying Fox
2:00 Music and Magic 2:30 Parade preparations
(until parade begins)
3:30 19th Annual Children’s Parade
(through festival grounds during set-break)
3:45 Closing Circle
42nd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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Sally Puff Courtney 40 years of real estate experience in the Telluride region, and proud co-owner of the Sawpit Mercantile with Jim Harley
Brent Kintzing
Sally Puff Courtney
Susan Griffin
Celebrating Sally’s 41st consecutive Telluride Bluegrass Festival! 970.728.3086 • www.telluridebroker.com 225 South Oak • Located at the base of the Gondola • sally@telluridebroker.com
LOWEST GAS PRICES & BEST BBQ IN TELLURIDE Visit Us On Your Way Home Located 10 miles from Telluride on Highway 145 in Beautiful Downtown Sawpit @ MM 80
970-728-9898
Cheap Gas. Cold Beer. Great BBQ.
Thursday, June 18th
Noam Pikelny & Stuart Duncan
10:45 - 11:45am
Ah, to Festivate. Thursday morning’s Festival-opening set is always a magical moment, and for this year’s celebratory blastoff, we welcome two musicians singularly suited for the occasion. Stuart Duncan is, quite simply, the greatest bluegrass fiddler in the world. He’s the Grammy-winning member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band, a nine-time winner of the Academy of Country Music’s Fiddle Player of Year, and the violin genius in Yo-Yo Ma’s Goat Rodeo Sessions. Noam Pikelny is the most monstrously adroit banjoist to emerge this century. He’s the five-string wizard in the Punch Brothers, a Grammy-nominated solo artist, and the first-ever recipient of the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo. Together, they’re Dunkin’ Pickles, continuing the age-old tradition of fiddle-and-banjo duets, making like Tommy Jarrell & Fred Cockerham on front-porch reels or channeling Earl Scruggs and Paul Warren on bluegrass breakdowns or exploring progressive territory no banjo-fiddle duo ever has before. Thursday’s set is the chance to hear Duncan’s extraordinary dexterity and creativity paired with Pikelny’s percolating rhythms and pioneering left hand. But there’s a third essential player in any banjo-fiddle duo: the dancer. And that’s where you come in, Dear Friends. You’ve waited a full year and traveled many miles to get to Telluride. It’s time to Festivate.
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Jerry Douglas Band
12:15 - 1:30pm
Robert Earl Keen
2:00 - 3:15pm
Rhiannon Giddens
You know the feeling. It’s when you first roll through town on Colorado Avenue, tingling with anticipation, as Bridal Veil Falls draws you toward Town Park. It’s an excitement fueled by years of Telluride traditions—the reunions, the rituals, the almighty music. And early Thursday, we experience one of the greatest of all Telluride Bluegrass traditions: the legendary Jerry Douglas. No virtuoso musician has remained the undisputed champion of his instrument for as long as Jerry Douglas has, a reign of over 40 years. Jerry’s dobro has shaped modern roots music—in classic bluegrass bands (the Country Gentlemen, the New South), on his trailblazing solo records, as a member of Alison Krauss’s Union Station, and on last year’s Grammy-winning The Earls of Leicester. The God of the Glide, Jerry revolutionized the style and repertoire of the dobro, infusing bluegrass with complex jazz improvisations, playing on over 2000 albums, and winning more Grammys, IBMA trophies, and lifetime achievement awards than you can fit in your tent. And for 31 years at Telluride, Jerry’s dobro, TBF’s Flux Capacitor, has become the definitive sound of the Festival, decorating the valley with sonic streams by turns molten, bittersweet, percussive, and resonant. Soak in the moment as a musical colossus delivers the magic and fire to Telluride once again.
If the cowbells back at the beer booth sound especially noisy today, it must mean that Robert Earl Keen is in town. Indeed, Keen’s devoted fans love to get rowdy to the Texas tunesmith’s hard-twang tales of loving, surviving, and raising hell. Since 1984, the troubadour with the Schlitz-and-gravy vocals has released 18 albums of roadhouse Americana and prairie-fire folk, and his songs have been recorded by everyone from George Strait to the Highwaymen to the Dixie Chicks. With his evocative storytelling, melodic craftsmanship, and shivsharp wit, Keen is widely considered one of the best songwriters of his generation and a y’allternativecountry icon. Keen has, alongside his killer band, captivated audiences everywhere with his rousing live shows, full of vignettes and travelogues that run from fiery to comical to mystical to wistful. As a result, his spirited fans (his Keenfolk) open up their hearts and tonsils to sing along to Keen classics about gringo honeymoons, armadillo highways, and family Christmases (even in the summertime). And the party never ends: This year, Keen released Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions, featuring dusty-shack renditions of 15 standards. “Bluegrass music makes people happy,” Keen says. So on the Festival’s opening afternoon, it’s going to feel so good feelin’ good again. More cowbell!
In 2010, the Carolina Chocolate Drops performed on TBF’s Sunday afternoon. The African-American trio’s revelatory set of old-timey banjo frailing, ‘30s-era string-band folk, and jug-band flatfooting exposed a whole new audience to a rich musical legacy. And in the center of the band was the captivating girl with the fiddle and the bluediamond voice. Rhiannon Giddens became a leading light in American roots music with the Drops’ Genuine Negro Jig, which won the 2011 Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album, and 2012’s Leaving Eden, with its ruralpride single “Country Girl.” Then came the 2013 New York concert celebrating the music from the film Inside Llewyn Davis, at which Giddens’ breathtaking performance was unanimously hailed as the evening’s highlight. In that moment, a major American solo artist arrived. Joining forces with Americana superproducer T Bone Burnett, Giddens collaborated on the all-star Lost On The River, setting recently unearthed Bob Dylan lyrics to new music, and released Tomorrow Is My Turn, her stunning solo debut. That album, a collection of songs popularized by women, further showcases Giddens’ unparalleled vocal mastery, charged with both operatic grace and fieldholler mettle. Rhiannon rings like a bell in the night. Her voice is a living history. Her musical spirit is a timeless gift. Her turn is today.
