2023 Telluride Bluegrass Festival

PROGRAM

Well, I sure would like to say this was all part of a grand plan, that we had a vision for 50 years of Festivation, but the truth is we kinda just stumbled into it. If I think back to that rst sunny solstice weekend, we were lucky that everything fell into place! Back then, we were doing our best to gure out how to put on a show. I sure as heck wasn’t thinking this far into the future! Kooster and Fred would have gotten a real kick out of seeing y'all gathered here for the 50th. I know I do.

Oh but to think back, I suppose I would be remiss not to start with Sam. I remember the rst time I met him. Heck, I gured he was just another long haired hippy who thought he could play the mandolin. I wasn’t wrong on either count, but I was happy to learn that Sam is so much more than the eight strings he plays. He’s been my best friend now for 49 years. Pretty hard to say there isn’t some magic in that.

After Sam and I met, I feel like I really started to come into my own. He brought out a fun side of me that I had never experienced. Some of those stories are probably best left out of print, but I digress. Despite how much fun I was having, I tried to keep myself grounded. I watched as a beautiful community of Festivarians, musicians, and staff began to form. It was a simpler time back then, with nowhere near the rules we have to follow today. I didn’t know what the word “curfew” meant until the mid-eighties!

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, though. I can remember more than a few times that I wanted to give up. Maybe the money wasn’t there, maybe I couldn’t nd space for all your darned cars, maybe I was just tired, but I couldn’t let go. It might sound cliché, but I had a sneaking intuition that this was bigger than me. On one of my lowest days, Saint Festivaria spoke up. She reminded me that what I do spans far beyond music and this place I call home. I knew she was right, and I knew I could never stop ghting for the love, harmony, and beauty I worked so hard to introduce to the world.

But of course, Saint Festivaria wouldn’t have me do it alone! In the late eighties, I was introduced to the good folks on Planet Bluegrass. Now, they were about as inexperienced in the festival realm as I was at the beginning, but they weren’t afraid to make big changes and take risks. With their help we had some of the best years I can remember. I got to meet a whole new world of musicians like James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt, Janelle Monae, Nora Jones, and Brandi Carlile! Talk about starstruck.

I owe a lot to Ferg and the Folks on Planet Bluegrass. Even when the whole world got sick they didn’t lose faith in the vision of what we do. They helped me adapt and hang on, ensured I would make it to today, where I get to celebrate 50 years alongside 12,000 of my closest friends. As I look back on a life of making memories, spreading joy, and creating harmony, I realize I truly am the luckiest festival on the planet. I can’t wait to see what the next 50 years look like!

with gratitude, the telluride bluegrass festival

Backstage Security: Eric Abramson, Joshua Appelbaum, Olivia Breen, Tara Doran, Ian Frodesen, Colin Goldstein, Tom Hannahs, Chris Klatt, Shane Oltmanns, Aaron Payne, Rich Phan, Danielle Pollack, Steven Sherman-Boemker, Mark Smither, Shea Szymanski, Josh Thomas, Rosalee Walsh, Bill Wilson

Pit Master: Hunt Worth

Pit Crew: Terry Fernald, Jon Foote, Stiff Patterson, Bernt Riffe

Overnight Security: Shawn Williams, Gary Broughall, Carlos Figueroa

Camping Supervisor: Kathleen Morgan

Town Park Campground Hosts: Jessica Heady, Fawnda Rogers, Alex Wissing, Kelly Yountstrom

Zone 1 Camping Hosts: Aaron Cooklin, Mo Hanna

Warner Field Campground Hosts: Kimberly Galler, Katie Geissler

Gate Staff: Josh Blakeman, Karl Cody, Nicole Cooper, Micaela Fleming, Doug Furguson, Ruth Hensen, Heather Keith, Katie Papin, Shirley Purdy, Carol Reece, Consuelo Reyes, Fran Windsor

Town Park Gate Supervisors: Marilyn Branch, Larry Stewart

Pedestrian Bridge Supervisor: Calvin Poon, Jared Fisher

Backstage Security Supervisor: Kelly Gratz

Lawson Hill Campground Hosts: Aurhianna Sandefur, Shelby Thomas, Laura Taschek, Amy Hardy, Serena Spor

Mary E Campground Hosts: Ben Kirk, Dan Davenport, Adriana Galue, Toni Carter

Valley E-Team Supervisor: Steve Green

Parking Supervisor: Dennis Green

Assistant Parking Supervisor: Susan Ensor

Vehicle Gate Supervisors: Mary Alice Wagner, Jill Anderson, Julie Evans, Ed Janus

Barricade Supervisors:

Ann Gabbot, Zanna Dobbs

Offsite Parking Supervisors: Kevin Ensor, Doug Hendrickson, Kivi Ferrin, Hans Borbe

