I just got back from the 33rd annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival and all I can say is wow! This was one of the best if not the best festival I’ve attended (haven’t missed one since 1998)! Every day of the festival hosted incredible music, friends and fun. It was cloudy on Thursday and Friday and blistering hot on Saturday and Sunday.
On Thursday, the festival got kicked off by Tim Obrien and Molly Obrien which is always a treat and this year Molly brought her daughter along to sing. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Next up were the Wayward Sons who were one of my new discoveries of the festival. Neko Case and The Drew Emmit Band (although I miss Leftover Salmon so much) were also killer acts for a Thursday, but I can’t decide if the highlight of the day was the Strength In Numbers reunion (comprised of Sam Bush, Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer, Tim O’Brien, Bryan Sutton ) or Bonnie Raitt. I totally dig Bonnie and her band, especially the keyboard player John Cleary.
Friday ushered in some great performances from David Grier & Mike Compton , The Greencards, Jerry Douglas Band (who I was in the front row of the poser pit for), Béla Fleck & the Flecktones and Drive-By Truckers (who were by far the loudest act I’ve ever seen at the festival). It was great to see the Flecktones again because they were on hiatus durint 2005 and because they played material from their new album The Hidden Land which IMO is the best album they’ve put out since Flight of the Cosmic Hippo.
Saturday was a great day and I managed to stay out of the heat and still catch all of the best perfomances. Greensky Bluegrass won the band contest which was great because they are a really tight group. Check them out if you have a chance. Next up was Tony Rice & Bryan Sutton who are arguably the two best bluegrass flat pickers alive. Its amazing to see two musicians play together that have such a huge mutual respect for eachother. Bryan Sutton’s inspiration was Tony Rice and it shows in his style. John Cowan Band was great as always. Yonder Mountain String Band was the highlight of the day for me. I’ve never been a huge Yonder fan untill now. I’ve seen them at least a dozen times and for some reason I saw them in a new light this time. They’ve evolved so much and the songs from their new album are incredible (no wonder it is number one on the billboard bluegrass albums chart). Missy Higgins (described to me as Australia’s version of Nora Jones) has one of the most beautiful voices I have had the pleasure to hear. The Sam Bush Band at Telluride Bluegrass was and always be the most rocking performance on the planet. I was a little concerned because apparently this year Sam had to be rushed to the hospital in Montrose via ambulance due to chest pains. This happened on Thursday, Sam said that he heard Bonnie Raitt call him onstage from the ambulance. He said that it was just a virus, but its still scary nonetheless. To close the show on Saturday there was sould music James Brown style in the form of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings which took the whole festival by suprise, they kicked ass.
By Sunday I was pretty much spent, but I still had enough energy to enjoy Peter Rowan & Tony Rice (although only over the radio), Del McCoury Band, Tim O’Brien Band, Nickel Creek, John Prine and Barenaked Ladies. In fact, John Prine was the highlight of the festival for me. I’ve been a fan of his for many many years and his new album Fair In Square is in daily rotation on my iPod. I wasn’t sure what to expect from John Prine having never seen him… Boy did he deliver the goods, didn’t miss a note, what a treat. And to cap the festival off there was Barenaked Ladies who I admitedly expected to suck. Boy was I wrong, in addition to being killer musicians they were funny as hell. Barenaked Ladies were great performers who I would recommend seeing live to anybody.
It seems like no matter how much fun I have at this festival I always leave thirsty for more great music next year. I can’t really describe how much fun it is and how good of a job the folks at Planet Bluegrass do of puting on the festival. I highly recommend checking it out if you get the chance!
You can see my entire photo stream from the festival on flickr here.