A party with 10,000 of my closest friends –Telluride Tom
3:45 - 5:00pm
November 6–8, 2015
Andrew Duhon
Mary Gauthier John Fulbright
Jonatha Brooke
Dar Williams
Ray Wiley Hubbard
Bruce Cockburn Cara Luft & The Small Glories 10 String Symphony • 3hattrio Anne McCue 435-259-3198 MoåbFolkFestival.com 42nd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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Thursday, June 18th
Hot Rize
5:30 - 7:00pm
7:30 - 9:00pm
John Butler Trio
Telluride House Band
If you were a Colorado hippie back in the ‘80s, then you have Hot Rize wiggling in your mitochondria. If you later grooved and grinned at a Salmon, String Cheese, or Yonder show, then you also have Hot Rize to thank for planting the seeds that grew into those jamgrass buds. On one hand, Hot Rize embraced traditional bluegrass, wearing Jim & Jesse suits, harmonizing into a single mic, writing new highlonesome standards, and supplying Opry-style comedy with their country-swing alter-egos, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. On the other hand, they incorporated elements of jazz and rock, added electric bass, played falconfast instrumentals, and took exploratory solos, including the bluesy breaks of flatpicking hero Charles Sawtelle, who died in 1999. It added up to The Greatest Show in Bluegrass, turning a new generation on to the genre through Hot Rize’s propulsive gusto and instrumental skill. Newest member Bryan Sutton, the finest flatpicker of his generation, joins the three legendary Rizers: The Wheeling Whiz, Tim O’Brien, one of Telluride’s most treasured luminaries, on mandolin and fiddle; the huggable Pete Wernick, PhD, on banjo; and the stainlessly cool Nick Forster on bass. TBF 2015 marks not a Hot Rize reunion, but a resumption. Last year’s When I’m Free (their first album in over two decades) reestablished Hot Rize as one of bluegrass’s premier recording artists and returns them in peak form to the Festival they helped build. 37 years after their first TBF appearance, a seminal band Rizes again. It’s going to be a Hot time in the old town tonight.
The first half of the evening’s penultimate set takes place as the sun begins to descend over town, bathing the valley in the last orange vestiges of day. The second half is plunged into the darkness of night as the stage lights play tricks with the advancing party on the lawn. So as the John Butler Trio take over Telluride on Thursday, we’ll be treated to both a sunsoaked boogaloo and a witching-hour shakedown courtesy of the JBT’s transcendental rootsjam rock. Butler, a platinum-selling superstar in his native Australia, has been making soulful altroots albums since 1998, including the smashes Sunrise Over Sea (2004) and April Uprising (2010), and electrifying audiences with his Trio’s kinetic concerts, including a capacity Red Rocks show in 2011, released as a live recording and concert film. As a multi-instrumentalist, Butler boasts the hardest-working thumbnail in show business, fingerpicking six- and twelve-string guitars, lap-steel, and banjo, colored with effects that create wholly original soundscapes. (Add double doses of both Bryan Sutton and Jerry Douglas, and Thursday is a guitar-slinging exhibition for the ages.) The Trio, featuring bassist Byron Luiters and drummer Grant Gerathy, execute fire-eating hyperfunk, deep-groove reggae, and squirrelskinning slide-blues with the kind of mastery and imagination that mobilizes hearts and hips alike. It’s the perfect musical revolution for a night together in the mountains—dancing, singing, and throwing our hands starward, a communal shoutout to the Universe.
9:30 - 11:00pm
featuring Sam, Béla, Jerry, Edgar, Bryan & Stuart
Some people can say they saw Muhammad Ali defend his title or Michael Jordan play in his prime. Some were lucky enough to see Maria Callas at the Metropolitan Opera or Leonard Bernstein conduct the New York Philharmonic. Some saw Baryshnikov dance, Sinatra sing, Olivier act on stage, Miles play the trumpet. Far fewer will be able to say they saw the Telluride House Band. It’s one thing to see the greatest of all time. It’s another to see the six greatest of all time... all at once. The Telluride House Band is history’s preeminent bluegrass sextet. Each member is his instrument’s most distinguished virtuoso and has influenced every bluegrass musician who has come after him. Their storied careers have left permanent marks on history, and, as Saint Festivaria has arranged, each remains at the absolute peak of his powers for TBF ‘15. It’s the Pinnacle of Pick: an only-in-Telluride set that travels from the ancient hills to classic Nashville to newgrass and into the expansive cosmos that only these guys are capable of reaching. It’s enough to leave your frontal lobes forever hijacked, and the group’s continual camaraderie and spirited interplay keep you drinking in those good Telluride vibes. Consider it, friends. You’re in a remote location, one of the most gorgeous in the world. The end of the Festival is nowhere in sight. History’s most monumental collection of superpickers is about to take the stage together. In only one place. For only one night. At only one unprecedented, unrepeatable moment in time. And you are here.