Backstage Hospitality/Artist: Supervisor: Amy Mendonca

Backstage Hospitaltiy: Cece Delhaute, Iris Ruckel, Tessa Wieszcholek

Backstage Catering Supervisor: Markus Chesla

Backstage Catering Sous Chef: Tom Corrado

Artist Transportation Supervisors: Jeremy Matsen, Edward Kean, Gary McCrumb

Box Of ce Manager: Geoff Wickersham

Box Of ce Supervisors: Jelena Caplan, Nichole Elmore

Volunteer & Vendor Supervisor:

Allison Grimes

Media & Partner Relations:

Grace Barrett

Sustainability & Contests

Supervisor: Kyra Holt

Harmony Greene Supervisors: Wendy McFarland, Suzanne Teele

Concessions Supervisors: Jill Brzezicki, Michael Colon, Bob Satter eld

Communications Supervisors: Luci Reeve, Sandy McLaughlin, Shine Pritchard, Melissa Kennington

Country Store Manager:

Dustin Boyd

Country Store Supervisors: Pat O’Kelly, Robert McSwegin, Sean Sissel

Artist Consignment Supervisor: Kara O’Kelly

Family Tent Supervisor: Melissa Sumpter Harris

Elks Park Workshop & Contest

Supervisors: Steve Szymanski, Edee

Gail, Chandler Holt, Charlie Bailey

Elks Park Workshop Sound: Dean Rolley, Vicki Phelps, Colin Casanova

Elks Park Workshop Transportation: Tom & Nancy Richards

Stage Design: Ann Hall, Jacob Leeuwenburgh

Park Beauti cation: Madison Kean, Claudia Kean

Libation Station Supervisors: Pam Bennett, Scott Kelley, Ashley Story, Dennis Andrejko

Nightgrass Supervisor: Elle Kane

50th Anniv. Museum Curator: Jon Hill

Master of Ceremonies: Chris Daniels

stage crew

Stage Manager: Skip Kent

FOH Engineer: Tom Holmes

Monitors: Mike Bove

Backstage Manager: John Setser

Stage/FOH: Garth Michael

Lighting Director: Dave Hall

Lights: Jim Hurst

Audio: Mark Miceli

Stage Lead: Steve Anderson

Stage/Monitors: Brent Healy

Stage Patch: Ric Teller

Stage: Justin Milner, Rhett Snyder, Talia Krause, Levi Lokey

Labor/Spots: Tim Terito

program staff

Editors: Grace Barrett, Kyra Holt

Design and Layout: Pat Creyts

Contributing writers: Steve Leftridge, Charlotte Bell, Grace Barrett, Kyra Holt, Zach Tucker, Amy Wanninger, Pat Creyts

Advertising: Grace Barrett, Kyra Holt

Photography: Benko Photographics, NOCOAST, Josh Elioseff

Printing: Matt Coburn, Cottrell Printing

Cover Image: William Matthews

planet bluegrass year round staff

President & Alpaca Herder: Craig Ferguson

Director of Operations: Zach Tucker

Sales & Box Of ce Manager: Geoff Wickersham

Director of Communication and Partnerships: Grace Barrett

Artist Relations and Wedding

Coordinator: Amy Mendonca

Volunteer & Vendor Coordinator: Allison Grimes

Sustainability Coordinator: Kyra Holt

Festivarian Relations: Early Ferguson

Talent Buyer: Chandler Holt

Groundskeeper: Jelena Caplan

Ranch Crew: Tony King, Wyatt Lafollette, Griff Ferguson Of ce Dogs: Luca, Hazel, Maisie, Stella

thanks to our festival partners

Upslope Brewing Company, Eco-Products, Canyon, Stem Ciders, Spirit Hound Distillers, Klean Kanteen, Meier Skis, Chaco, Kelty, Rocky Mountain

Cannabis & Green Dot Labs, Mountainsmith, Leave No Trace, Atlasta Solar Center, Aclymate, Zeal, EcoAction Partners, Ibex, Ozo Coffee, Eldorado Natural Spring Water, Sierra Sage/Green Goo, Yoonit Wine, Coyote Gold, Tapestry, Martin Guitars, Titus Adventure Co., Yamaha, and Telluride Express

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.

50 50

50

years is an extraordinary run for any event,particularly one that was started by hippies who knew nothing about business or event planning! Fred Shellman loved bluegrass music and wanted to share it with his friends in Telluride, when he started the Telluride BluegrassFestival in 1973.He had a band,Fall Creek, and he had high expectations.NewGrassRevival was his favorite band andSam Bush his favorite musician!! He invited Sam for the second Festival,and he’s been coming every year since!!

Fred also wanted a wonderful poster. The first few had been created by a series of different local artists, and they were cool. Then Fred came to me in 1983 and asked me to get involved. For my first poster I painted Bridal Veil Falls turning into a banjo, and a tradition was born. Every year the image has to reflect the festival culture and the community ofTelluride.

