The 52nd annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival brought a stellar lineup to the Colorado mountain town this weekend, with artists from Zach Top and Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit to Alison Krauss & Union Station and I’m With Her on the bill. There was also a special celebration of Toy Caldwell, the late guitarist and singer for Marshall Tucker Band, by the supergroup Toy Factory Project.
“What’s special about Telluride is being on that main stage,” Aoife O’Donovan of the supergroup I’m With Her tells Rolling Stone. “Being in the belly of this gorgeous canyon and looking out into the mountains — it takes your breath away.”
Adds Tim O’Brien, a regular at Telluride: “It’s a magic spot. It was like a chemical reaction when they started this thing.”
Initially, the TBF started as an impromptu barbecue jam in Town Park in 1973. At the time, the locals wanted to hear live music, fire up the grill, and celebrate the start of summer. A year later, the gathering was dubbed the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
“Summer solstice and Telluride to watch music? It’s the best venue to watch music in the galaxy,” says Craig Ferguson, the festival director and also president of Planet Bluegrass, the organization behind TBF. “No matter where you start from, once you come up that box canyon, you’re a kindred spirit when you arrive.”
Telluride Bluegrass Festival may get some of its power from the stunning, rugged backdrop and the amalgamation of Americana, country, folk, and rock music performed amidst the scenery. But bluegrass music will always be at its core.
“We were on a quest, all of us young musicians,” says O’Brien, a multi-instrumentalist, who first came to Telluride in 1975. “We wanted to expand the envelope a little bit, but keep the traditions [of bluegrass] strong. And the crowd really supported all of that, and it’s still happening.”
Here’s more of the best things we saw in the Rocky Mountains.
Greensky Bluegrass go for No. 15.
Greensky Bluegrass rolled through their signature blend of bluegrass and Americana with a rock attitude at the Palms Theater on the far end of Telluride. This year marks the band’s 15th appearance on the main stage. It’s a somewhat yearly tradition that Greensky doesn’t take for granted.
“Bluegrass is in the name, it’s at the heart of the band,” says Greensky frontman Paul Hoffman. “But we’re so much more than bluegrass. We let our hearts lead our music, not the name of the genre.”
Greensky won the fest’s storied band competition in 2006. To note, they didn’t pre-register, but simply wandered in to see if there was any room left for one more band in the contest. That accolade became a launching pad into the national spotlight for the young group back then, who are currently celebrating their 25th anniversary as a marquee act on the touring circuit.
“It was such an important landmark in the band’s trajectory,” Hoffman says of the 2006 honor. “It put a lot of wind in our sails. It felt career-defining to be part of this event.”
Mountain Grass Unit are the surprise of Telluride.
Making their TBF debut, in Elks Park downtown, Mountain Grass Unit delivered the surprise show of the festival. The Mobile, Alabama, quartet emphasized their high-octane pickin’ to the delight of the faces jammed into the small park. “[Telluride] has been this electric feeling of having people receive your music, and receive it well,” mandolinist Drury Anderson says. “One of the coolest things is to be here and share that experience with basically our heroes.”
I’m With Her deliver the goods and the guests.
At 11:30 p.m. Friday, I’m With Her emerged behind a lone microphone at the Sheridan Opera House on North Oak Street. The cozy venue (capacity: 264) was built in 1913 and has retained its authentic western charm with its century-old aesthetic. It also plays host to many of the “NightGrass” showcases, including IWH, who brought out numerous special guests, including Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Noam Pikeln,y and Brittany Haas.
“Oh, lord, I’m going to ramble, ‘til I get back to where I came,” Welch, Rawlings, and I’m With Her sang on a rendition of Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freightliner Blues.” “Oh, white Freightliner won’t you steal away my mind.”
“Coming back to Telluride is like returning to port after sailing around the world for a year,” Rawlings says. “You bring back your stories, all you have learned and gathered, and share it. The whole motley crew sings and celebrates, then sails off again for parts unknown.”
I’m With Her (Photo: Katelyn Hillmeyer*)
Sam Bush is Telluride royalty.
Known as the “King of Telluride,” Bush has performed at every TBF since 1975. At that initial appearance, he was with his groundbreaking bluegrass outfit New Grass Revival, pioneers of what is now referred to as “jam-grass.”
On Saturday night, the Sam Bush Band bulldozed the main stage. With Bush at the helm, fingers flying up and down the neck of his mandolin, the 73-year-old stirred the crowd into a frenzy.
“I’ve grown up being here, I was 23 when I first came [to Telluride],” Bush says. “When we hit town and I see those Bridal Veil Falls, it still gives me chills — this is the best festival I get to play.”
Bush ended the set by bringing up Marcus King and Charlie Starr (their new rock endeavor Toy Factory Project debuted immediately following Bush), who plugged in their electric Gibson guitars and tore through a cover of “Mercury Blues” — the symbolic nature of the moment not lost on all present.
Zach Top shows his bluegrass roots.
While the rest of the country found itself in the midst of an early summer heat wave, the temperatures at Telluride dropped into the 50s by Sunday evening, just as newly-minted country star Zach Top and Alison Krauss & Union Station closed out the main stage.
“We appreciate you letting us turn this fine bluegrass festival into a honky-tonk for a minute,” Top told the rowdy audience dotted with cowboy hats, polished boots, and dinner-plate-sized belt buckles.
Top originally started out in a family bluegrass band, only to meander into country. And though he played some of his big hits (“Sounds Like the Radio,” “I Never Lie”), Top made sure to tip his hat to that “high, lonesome sound,” most notably with a rendition of the Stanley Brothers “Don’t Cheat in Our Hometown.” “Your bright eyes and your sweet smile are driving me insane,” Top crooned. “You think it’s smart to break my heart and run down my name.”
“This is on the Mount Rushmore of festivals,” Top told Rolling Stone following his set. “You can sit there, play a show, and just look at the hills.”
Alison Krauss makes a long-awaited return.
As one of the most anticipated acts of the weekend, Krauss returned to Telluride amid a current national tour in support of the Union Station album Arcadia, with several of the tunes in the set list.
Surrounded by a murderers row of string musicians, including Dobro king Jerry Douglas (who did a rousing solo take on the Allman Brothers’ “Little Martha”), Krauss remains the gold standard of bluegrass and country music. “We’ll make music ‘til the rafters ring,” Krauss sang, her soul-stirring, songbird voice echoing across the canyon during “Sawing on the Strings.”
“We’re so glad to be here folks,” Krauss addressed the crowd. “It’s been a long time.”
Alison Krauss (Photo: Anthony Verkuilen)
The Punch Brothers do their official duty.
The Punch Brothers tied a bow on the weekend with an intimate performance at the opera house. It’s become an annual tradition to have the group close out the fest at the venue.
“We all use music to make life make a little bit more sense,” the group’s Chris Thile says. “And here, we’re able to celebrate the goodness of humanity.”
A TBF attendee and performer since 1993, Thile is also tapped each year to open the festival Thursday morning as a solo act. Both the landscape and the music never cease to amaze and inspire him, he says.
“The first thing that we do when we find beauty is that we want to share it with someone,” Thile says. “And this is one of those places where that’s been happening for a long, long time.”