“Telluride Bluegrass Festival is a tribal reunion, musical Thanksgiving, wedding, funeral, bachelor party and music school all wrapped up in a festival and deposited in one of the most beautiful valleys in the world.” – Nick Forster, Hot Rize 30
Tie dye vs. neck ties? –dnewgent
SPONSORED BY
CO-PRESENTED BY
DAVID GRISMAN BLUEGRASS EXPERIENCE AND THE JEFF AUSTIN BAND FRI SEPTEMBER 11
TICKETS SUMMERATTHECENTER.COM 720.898.7200
6901 Wadsworth Blvd, Arvada, CO 80003
Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn August 9
concerts.botanicgardens.org
presenting sponsor
produced in partnership with
42nd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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Friday, June 19th
Mustered Courage 9:45 - 10:45am
Johnnyswim
11:00 - Noon
Still buzzing from Thursday night’s Abner Ramirez and Amanda Sudano John Butler set? Well, good news, first met in a Nashville coffee shop mate: We’re headed back to Oz on where Ramirez was performing. Friday morning for another Australia Sudano approached Ramirez about bacchanalia. Mustered Courage are co-writing songs, and before long, the piping-hot Melbournian export their words, voices, and hearts were lighting up audiences with their intertwined as Johnnyswim. mando-’n’-banjo bombardment and Soon after, the married couple strapping neobluegrass. gained national attention for their Nick Keeling (banjo), Julian Abra- sultry harmonies and ornate folk-pop hams (guitar), Paddy Montgomery stylings on a pair of EPs: 2012’s Home, (mandolin), and Josh Bridges (bass) Vol. 1, featuring the gorgeous duet marinate their strings in traditional “Annie,” and 2013’s Heart Beats, twangcraft but stir the skillet with which climbed to #14 on Billboard’s wily picking agility, raised-on-rock Heatseekers chart. Breakout singles grit, and beardgrass zing. Their “Home” and “Hallelujah” became rap2011 self-titled debut nailed the turous highlights of Johnnyswim’s three essential newgrass B’s: barn- live sets, fueled by Ramirez’s dexburners, ballads, and Boys II Men terous acoustic guitar and the pair’s covers. Okay, that last one is a bit passionate singing. of a curve, but it just proves Cour- Johnnyswim’s first full-length, age’s penchant for lively left turns. 2014’s Diamonds, was met with Sugar Hill records cut the Mus- widespread critical acclaim for the tereds’ 2014 sophomore album, group’s elegant balladry, lifePowerlines. Fueled by lead single affirming lyrics, and sensual sonic “Cruel Alibis” and a series of inven- identity. Vocally, each is a marvel; tive videos, the record showcases with Ramirez’s buoyant range and the band’s stellar songwriting, Sudano’s honeyed finesse, these breakneck instrumentals, four-part two were born to sing together. harmonies, and Keeling’s sandstorm (Psst: Sudano is the daughter of the lead vocals. legendary Donna Summer.) Friday morning at the Fester is The music is uniformly beautiful, a choice time to relish the thrills but to catch Johnnyswim live is to of yesterday and to embrace the experience the joy of singing, writfresh adventures ahead. Fittingly, ing, and performing that radiates by both paying tribute to bluegrass from the pair’s palpable chemistry. traditions and infusing the music And congrats are in order. Abner with a modern edge, Mustered and Amanda were first-time FestCourage are your ideal Day Two ovarians this year: Little Joaquin jump start. Get ready for the Hoe- was born in February. Down Under.
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Coming home, yet again –Valerie
Lau
12:30 - 1:45pm TBF has long sought out musical vanguards from around the world to share in the Telluride experience and to offer their own immense talents and artistic visions. In that spirit, we are proud to welcome renowned Scottish trio Lau to Telluride for their first-ever US festival appearance. The world-class musicians in Lau are each highly-decorated superstars of the UK folk scene. Guitarist Kris Drever, fiddler Aidan O’Rourke, and accordionist Martin Green are titanic instrumentalists of extraordinary authority and articulation, and as Lau, they multiply their power into tremendous technical and emotional highs. Four-time winners of Best Group at the BBC Folk Awards, Lau have redefined chamber folk with blazing experimentalism, fused jazz/Celtic/ orchestral genres, and bridged the gap between folk and electronic music. Lau’s latest release, The Bell That Never Rang, is further evidence of an intuitive interplay that unifies three instruments into a harmonic whole, wreathed in beautiful compositions and Drever’s serene vocals. Given Lau’s ultra-rare Stateside appearance, their massive international acclaim, the singular immensity of their instrumentalism, and the excitement they are generating among our greatest TBF legends, we are officially raising our Don’tMiss-This-Set Advisory System’s alert level to “Severe.”
Peter Rowan’s Twang an’ Groove 2:15 - 3:30pm
The wind is blowing across the mountain/Down on the valley way below... Telluride Bluegrass is rich with pioneers whose spiritual influences continue to shape our lives. Two of those forefathers are, of course, Bill Monroe, who invented the genre as we know it, and Jerry Garcia, whose free-spirited jambition took the music in expansive new directions. And one man alive was in bands with both of those giants. Peter Rowan was the lead singer and guitarist for Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys in the mid-’60s, appearing on classic sides like “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight” and “Midnight on the Stormy Deep.” In the ‘70s, Panama Pete merged with Garcia (along with David Grisman and Vassar Clements) for Old and in the Way, the best-selling bluegrass album of all time, which included Rowan’s standards “Midnight Moonlight” and “Land of the Navajo.” Rowan has never stopped mapping the American musical landscape as a relentless seeker of styles and stories, truths and injustices, grace and peace. And his yearly performances at Telluride have provided the deep foundation that has grounded us all. I hear a voice out in the darkness/ It moans and whispers through the pines... Bill and Jerry. Twang an’ Groove. Connecting those spiritual voices is the great Peter Rowan, whose own voice, like those of the immortals who came before, will forever echo through the walls of time.
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*Newly Reissued/Remastered*
*Newly Reissued/Remastered*
*Newly Reissued/Remastered*
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Friday, June 19th
Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn 4:00 - 5:15pm
When they choose which faces to carve, Rushmore-style, into the mountain behind the stage, Béla Fleck is a lock. After all, no one has expanded the Festival’s sonic universe more than Béla has. From his revolutionary stint with New Grass Revival to his fusion odyssey with the Flecktones to his ensembles with the planet’s greatest jazz and world musicians to last year’s concerto with the Colorado Symphony, Béla has been TBF’s most adventurous musical buccaneer. Abigail Washburn is the clawhammering banjoist/vocalist from Uncle Earl, the world-hopping leader of the Sparrow Quartet, and the Eastern-exploring solo artist on the brilliant City of Refuge. Throughout, she has blended her elegant folkcraft with Chinese influences and her sumptuous windborne vocals. Two became one, five strings became ten, and Bélagail joined hearts in marriage and musical forces. Last year’s duet album is a set of old-time mountain tunes, goth-noir ballads, and lullabies, and together on Friday, the two will wed their respective styles to create music that floats across a century of banjo traditions. Maybe we’ll even get a cameo from Juno, the Banjo Prince, born in 2013. And, hey, it’s Conjugal Friday! First Johnnyswim and now Béla and Abigail. So perhaps a hike up to Bridal Veil is in order? (Or just a trip to the showers would probably go a long way.)