I’ve been listening to bluegrass since the early sixties, when Flatt & Scruggs played the theme song for the Beverly Hillbillies. I’ve known and done album covers for many of the greats including New Grass Revival, John Hartford,theDillards,BelaFleck,DocWatson, Peter Rowan, and Hot Rize. I have huge respect for bluegrass music and the musicians that inhabit this universe.

The festival grew in scope and expanded in adventurous ways. World music invaded every aspect of the Americantraditions, including jazz and soul. Acoustic instruments morphed into electric ones, and the traditional lines became blurry-blame it on New Grass. Many new traditions grew, like the Sunday morning gospel set!!Throughout the years, as we grew and hadfamilies, the posters reflected those changes.

This is the fiftieth year of the Festival,the Golden Anniversary, and the poster reflects that, in the same way that the twenty-fifth was the silver anniversary, when the poster featured the silver dobro playing of JerryDouglas(instrument courtesyofDanSadowsky).

This year’s poster elicits the dreamscape we all feel as the sun sets in the canyon, the intense evening light that brings anticipation, L’Heure Bleue. It transcends the music we love, and takes us back to that canyon where it allbegan.

–

William Matthews

special “Museum of Bluegrass” to showcase some of our favorite moments (and yours)!

What better way to celebrate 50 years of Telluride Bluegrass Festivation than with a physical walk through the years? museum

In the preparation of the 50th Anniversary of this beloved Festival, our staff has been poring over archival photos, rummaging through old boxes of memorabilia that have been tucked away, and oohing and aahing while watching never before seen video footage (unless you were there when it happened of course). The words “Oh remember that…,” “What year did they play?,” and “Look at their hair!” seemed to be playing on repeat in our of ce.

It’s been so fun traveling back through Festival time. We couldn’t let this Golden anniversary go by without sharing these collective memories, so we’ve curated a

Come stroll through the Museum for a chance to look through all 50 posters, purchase retro 1st Annual Telluride Bluegrass shirts, watch video footage in the Museum Theatre, reminisce to a slideshow of Festivarian submitted photos, put your mark on how many years you’ve been to the festival, and more.

The Museum is located between the Box Of ce and Main Festival entrance next to the Warming Hut (near the large pointy white tent). It is open to the public.

Ready to learn a little, check out our partners, visit the Museum of Bluegrass and have fun while you’re at it?

Using the questions below, ll in the crossword puzzle in the pocket schedule and turn in your completed card at the Planet Bluegrass tent in Harmony Greene. Daily prizes will be selected as well as a Grand Prize – Meier Skis with special Planet Bluegrass design. You need not be present to win.

across

1 What tasty treat did a mountain lion enjoy during the Festival in 1991? (Hint: Go to the Museum of Bluegrass and look at our eclectic collection of historic photos).

3 The initials of the artist who has played the Telluride Bluegrass Festival every year but the rst one!

5 The last name of our fearless Parking Supervisor who has been working the Festival since 1979 (Hint: Check out the “Ace Bluegrass Production Crew Article”).

8 Since 2007 Planet Bluegrass has voluntarily estimated and purchased carbon offsets to neutralize the Festival’s carbon footprint. Win a pair of 4-day passes with camping to the 2024 Telluride Bluegrass Festival when you offset your Festivarian _________. Check out Aclymate’s booth in Harmony Greene to learn more!

9 The ________ Creek Boys were the band that kicked off the rst Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

10 The future of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival has never looked so bright, especially if you're looking through the lenses of Zeal’s _________-based sunglasses.

11 The number of different stages in Town Park that the Telluride Bluegrass Festival has graced throughout its 50 years.

12 A new bubbly beverage made in collaboration with Upslope that bursts hints of orange and honey and is infused with bluegrass.

harmony puzzle grand

prize

down

2 Telluride sits at the end of a beautiful box _______________. This also happens to be the name of our edible THC sponsor.

4 The main object portrayed on the 1995 Telluride Bluegrass Festival poster (Go to the Museum of Bluegrass).

5 First name of the artist who has won the Telluride Troubadour contest and is also playing the Festival this year.

6 The first name of water color artist extraordinaire who has created over 26 of the Telluride Bluegrass poster masterpieces (including this year).

7 Located near the Country Store, _________ Greene is where to go to party with our sponsors, get informed on our sustainability initiatives, and turn in your completed crossword puzzle.

8 Nurturing the wondrous, fantastical, and musical spirit of the next generation of Festivarians, Living ________ is celebrating their 25th year in the Family Area.

We’re so glad you asked! Harmony Greene (you used to know it as Greentown) is what we’re calling our newly minted sponsor area. We call it that because these are our chosen partners that we feel are in sync with our values. If you have any questions feel free to visit our Festival Host centrally located under the Planet Bluegrass Tent. Open from gates to 6pm daily!

highlights of the happenings in harmony greene

Calculate and offset your Festivarian Footprint with our new Carbon Accounting partner ACLYMATE for your chance to win a pair of tickets with camping to next year’s Festival.

Enter our Campground Challenge at the LEAVE NO TRACE booth for a chance to win a pair of tickets with camping to next year’s Festival!

Grab a bag from the folks at MOUNTAINSMITH to help us pick-up micro trash in the festival grounds. Turn in your full bag for the chance to win awesome prizes daily.

Charge your cell phone securely in the sun at the ATLASTA SOLAR CENTER booth!

Bring an old synthetic baselayer and get new IBEX Merino baselayer at their wholesale rate.

CHACO repairs! Bring your old Chacos (worn out from excessive Festivating, we’re sure) and send them in to be repaired free of charge. While you’re at it, you might want to also check out the custom TBF strap we made for this year. Get ‘em while you can (aka only during the Fester)!

Turn in your completed Harmony Puzzle at the Festival Host tent booth for a chance to win a pair of 50th Annual Telluride Bluegrass branded skis from MEIER handmade in Denver, CO.

You could be the owner of a custom Telluride Bluegrass D28 MARTIN GUITAR when you enter the raf e in the instrument tent. All proceeds of the raf e will go to our local partners at KOTO

Daily Whisky, Beer, and Cider samplings! Come by and grab some tasters from our friends at UPSLOPE, STEM CIDERS, and SPIRIT HOUND DISTILLERS

DAILY AT 1PM & 5PM

UPSLOPE | STEM

SPIRIT HOUND DISTILLERS

beers

FestivAle is a wheat ale brewed with orange blossom honey, lemondrop hops and a subtle addition of spices. Toasty wheat notes are backed by a floral, citrusy aroma and a bright, delicate finish. Made in collaboration with Planet Bluegrass with a goal of having the perfectly sippable festival beer to enjoy all day long.

5.2% ABV

craft lager

Upslope’s Craft Lager is a premium American lager brewed entirely of malted barley. This Colorado-style session beer stands side-by-side with their family of premium ales to bring you a clean, easy, light-bodied lager for the ages. 2019 Great American Beer Festival Silver Medal winner in the ‘International-Style Pilsener’ category.

4.8% ABV

craft hard seltzers

skratch series: peach lemonade

The Spiked Snowmelt Skratch Series delivers thirst-crushing avors artfully crafted with Boulder-based Skratch Labs’ mineral blend for taste and enhanced mouthfeel. Power your passion for adventure (& dancing) with a one-two punch of minerals (sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium) and real fruit avor so you can keep it owing from day to night. Gluten free. 105 calories. 5% ABV

citra pale ale

Prominently featuring Upslope’s Citra hops, our Citra Pale Ale delivers pungent grapefruit and tropical fruit aromas on the nose with a semi-dry finish. Juicy notes imparted by the hops pair with the light caramel malt character to balance this drinkable, “go-to” American Pale Ale.

5.8% ABV

west coast style ipa

Upslope selected the nest hops from the Yakima and Willamette Valleys and paired them with a restrained malt bill to allow the hops to shine. Navel orange, ruby grapefruit and pine avors dance with bright tropical fruit character and notes of juicy melon. West Coast IPA nishes dry with rm bitterness to draw you into that next, refreshing sip. This beer is a pure expression of hops to be enjoyed at any time of year, at home or on the trail.

6.5% ABV

tangerine & hops

Crafted from pure snowmelt, all natural flavors, and a bubbly kick with no fake sugar, ingredients, or gluten to slow your roll. Tangerine & Hops is a citrusy call to get this party started. A hint of hoppy bitterness to brighten the tangerine and keep things interesting. Gluten free. 100 calories. 5% ABV

ciders wines

real dry

Dry | Gluten Free | 6.8% ABV

A delicate and crisp expression of our fresh pressed apples with a refreshing tart finish.

apricot haze

Off Dry | Gluten Free | 6.1% ABV

Bursting at the seams with Sabro, El Dorado, and Citra hops. A healthy dose of apricot lends a silky mouthfeel and juicy finish.

Stem Ciders is a craft cidery headquartered in Lafayette, Colorado, known for its adventurous exploration of avors and rede ning what is possible in contemporary ciders. Rooted in Colorado, they proudly support local ingredients and giving back to their communities. Stem Ciders is meant to be enjoyed in the company of friends. Cheers!

YOONIT is an eco-friendly company providing an experience in every glass where notes of music and avor dance together. With environmental packaging and gravity fed wine on tap, this local colorado company has removed the need for glass bottles, kegs, and electricity for storage. Find their lovely assortment at the wine bar, or have it shipped carbon free to your doorstep. Find out more at yoonit.com.

cocktails

coyote gold margaritas bloody marys

OPTION OF VODKA, GIN, OR WHISKY WITH

lemonade citrus tonic ginger lime shrub

Lost Identity Beverage Company produces our selection of Citrus Tonic, Ginger-Lime Shrub, and Lemonade. Specializing in unique avors and natural ingredients these drinks are crafted out of Vail, Colorado.