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Punch Brothers 5:45 - 7:15pm
Janelle Monáe 8:00 - 9:30pm
Last year, Sam Bush hopped onstage Get up, Funkivarians. Telluride Blueduring Chris Thile’s Fest-opening grass has been pushing boundaries set, and between songs, the two for 42 years and counting, honoring boys of summer chatted about roots music of all kinds, including baseball in front of 10,000 of their the soul and R&B elements that closest friends. If Sam is Telluride’s have made up the great musical Babe Ruth (and TBF is the Fest That melting pot that pours from the Sam Built), then Thile is our Stan Telluride stage. And, of course, one of Musial, the greatest all-around our favorite annual TBF traditions is player of his generation, with his the full-scale Friday night party. amazing runs and hit production. And so, ladies and gentlemen, Banjoist Noam Pikelny is, of we give you the sensational Janelle course, our Mike Schmidt, the ver- Monáe, one of music’s most elecsatile MVP candidate; Fiddlin’ Gabe trifying live entertainers. This timeWitcher is, obviously, Derek Jeter, traveling, tux-wearing, skyscrapingthe marketable ace in the hole; pompadour-sporting psychedelicguitarist Chris Eldridge is, clearly, soul visionary combines the goodGreg Maddux, the precision guru and foot sizzle of James Brown, the pickoff specialist; and bassist Paul coital musicality of Prince, the Kowert is, needless to say, Rod Carew, shapeshifting theatrics of David the slap-hitting timing technician. Bowie, and the piping vocal charge The Punchers are on a Hall-of- of a young Michael Jackson. Fame trajectory. 2008’s Punch got Janelle’s sprawling Grammy-nomithem on first; 2010’s Antifogmatic nated concept masterpiece The saw them swiping second; 2012’s ArchAndroid climbed into the BillWho’s Feeling Young Now? found board Top 20 and finished 2010 them coming around third; and atop nearly every critics list in now this year’s The Phosphorescent the country. 2013’s The Electric Blues sends them home to Telluride. Lady incorporated gospel and So miraculous is their talent that jazz elements to her eclectic mix the PBs have elevated the sup- and spawned popular rave-ups remacy of the Festival by appearing “Q.U.E.E.N.” and “Dance Apocalyptic.” on the Shellman Stage every year; At once cerebral and physical, so monumental is their current Janelle’s music takes listeners on a streak that they annually hit in journey to empowerment, acceptance, the cleanup spot for the late-night and love, all with a horn-drunk Fest-finale at the Sheridan. On funkstorm that will set into motion Friday, these best young players in parts of your body you didn’t even the game will come out swinging know you had. So go ahead and cut for the fences. You won’t care if you loose. Ain’t nobody peekin’ but the never get back. stars above.
Just bought a new winter coat for my summer vacation! –Skubes
Trampled By Turtles
10:00 - 11:30pm The last time Trampled By Turtles played TBF back in 2013, the quintet unleashed a daytime thrashgrass onslaught with such force that seismic activity was registered as far away as Ouray and extra volunteers were brought in to soothe frightened children in The Family Tent. We knew then that the next time the Turtles hit Telluride, they would have to frenzy-whip the great tarpless scrimmage of the night. But this is a tale of two Turtles. For all of their bladder-destabilizing speedgrass tunes, these Duluthians also produce some of the prettiest songs in all of roots music. Dave Simonett’s winsome lead vocals and pensive lyrics adorn dreamy shag-carpet ballads that are built for nocturnal transcendence. And with seven studio albums, the band (Simonett, fiddler Ryan Young, bassist Tim Saxhaug, banjoist Dave Carroll, and mandolinist Erik Berry) has accumulated a wealth of resplendent tunes. 2010’s Palomino reached a broad new audience of grassers, jammers, and rockers, while Stars and Satellites (2012) and Wild Animals (2014) further established the Turts as songful craftsmen. All along, though, the live shows moved mountains. Because Trampleds like these— baby, they were born to strum. There’s nothing like Friday night at the Festival. And with TxT’s sublime canyon folk-rock and deli-rious banjocore blitz, prepare to get shellacked by the shell act.
Saturday, June 20th
Trout Steak Revival
11:00 - Noon
How you doing? Still feeling trampled by Friday night’s Turtles bash? Did the wee-hours jam in the camp next door keep you up? Are you exhausted from the morning’s neck-straining, butt-oinking tarp run? Well, we’ve got just what you need to rejuvenate your Saturday mind, body, and spirit: The morning sun over the mountain and the breezy, bucolic sounds of Trout Steak Revival. Where old-time frail-’n’-fiddle meets contemporary folkgrass, the Revival have been on a holy roll. In 2013, the Denver quintet won an Emmy for their soundtrack to a Rocky Mountain PBS documentary. Last year, Trout Steak won the TBF Band Contest, joining a rich history of other former winners like Dixie Chicks and Greensky Bluegrass. And this year, the group released its sterling third album, Brighter Every Day, produced by Infamous Stringduster Chris Pandolfi. Boasting four fine lead singers who lace smooth harmonies to firstrate picking (courtesy of Bevin Foley’s fiddle, Steve Foltz’s mandolin, Travis McNamara’s banjo, Will Koster’s guitar, and Casey Houlihan’s bass), the Trouters will take you on a cross-country tour of rootsy traditions, from high-country flannel-folk to warm Appalachian bluegrass. So Saturday starts with Trout and ends with Salmon. It’s a whale of a lineup all day, and Trout Steak Revival will be the first band to get you hooked.
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Robert Ellis
12:30 - 1:45pm
Singer-songwriter Robert Ellis cut his teeth in Texas barrooms as the long-haired leader of Robert Ellis & the Boys, playing classic country covers for the Waylon-and-whiskey set. By 2010, Ellis was gaining national exposure as a multitalented artist with beyond-his-years instrumental expertise, a thorough mastery of Nashville history, and a serious addiction to singing beautiful songs. 2011’s Polaroids paid tribute to Ellis’s country music heroes, summoning the vocal character of Lefty Frizzell, the conversational tunesmithing of pre-outlaw Willie Nelson, and the drain-the-cup heartache of George Jones. But beyond those influences, the record also announced the arrival of an intelligent new songwriting voice who mixed universal yearning with wry, modernistic detail. On last year’s The Lights From The Chemical Plant, Ellis expanded his craft to reveal other influences, including the urbane melodicism of Paul Simon and the last-call piano torch of Tom Waits. Led by cheatin’ single “Only Lies,” the album was listed among 2014’s best by Rolling Stone and American Songwriter magazines. A spidery guitarist, nimble pianist, and superb singer, Ellis puts on a fingerpicking and vocalizing clinic. Your recommended materials: festival chair, sunscreen, Summer Bliss. Robert Ellis will bring the gorgeous country-folk soundtrack.