Coyote Gold was developed by margarita lovers for margarita lovers! Natural Margarita is the only authentic, all natural, ready-to-serve margarita on the market. Its smooth, refreshing taste made with premium tequila distilled from the Blue Weber Agave, handcrafted orange liqueur, pure fruit juice and Rocky Mountain water means no arti cial sweet and sour taste. You can nd CG in Colorado liquor stores in the “pre-mixed aisle!” Enjoy!

Spirit Hound Distillers in Lyons, CO uses custom-built distillation equipment to capture all of the purity and avor of their locally-sourced Colorado ingredients, such as freshly picked juniper berries and Colorado barley.

As we entered our second year working with Upslope Brewery, we got to thinking about what we could do to make this Golden Bluegrass anniversary experience extra spectacular for everyone involved. The answer seemed obvious and came to us immediately—a collaborative beer, duh! Something crisp, light, and highly sippable–perfect for long sunny solstice days chock-full of dancing. And thus FestivAle was born (or technically reborn, since we made a batch once in the early nineties)!

So, on a gray afternoon in early spring, the Planet Bluegrass team piled in Planet BlueVan (if you know you know), and headed to Upslope’s North Boulder location to brew a gosh darn beer! Needless to say, none of us knew what we were doing and felt entirely out of our depths but luckily the experts at Upslope were at our side. We brought the one thing we know a lot about (instruments), and let the Upslope team guide the way. Thank goodness for them!

We donned protective eyewear (OSHA is that you?) and got to measuring. Barley, wheat, hops, honey, and orange peels… Stir it all together with a banjo or mandolin for added spice and heightened harmony. Sprinkle in a few guitar picks to get that twang just right.

We can’t wait for you to try the fruits of our labor! Grab your own FestivAle at the libations tent, and stop by the Upslope booth in Harmony Greene each afternoon for small batch samplings and tap-side hangs.

Since 2007, Planet Bluegrass has committed to voluntarily calculate and offset the Telluride Bluegrass Festival’s carbon footprint by investing in meaningful, measurable projects that either pull greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere or prevent them from ending up there.

At the same time, we wholeheartedly believe that gathering together is not only good for our souls, but in many ways, it’s also good for the environment. For example, while Festivating the typical TBF Festivarian often emits less carbon than they would during their normal daily activities. It’s true that while Festivating we may overindulge in banjo rolls, campground shenanigans, tarp hangs, and FestivAle (have you tried it?!). However, it also means that we

so how does it all add up?

It’s a complex problem to analyze and one that we’ve been contemplating and re ning over the past 15 years using a massive in-house spreadsheet created with the help of expert consultants in the eld. So without further ado…in 2022, we calculated the total Telluride Festival Footprint to be 1055.5 MT CO2e (that’s equivalent to the emissions of driving 235 gasoline-powered cars for one year).

This year we’re proud to take the next step on our climate journey with our new Colorado-based partner, Aclymate. Offering an allin-one platform that helps small businesses track emissions, set goals, report, and purchase carbon offsets through their easy and affordable software, we felt a huge number-crunching burden lifted off of our plates.

Kyra Holt, Planet Bluegrass’ Sustainability Coordinator, adds, “What excites us most about what we are building with Aclymate is that we see this as a solution for other festivals and small businesses to quickly understand and make an impact on their climate footprint, too!”

2022 waste summary

forgo our normal daily commutes, use less energy while camping (about 4,000 of you!), and conserve water (yeah, we smell you...). And, thanks to the efforts of our compost crew and buy-in from our vendors, we collectively divert more waste into recycle and compost streams.

But…(and it’s a big one) there are still those pesky emissions from traveling to and from Telluride which produce approximately 90% of the total carbon created by the festival.

how does your individual festivarian footprint contribute?

Since Festivarian travel emissions make up the majority of the Festival Footprint, we saw a need to move past estimating attendee behavior into insights grounded in actual data. In conjunction with Aclymate, we are rolling out the rst-in-the-nation Festivarian, artist, and vendor survey that allows you to calculate your individual Festivarian Footprint. It takes into account your travel, lodging and potential avoided emissions from camping, adjusting your thermostat, and not driving daily. It also gives you the opportunity to offset your own emissions by investing in one of the four carbon offset projects that we’ve selected.

Aclymate co-founder William Loopesko notes, “It has been amazing working alongside Planet Bluegrass in designing and implementing such a cutting-edge project. Knowing that they’ve been at this for decades shows just how serious they are about making an impact.”

be entered to win a pair of 4-day passes with camping to the 2024 telluride bluegrass festival when you calculate your festivarian footprint and purchase carbon offsets!

...we see this as a solution for other festivals and small businesses to quickly understand and make an impact on their climate footprint, too!

2022 carbon footprint

carbon offset projects

To offset last year’s Telluride Festival Footprint we invested in two different carbon offset projects: Nepal High-Efficiency Cookstoves & China Hebei Province Wind Farm. Both projects are classi ed as emission avoidance projects and are third party veri ed. The Nepal High-Ef ciency Cookstoves project, in particular, spoke to us because it promotes women empowerment through the increased adoption of fuel-ef cient cookstoves.

Although there are many many projects to invest in, Aclymate has hand-picked four great projects for you to choose from when you purchase offsets: May Ranch Colorado Grasslands, Nepal HighEfficiency Cookstoves, Katingan REDD+ Forest Protection, and South Jordan Landfill Gas Capture. Did we mention that it costs about $5 to offset an average Festivarian Footprint?

If you’re interested in learning more about carbon emissions and carbon offset projects, you can nd the Aclymate team at their booth in Harmony Greene or check out Aclymate.com.

what can you do?

We always hear “what can we do?” so we hope you answer our call to action to submit your Festivarian Footprint survey. Many of you already have and we thank you for participating! It allows us to see where we have work to do, where we can engage our community, and for us all to be part of the climate solution.

With nearly 4,000 Festivarian campers sharing the gorgeous mountain environment in Telluride, it is vitally important for each of us to be mindful of our camping footprint. In collaboration with Leave No Trace and Eco-Products, we will be rewarding campsites that excel in creative, sustainable camping!

how do i participate?

This contest is open to all campers in any of the Planet Bluegrass-managed campgrounds. To nominate your own campsite or one of your neighbors, complete the 1-page campsite entry form at the Leave No Trace booth in Harmony Greene.

how do i win?

Campgrounds will be judged on three simple criteria:

CLEANLINESS

Are you keeping a tidy campsite? Are items secure and not susceptible to wind gusts? Are you safely disposing of cigarette butts? Are you securing your food from wildlife? Will you pack out as much as possible when leaving?

CREATIVITY

Are you utilizing any unique and innovative camping techniques to reduce your impacts? Are you upcycling any items from home?

SUSTAINABILITY

Are you separating your recyclables, compostables, and then placing them in the correct bins at the campsite waste stations? Are you reusing products (cups, utensils, water bottles, bags) instead of trashing them? Are you using any alternative energy sources to power your campsite? Did you bike or carpool to the Festival? Did you offset your Festival Footprint (Check out the Aclymate booth in Harmony Greene)? Did you

Visit our booth to:

Join our Cleanest Campsite Challenge

Learn more about Leave No Trace’s 7 Principles How to do your part in preserving the outdoors!

what do i win?

Random winners will be chosen throughout the weekend to win prize packages with goodies from our sponsors, including Leave No Trace, Mountainsmith, Chaco, Klean Kanteen, Zeal, and more.

Onegrandprizewinnerwillbeselectedafter the campground pack-out on Monday. This grand prize winner will receive a pair of FREE 4-day passes & camping (in the campground of your choice) for next year’s Festival!

Thanks to your thirst for delicious Colorado craft beer, locally-produced cocktails, cider, hard seltzer and wine, we were able to donate over $76,000 to local San Miguel County organizations last year including EcoAction Partners, KOTO radio, San Miguel Resource Center, Seas of Trees, Telluride Volunteer Fire Department, and Telluride Elks. Y’all were feeling extra generous, and as a result it was the biggest tip year we’ve ever had! With this year’s addition of FestivAle, we have a good feeling we’re headed right past last year’s record.

the tips you leave for our beer booth volunteers support a different local non-profit each day:

THURSDAY

• Seas Of Trees

• Ecoaction Partners

FRIDAY

• Mountain lm

SATURDAY

• San Miguel Resource Center

• Telluride Elks Lodge

SUNDAY

• Telluride Arts And Humanities

• One To One Mentoring

SPIRITS FREE WHISKY TASTINGS

• San Miguel Educational Fund (KOTO) grab

raise your reusable cup high! and cheers to you for supporting the telluride community.

We connected with the Leftover Salmon mandolinist and singer about his TBF roots and where it all began.

One of the most innovative and energetic mandolin players in the jamband and newgrass scene, the longevity of Drew Emmitt’s career speaks for itself. However, we love talking about our friends’ accomplishments, so we’re taking the opportunity to not only speak about it, but to shout about it!

This year marks Drew’s 27th performance on the Telluride Bluegrass Main Stage. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! It wasn’t hard to get him reminiscing about his time at the Fester over the last 30+ years, and lucky for you we took some notes.

“For me personally, [TBF] is probably the single most important musical event of my career. I appreciate it so much and it's a huge part of my life. Each year returning to this festival is a milestone.”

Drew had been in Colorado for ten years before being lured to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 1984 for some good ol' fashioned campground picking. “It poured rain and the campground was really still kind of primitive then. There was a big giant culvert in the campground and we picked in the rain,” he recalls.