Steep Canyon Rangers
Yonder Mountain String Band
They might be the hardest-working band in bluegrass. Since 2001, the Steep Canyon Rangers have released nine critically-acclaimed studio albums, toured continuously both on their own and with second banjoist Steve Martin, recorded songs with everyone from Dixie Chicks to Paul McCartney, played for President Obama at the White House, and released “Test of Time,” the new single collaboration with Edie Brickell. Steep Canyon (guitarist/vocalist Woody Platt, banjoist Graham Sharp, mandolinist Mike Guggino, bassist Charles Humphrey, and fiddler Nicky Sanders) do it the old-fashioned way: playing smoking-hot bluegrass, singing tight harmonies, and writing better songs than everybody else. But the Rangers also lead the way by mixing a variety of styles, trekking into musical experimentalism, and adding a sixth member in percussionist Mike Ashworth. Through this blend of pristine picking and innovation, the Rangers have ridden off with a pile of awards, including the IBMA Entertainers of the Year in 2011 and a Best Bluegrass Album Grammy for Nobody Knows You in 2012. And SCR’s partnership with Martin on the Grammy-nominated Red Bird Alert and a run of sold-out tours has exposed bluegrass to a wide new audience. Tell the ones you love that it’s Canyon time in the canyon on Saturday afternoon as one of bluegrass’s paramount bands stands and delivers.
Last year, Yonder Mountain String Band played TBF as a band in transition after parting ways with a founding member. It was their 15th consecutive Telluride, a reminder of YMSB’s epic run as game-changing jamgrass warriors and an affirmation that the band was ready for their next evolutionary step. Indeed, Yonder have always been about forward motion: They came roaring out of punk and rock and traditional bluegrass to claim a string-band territory all their own, in the process taking in a closeknit family of fans through rigorous touring and highwire musical fearlessness. The trio of Adam Aijala (guitar), Dave Johnston (banjo), and Ben Kaufmann (bass) are joined this year by Yonder’s two new official members. The last time Allie Kral played TBF, as a member of Cornmeal, she tried to saw her fiddle in half in a bowburning attack that tore holes in the tarpspace-time continuum. And nimble-knuckled, Berklee-trained Jake Jolliff, a former National Mandolin Champion and member of Joy Kills Sorrow, is a brilliant soloist. As anyone who has seen this new lineup will tell you, the band is on fire—inspired, intense, and having a blast. Saturday’s set also serves as the release party for Yonder’s new album Black Sheep; this weekend, it will be available here for the first time anywhere, a nod to the Festivarian Nation’s perpetual support. Once again, off we go into the wild bluegrass Yonder.
2:15 - 3:30pm
The one week that I spend all year living for –Bevin
4:00 - 5:30pm
Saturday, June 20th
Lake Street Dive 6:15 - 7:30pm
Q: What happens when you drop LSD in the middle of a bluegrass festival? A: They blow the audience away. It happened in 2013, when Lake Street Dive took Telluride Bluegrass by storm, showering their intoxicating brew of soul, folk, swing, and pop over the masses who surged to their feet and wiggled euphorically in the sunshine. With NightGrass, FirstGrass, and Elks Park shows, in addition to their Mainstage set, everyone was buzzing about the thrilling new arrival on the scene. We couldn’t wait to have them back. Given the sonic range and power on their records, you’d be forgiven for assuming that Lake Street were larger than a quartet. Yet all that hip-manipulating mojo comes from Mike “McDuck” Olson, music’s premier trumpet/ guitarist double threat; Bridget Kearney, the standup bass’s funksister #1; Mike Calabrese, a sly-slapping groove-operator on drums; and the extraordinary Rachael Price, a vocalizing phenomenon whose one-in-a-billion pipes have resulted in a slew of awards and sweatdepleted audiences. Together, the Dive, fermented from the New England Conservatory in Boston, blend Beatlesque melodies, girl-group swoon, Philly-soul strut, come-hither jazz, and neofolk balladry. Such diversity has given rise to their excellent studio albums, including 2010’s self-titled LP and last year’s Bad Self Portraits, which both Rolling Stone and NPR named one of the year’s best. But it’s the locked-in wallop of their live show—the sensual rhythms, the comet-hot vocals, the towering tunes—that will have you reaching for your gratitude journal. Dive in.
Sam Bush Band
Leftover Salmon
8:00 - 10:00pm
10:30 - Midnight
2014 marked the 40th consecutive TBF appearance of the Festival’s defining figure, Sam Bush. So how did Sam commemorate the anniversary? By resting on his well-earned laurels? By bringing out guests to pay tribute to him? By slowing down just a tad? Please. We’re talking about Sam Bush here, the man who hasn’t phoned in a single quarter-note in his four decades of providing TBF thrills and chills. So for his 40th year, Sam did what only Sam can. Another two-hour Sam Slam, another eight-string spectacular, another Bush-it-realgood party, another celestial evening with the Chairman of Chop. After all, you can’t stop Sam. Illnesses? Beat ‘em. Changing musical trends? Transcended ‘em. Would-be challengers to his throne? Influenced ‘em, embraced ‘em, schooled ‘em. He’s remained our greatest performer, picker, bandleader, jammer, collaborator, songwriter, curator, dancer, mentor, historymaker. In 1975, Sam came to Telluride as the first nationally known hippiegrass genius to play the Festival, and in the process ushered in a new bluegrass style and image with New Grass Revival, recruited other like-minded acts to come to Telluride, and attracted the core audience that would become the Festivarian Nation. All along, he furthered his legend by sitting in with everyone, lifting them all higher, and establishing the Saturday Night Special, Sam’s annual headlining showcase. TBF turns 42 this year. How in the world did we get this far? That’s easy. We’ve been tied to the tail of a shooting star: Sam Bush, the immortal King of Telluride.
Once upon a time, members of the Left Hand String Band and the Salmonheads jammed together in the Town Park campground. Leftover Salmon were born, and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival would never be the same. That was 26 years ago. What a long stringed trip it’s been. Starting in the mid-’90s, Salmon defined the next-level TBF party. Vince Herman, Drew Emmitt, and the late, great Mark Vann were the coolest, wildest, shaggiest, hardest-partying, fastest-picking young dudes alive, blasting the tarped-’n’-warped in the audience with a whole new hoodoo. These guys worshipped the Telluride legends and had their catalogs memorized, but added rock bombast, zydecodelic mind expansion, island-fiesta hedonism, and headbanging jamgrass bedlam. Rise up early in the morning? That’s assuming the night ever ended. Salmon didn’t establish the TBF late nighter; they established the TBF all-nighter, and “Anawhacking,” Vince’s middleof-the-night group-sing pranksterism, became the stuff of Town Park legend. But for all the debauchery, genre-liberating unpredictability, and tendency to be spit-up-your-tincture funny, none of it would have worked if Salmon weren’t so deadly serious about their own incredible picking and singing prowess and their phenomenal original material. So how does this story end? It doesn’t. A quarter-century on, Leftover are still going, still throwing the craziest slamgrass bash in town. Therefore, we ask you to howl out your hardiest “Festivaaaaal!” at the Saturday night moon. It’s another Salmon Solstice in Telluride.
“For us, Telluride Bluegrass Festival just really is altogether the best festival in the country. For what we do, and for music in general.” – Drew Emmitt, Leftover Salmon 38
Young Bucks and Grizzled Veterans, Music Brings us all together year after year –Hot Sugar
DEBUT OF
Sunday, June 21st
Rock My Soul
featuring The Fairfield Four & The McCrary Sisters
10:45 - Noon
So did you shower this morning? No? Well, don’t worry about it, Filthivarian. The Sunday morning gospel hour is guaranteed to wash it all away. Sunday’s call-to-meeting is a treasured tradition, a recentering moment on the Festival’s final morning, and this year, the Shellman Stage will be filled with not one legendary gospel group, but two. The Fairfield Four are the seminal a capella ensemble who rose to prominence in the 1930s for their earth-rumbling bass, rafter-raising tenors, and rich harmonies. The group reached millions with their nationally-broadcast radio spots and went on to influence nearly a century of American gospel quartet singing. In 1999, the Fairfield Four were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. The McCrary Sisters are among the most sought-after gospel singers in history, backing up everyone from Elvis Presley to Bob Dylan to Stevie Wonder to the Black Keys. After decades of embroidering hit records, both as solo artists and as a quartet, the Sisters connected with roots ace Buddy Miller to make this year’s celebratory Let’s Go. And these two groups share more than just a musical heritage: The McCrary Sisters are the daughters of the late Samuel McCrary, the original tenor singer and leader of the Fairfield Four. So it’s only fitting that this historic, soul-rocking union takes place on Father’s Day. Can we get a witness?
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Rhonda Vincent & The Rage
12:30 - 1:45pm
Hey, do you like bluegrass music? Got a singer for you. In fact, we’ve got the singer for you, the one who has been awarded the IBMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year for an unprecedented seven consecutive years. She’s the Flurry From Missouri, a mandolin-massaging country girl with cornfed musical roots and livewire crackle. Rhonda Vincent’s award-gobbling run as a standardbearer for authentic bluegrass singing and bandleading, fronting the finest pickers in the business, has earned her Queen of Bluegrass status across the traditional scene. The Rage are bluegrass dynamite: Josh Williams (a three-time IBMA player of the year) on guitar, Hunter Berry on fiddle, Aaron McDaris on banjo, Brent Burke on dobro, and Mickey Harris on bass. Dazzling players all, the Rage run through a Grand Ole Opry history lesson but also fire off enough lightningfingered fierceness to more than live up to their name. And Rhonda’s ringing voice lights up both classic bluegrass scorchers and her own rich original material. This year, Rhonda celebrates the 25th anniversary of her solo debut just as her new Only Me debuted at #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass charts, demonstrating Rhonda’s timeless mastery and popularity. It’s been 13 years since Rhonda and the Rage played TBF. We are delighted to welcome the return of the all-American bluegrass girl.
Brett Dennen
2:15 - 3:30pm
What is it that makes Brett Dennen so special? Is it his voice? He’s a singularly gifted vocalist with his mesospheric range, intragroove timing, soulful phrasing, and alien-muppet drawl. His songs? He’s a melodic wunderkind with an endless capacity for writing addictive melodies within R&B, folk, funk, and roots-rock traditions. Those tunes have filled five studio albums, including 2008’s breakout hit Hope for the Hopeless and 2013’s Smoke and Mirrors, which landed in the Top 20 on Billboard’s Rock Albums chart. His words? Dennen’s astute lyrics inspire his loyal fans with messages of hope, mindfulness, intuition, kindness, and true love. His look? He’s a bespectacled, tomato-haired, unshod six-foot-fiver. His moves? He feels the rhythm spleen-deep, and it mobilizes him gyratorily below the waist with crazy-legs canters and hip-eleptic circularity. The answer is, of course, all of these: He’s the California loverboy with the laidback charm, songful finesse, sweet-natured words, danceable dynamism, wild-child independence, and heart-warming vocal stylings. It’s a set of characteristics that makes Dennen a delightfully unique presence on the American musical scene and one that is particularly attuned to Telluride. Brett is back this year for his third TBF, perfectly timed for a chakrabalancing Sunday afternoon.
Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer
4:00 - 5:15pm
They are each recipients of MacArthur “Genius” Fellowships, but only occasionally have the two taken the TBF stage together. This year, however, these two unrivaled masters will perform a full set as a duo. T Bone Burnett calls Chris Thile, “the Louis Armstrong of our time.” Indeed, Chris’s supernatural accomplishments have reinvented the mandolin and forever elevated acoustic roots music. From Nickel Creek to Punch Brothers to his many collaborative projects to his 2008 original concerto for mandolin and orchestra, Chris’s limitless talent and ambition continue to astound. Edgar Meyer’s vibrant work in classical music has made him history’s most accomplished doublebass virtuoso and the only bassist ever to win the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize. Edgar’s cross-genre partnerships have further exposed the gifts of intuition, technique, and composition that have placed Edgar on the summit alongside the alltime musical greats. Since 2008, the duo has released the intoxicating Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile, the Grammy-winning Goat Rodeo Sessions with Yo-Yo Ma and Stuart Duncan, and last fall’s Bass & Mandolin, a stunning continuation of their elegant dialogue. In each other, they’ve found the only counterpart alive who can mutually create music this complex, exquisite, and totally unprecedented. Don’t miss this once-in-a-century matchup.