“Back then the whole Front Range bluegrass scene would migrate to Town Park for the Festival” says Drew’s bandmate and friend of over 30 years, Vince Herman. “As you can imagine, it was rife with tomfoolery and foolishness.” Vince joined Drew at Telluride in 1986, and the rest was history. They have fond memories of their campground antics, speci cally the “nutter chaos” (Vince’s words, not ours) they caused whenever they played Anahuac.

“Anahuac is a loud, boisterous group sing-along song about a town in Texas” says Vince. “We decided that we would take our campground jam sessions and go around another campsite having a pick. Very quietly and secretly we'd sneak up and surround [them], jump in at the given signal, charge forward and sing the chorus.”

“[We would lead] a parade of 100 people through the campground. Just creating all kinds of mayhem and having a blast” Drew reminisces. And from this fantastical bedlam stems the ultimate Cinderella story: how a group of ragtag hippy campground pickers joined forces, combining their names (Left Hand String Band and Salmon Heads) to become the sensation that is Leftover Salmon.

“We went from the campground to the Main Stage, which is so signi cant. Telluride Bluegrass created us. We are de ned by the festival in so many ways. We are born of the Festival and it's everything to us. I’m really honored to have this many festivals under my belt.”

The biggest takeaway from our conversation was Drew’s overwhelming appreciation. Appreciation for the Festival, for his bandmates, and for the ability to return home to Town Park each year to his family of Friendivarians. Thanks for 27 amazing years, Drew. Here’s to 27 more, and then another 27 after that just for good measure.

As you may know, (or maybe you don’t!), we have a special tradition when celebrating artist’s anniversaries here at Telluride Bluegrass. Keep an eye on the Main Stage Friday before Salmon’s set. We have a little something up our sleeves…

The Family Tent provides whimsical, musical, and educational activities for children and their parents from noon-5pm on Thursday and 10am5pm Friday thru Sunday. We ask that parents please accompany their kids at all times.

living folklore

2023 is not only the 50th anniversary of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, it marks the 25th year of Living Folklore hosting the Kids Tent! Living Folklore is all about making stories come to life with interactive theater and performance that tickles the imagination and invites everyone to discover their own fantastical character.

With giant puppets, animal costumes for kids, silk ags, and stilt walkers, Living Folklore is a fantasy parade in a suitcase! With daily programs, a talent show, workshops, music, puppet-theater, clown yoga and entertainment for the whole family, the kids tent is a portal into a magical realm of dreams.

kids talent show

The ever-popular talent show returns Saturday afternoon for the 25th year.

dyenosaur tie dye

Ready to let your colors swirl and shine? Us too! Come create your own tie dyed shirts, dresses, or bandanas with our in-house tie dye experts at Dyenosaur Tie Dye! Learn folding techniques as well as the science of color, and chemistry of tie dye.

25 th annual kids parade

Join in the beloved kids parade that will weave its way through the festival grounds on Sunday at 2:45pm. This year the parade will be visited by a fleet of giant flying saucers from another dimension. These are friendly aliens who have own across many galaxies just to experience the magic of Planet Bluegrass.

betty hoops

Come buy and decorate a hula hoop! Sized for ages 2 years up to adults. Betty Hoops, 5-time Guinness Book Athlete, will be teaching for free both in the Family Area and in the Hoop Pit.

Every June songwriters and bands from around the world trek to 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

After a three-year hiatus our beloved Troubadour contest is back and, with pent-up songs waiting to be heard, we believe it will be better than ever. This year marks the 30th year of the Telluride Troubadour contest which introduces ten inspiring young songwriters to Festivarian Nation in Telluride. One of these artists will join past winners like Catie Curtis, Deb Talan, Gregory Alan Isakov, Caitlin Canty, and Emily Scott Robinson (2019 Telluride Troubadour).

TROUBADOUR FINALISTS

Singer-songwriters, not currently signed to a major recording or publishing deal, submitted songs beginning last December. In May, 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 dreadnought guitar featuring red spruce top, kola sides and back, ebony fingerboard, and abalone trim around rosette and perimeter. Cheer on your favorite Troubadours throughout the festival as they perform songwriter-in-the-round sets at Elks Park and live in-studio on the KOTO radio waves.

TROUBADOUR SCHEDULE

Troubadours perform in a randomly selected order.

Preliminary Round

Thursday, June 15, Noon

Elks Park Stage

Final Round

Friday, June 16, 2:30pm Elks Park Stage

Results

Friday, June 16, 4:45pm Elks Park Stage

The winning Troubadour performs a Main Stage set on Saturday, June 17 at 6:30pm

band contest

One of the foremost contests for acoustic stringbands, the Telluride Band Contest has helped launch the careers of The Chicks, Greensky Bluegrass, The Lil’ Smokies, and dozens of other past winners. This year’s bands will compete around a single microphone for a spot on the 2024 main stage lineup, an EP recording package from eTown Hall Studio and Airshow Boulder, and a complementary van rental from Titus Adventure Vans.