Hug a stranger, Kiss a friend, Music floats over river’s bend –Pig Warden
“OUR ROOTS RUN DEEP”
ALISON KRAUSS & UNION STATION NICKEL CREEK SAM BUSH BÉLA FLECK & ABIGAIL WASHBURN JERRY DOUGLAS THE EARLS OF LEICESTER THE LONESOME TRIO THE GIBSON BROTHERS BRYAN SUTTON LEE ANN WOMACK JEWEL SARAH JAROSZ DELLA MAE THE STEELDRIVERS KASEY CHAMBERS STEVE MARTIN STEEP CANYON RANGERS THE TIME JUMPERS HOT RIZE TONY RICE PETER ROWAN RICKY SCAGGS RHONDA VINCENT ROUNDER.COM SUGARHILLRECORDS.COM
Sunday, June 21st
Greensky Bluegrass
Kacey Musgraves
5:45 - 7:00pm
7:30 - 8:45pm
15 years ago, five Kalamazooans traced the Grateful Dead back to banjos and mandolins and formed Greensky Bluegrass. They’ve since become annual Telluride soldiers, now playing their 4th Festival in a row (completing the rare TBF “hambone”). It’s an every-year status mandated by the Festivarians themselves, the bobbing-and-swaying fans who have packed the band’s panoramic Mainstage, NightGrass, and Elks Park shows. And GSBG’s popularity goes beyond the patchouli-‘tween-your-toes crowd, as their records specialize in not just cream-of-thecrop jamgrass journeys but also exemplary songwriting and arranging. Case in point: 2011’s Handguns, packed with Americana gems, and 2014’s excellent If Sorrows Swim, which shot to #1 on Billboard’s Bluegrass chart and zoomed up the Hot 200 and Indie Albums charts, as well. When those songs come to life on stage, the music reaches melodic and harmonic transcendence, as the quintet delivers sets full of set-to-stun solos, mountaineer vocals, and a psychedelic sound-and-lights team who’ve apparently been out shopping recreational. So Sunday is our galvanizing last-afternoon rally featuring the haunted-barn dobro of Anders Beck, the hammer-and-tongs bass of Mike Devol, the wombat-in-the-furnace guitar of Dave Bruzza, the rattlesnake-speedway mandolin of Paul Hoffman, and the flume-in-flames banjo of Michael Arlen Bont. Together, Greensky offer audiences a celebration of shared touchstones and a visceral exploration of the here and now. Shall we go, you and I, while we can?
Stepping out of East Texas with a guitar on her back and a hundred infectious songs in her head, it was obvious that this girl had it all— the voice, the melodies, the words, and a look that makes blind men swear they can see again. Nashville beckoned, and Kacey Musgraves exploded worldwide with an album that brought astute songwriting and fresh perspectives to modern country music. Same Trailer Different Park is among the most successful country debuts of all time: It topped the charts, sold over a half-million copies, took home both the Grammy for Best Country Album and the ACM award for Album of the Year, landed on every best-of-2013 list in sight (Rolling Stone, NPR, Spin, etc.), and spawned four Top 40 singles. And what songs. The platinum-selling, Grammywinning “Merry Go ‘Round” established Kacey’s gift for graceful melodies, clever lyrical turns, and honest portrayals of American life. “Follow Your Arrow” went even further with its message of inclusion and self-acceptance, a message that smartly bucked genre convention and one in full harmony with the Telluride spirit. At once radiant and raw, Kacey is a crossover sensation, opening for both Katy Perry and Willie Nelson before launching her own sold-out headlining tour. And there’s no slowing her down: Her stellar follow-up album Pageant Material, out this month, is currently the hottest new country album in the world. Kacey has said that playing Telluride Bluegrass was on her bucket list. That feeling is mutual. Life will be gravy when we welcome one of today’s biggest and brightest stars to Telluride.
Ry Cooder, Sharon White & Ricky Skaggs 9:15 - 10:45pm
TBF is well-known for hosting history’s greatest musicians. But we’ve been chasing one giant for over 25 years. On Sunday night, the great Ry Cooder joins us for the first time. Cooder is the guitar virtuoso (ranked #8 on Rolling Stone magazine’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”) and master musicologist whose wide-ranging explorations have preserved a vast history of roots music. His storied career is immense in scope and influence, including his slide-guitargod work with Taj Mahal, Captain Beefheart, Ali Farka Toure, and the Rolling Stones; his renowned film scores; and his production on the Cuban smash Buena Vista Social Club. Ricky Skaggs is the legendary country superstar and neo-trad bluegrass champion. He was a young ace in Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys, a ‘70s folkgrass MVP (on classic Emmylou Harris and Tony Rice LPs), and an ‘80s Nashville hitmaker, going to #1 on the country chart 12 times. For the last 20 years, Skaggs has been a guardian of impeccable ancient-tone picking, leading his IBMA-dominating Kentucky Thunder, and a prospector of daring new alliances, like his 2007 duet album with Bruce Hornsby. This distinguished trio is rounded out by Sharon White, lead singer of the hit familyvocal group the Whites, who made their mark as popular Grand Ole Opry regulars with a string of Top 10 country singles. Legends. Masters. Old friends. New collaborations. Songs you know by heart. That’s Telluride Bluegrass. To offer celebration and thanks for four magical days of Festivation, we are thrilled to present this extraordinary dream-team finale.
“The view from the stage is pretty overwhelming. The first time we played there I ’m thinking ‘We better get this one right.’ ” – Ricky Skaggs 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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Arrive by bicycle or plane, the Grass is our aim –Alohagirl
Making the most of the shortest nights of the year, the NightGrass series carries on the 35-year tradition of the After-Hours Jam in intimate venues around Telluride and Mountain Village. Board the free gondola to Mountain Village on Wednesday afternoon for the free outdoor FirstGrass Concert in Sunset Plaza featuring Fruition and Rhiannon Giddens. Then head over to the Telluride Conference Center for Yonder Mountain String Band’s sold-out 14th Annual Kick-Off Party. For the next few nights, sold-out shows are held indoors in Telluride— at the legendary Sheridan Opera House, at the historic Swede-Finn Hall (1 block west of the gondola), and at the state-of-the-art Palm Theatre (inside Telluride High School on the west end of Colorado Avenue). Tickets to NightGrass shows are completely separate from Festival tickets. Again this year we sold all NightGrass tickets through a single online lottery in early April. As always, we welcome your comments about this online lottery system for NightGrass ticketing.
Revival: The Sam Bush Story Join Sam Bush for the Colorado premieres of the award-winning documentary at the Nugget Theatre (207 W. Colorado Avenue).
Wednesday June 17th 2pm
&
Friday June 19th 11:30am
Free tickets available at the door. No presales.
Wednesday June 17th
Free FirstGrass Concert: FRUITION AND RHIANNON GIDDENS Outdoors at Sunset Plaza, Mountain Village 5-8pm • All-Ages FREE! 14TH ANNUAL BLUEGRASS KICK-OFF PARTY WITH...
YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND Telluride Conference Center 9pm show All-Ages sold out
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
LAKE STREET DIVE W/ LAU Sheridan Opera House 11pm show Ages 21+*
YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND Sheridan Opera House 11pm show Ages 21+*
STEEP CANYON RANGERS Sheridan Opera House 11pm show Ages 21+*
PUNCH BROTHERS Sheridan Opera House 10:30pm show Ages 21+*
sold out
sold out
sold out
GREENSKY BLUEGRASS Palm Theatre 11pm show Ages 21+
* unless accompanied by parent
June 18th
sold out
TRAMPLED BY TURTLES W/ NORA JANE STRUTHERS & THE PARTY LINE Palm Theatre 11pm show Ages 21+ sold out
FRUITION Swede-Finn Hall 11pm show Ages 21+*
June 19th
LEFTOVER SALMON Palm Theatre 11pm show Ages 21+ sold out
MUSTERED COURAGE Swede-Finn Hall 11pm show Ages 21+* sold out
June 20th
sold out
TROUT STEAK REVIVAL Swede-Finn Hall 11pm show Ages 21+* sold out
sold out
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My 1 year old Piper’s first festival & Sam Bush’s 41st –Kerry Riley
June 21st
NEW LOCATION 333 WEST COLORADO AVE. UNIT 2 (970) 728-9592 TELLURIDEMUSIC.COM
zz top sharon jones and the
dap-kings
GREGG ALLMAN & THE TA J M A H A L JOHN HIATTCOMBO ANDERS OSBORNE LEO “BUD” WELCH
THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA BLACKBERRY SMOKE
THE REVIVALISTS OTIS TAYLOR’S HEY JOE OPUS RICH ROBINSON
rd y bi s l r ea icket le t lab IC & i S avaLURIDE MRDU TEL
A WIZ
TAB BENOIT MONOPHONICS WITH SPECIAL GUEST BEN L’ONCLE SOUL THE REVEREND PEYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND ROY ROGERS AND THE DELTA RHYTHM KINGS WITH SPECIAL GUEST CARLOS REYES
NATHANIEL RATELIFF & THE NIGHT SWEATS THE BRIGHT LIGHT SOCIAL HOUR THE LONDON SOULS THE APACHE RELAY HILLSTOMP BEN MILLER BAND EAGLE EYE WILLIAMSON CARY MORIN CW AYON TYREE MORRIS & HEARTS OF WORSHIP THE JOHNSON COUNTY CORONERS
PERFORMANCE PAINTER SCRAMBLE CAMPBELL
COMEDIANS: TROY WALKER BRENT GILL STEPHEN AGYEI
www.TELLURIDEBLUES.com
42nd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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Homespun joy and contentment; This is what peace on earth looks like –Daniel Webster
SUSTAINABLE FESTIVATION
& THIS PROGRAM This year’s program & pocket schedule are printed on FSCPlaceholder certified Neenah Conservation 80# Cover and 70# Text paper at OneTouchPoint Mountain States, an FSC-certified printer in Denver.
FSC
By using this 100% post-consumer recycled fiber made with 100% renewable energy, we saved 16,172 pounds of wood, 24,298 gallons of water, 1,538 pounds of carbon emissions, and 1,626 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.
42nd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival
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Dates to Remember Telluride Bluegrass
Online Survey
Our Lyons, Colorado Events... July 19-23, 2015 July 24-28, 2016
RockyGrass July 24-26, 2015 July 29-31, 2016
Throw down your virtual tarp year-round, commune with your fellow Festivarians, and be the first to hear about lineups, tickets, & giveaways… FESTIVARIAN.COM • FACEBOOK.COM/PLANETBLUEGRASS
June 16-19, 2016 June 15-18, 2017 June 21-24, 2018
RockyGrass Academy
Virtual Tarp
The Song School August 9-13, 2015 August 14-18, 2016
Rocky Mountain Folks Festival
August 14-16, 2015 (25th Annual!) August 19-21, 2016
2016 Tickets
Visit Bluegrass.com beginning in October for details about purchasing tickets through our online lotteries, including Telluride Bluegrass camping in Warner Field and Town Park. All other 2016 tickets go onsale in early December.
42 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 43rd Annual next June.
WWW.BLUEGRASS.COM/TBFSURVEY The Highly Anticipated New Album by the 2014 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition Winner
“BRIGHTER EVERY DAY” Produced by Chris Pandolfi of The Infamous Stringdusters Available Online and In-Stores NOW www.TroutSteak.com
Planet Bluegrass would like to thank our Lodging Partners
RESERVE YOUR 2016 LODGING NOW AT
TELLURIDEBLUEGRASS.COM/LODGING
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From Thursday welcome home hugs to Monday goodbye hugs and the memories in between –Maple Al
proud to
support
pTelluride
Bluegrass Festival!
Stop by the New Belgium tent daily to find out how you could go home with a New Belgium Cruiser Bike.
newbelgium.com beers and ales brewed by new belgium brewing fort collins co