BAND CONTESTANTS Bands perform in a randomly selected order.

Bull Mountain Portland, OR

Elk Range

Carbondale, CO

Floodgate Operators

Crested Butte, CO

SCORING GUIDELINES

Gravel Yard Little Rock, AR

SLAY

Denver, CO

The Colorado College Bluegrass Band Colorado Springs, CO

The Cross-Eyed Possum Band Prescott, AZ

The Fly Birds Winchester, VA

The Fretliners Lyons, CO

The Wheelhouse Rousters Paducah, KY

BAND SCHEDULE

Preliminary Round

Friday, June 16 10:00am Elks Park Stage

Final Round

Saturday, June 17 9:30am Main Stage

COLORADO MUSIC HALL OF FAME INDUCTION

Performing at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival is an honor, a privilege and an opportunity that Yonder Mountain String Band has never taken for granted. You are a rare and wonderful gathering of passionate fans and extraordinary musicians who have made this experience a sacred one for us. We feel blessed to have had the support of Craig Ferguson and Planet Bluegrass from the very beginning. In our 25 years as a band, we have spent 23 Tellurides with you and that is why it feels meaningful to have our Colorado Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony here. We send our love and gratitude to fellow 2021 CMHOF inductees, friends and musical in uences Leftover Salmon, Hot Rize and The String Cheese Incident who celebrated their inductions in 2022. Finally, Yonder would like to take a moment to say how very grateful we are that the Festivarians have agreed to throw all the marshmallows at Nickel Creek this year.

by Charlotte Bell

There are some things you can rely on when you come to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. First, there’s the beauty—the welcoming cocoon formed by the San Juan Mountains rising up from the valley floor. Whether you’re attending the festival for the first time, or you’ve made it an annual event for decades, when you round Society Turn and glimpse Ingram Falls cascading down the mountain, you know your life for the next few days will be wholly different from the one you left behind.

And, of course, there’s the music. As a Festivarian of 40 years, I often don’t look at the lineup until right before the festival. That’s because I trust that whoever occupies any of the stages—main, workshop or Nightgrass—will treat us all to impeccable musicianship and a likely dose of unexpected magic. I look forward to hearing the festival mainstays, the artists who have helped build the festival for decades, and delighting in how they’ve evolved over the past year. I anticipate being dazzled by new, innovative artists unfamiliar to me, and I’m never disappointed. And then there are the inevitable surprises, the “set crashing” guests that add spice to the mainstage spectacle. This is woven into the festival fabric.

Many of us look forward to reconnecting with fellow Festivarians. Whether your festival family includes blood relatives, longtime friends or newfound companions that you see only during festival week, these relationships are foundational to our bluegrass experience.

an almost-invisible human infrastructure

But there’s a more subtle aspect of the festival experience that’s equally reliable, and absolutely essential. While thousands of Festivarians enjoy the music emanating from the stage, all around us, a cadre of committed festival fans are quite literally making the whole thing happen. Over the past 50 years, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival has assembled a passionate human infrastructure that most Festivarians may only barely notice. The festival production crew coordinates with the town, sets up the festival site, parks thousands of cars, helps campers load in and out of the campgrounds, maintains the ow of foot traf c and keeps Festivarians safe and happy. They arrive at their posts at 6:00 am or earlier, and most head home after midnight. The crew is a well-oiled machine that operates largely behind the scenes, but their impact is incalculable.

This was not always the case. The festival’s founders were not music producers; they were a bluegrass band. It was their passion for music and the beauty of their adopted hometown that inspired them

to consider the cockamamie idea of starting a festival to lure their musical heroes, New Grass Revival, to perform in this remote canyon. The Fall Creek Boys—Fred Shellman, John “Picker” Herndon, Kooster McAllister and J.B. Matteoti—knew nothing of festival production. But that didn’t stop them. Fortunately, some local friends—also not music producers—seized on the idea and, despite a steep learning curve, joined in to help make it happen.

Many of today’s key players began their journey in the early, notso-organized era of the festival. They created their positions from scratch, learning from their successes and from each new challenge. As the festival grew in size and stature, they adapted and refined their areas of expertise. They became unparalleled masters at producing a smooth, carefree experience for artists and Festivarians. The only reason you might not notice their work is that it is practically seamless. It is these hidden mainstays that Planet Bluegrass wishes to honor in the festival’s 50th year.

he was a force. i never tried to copy his style, but he was definitely quite the character out there.

the welcoming committee

How does a town of barely 2,600 people welcome 12,000 souls into a box canyon of limited size? The rst order of business is to decide what the heck to do with all the visiting vehicles. Parking and traf c control manager Dennis Green has been solving and re-solving this puzzle for more than 20 years. Dennis’s rst bluegrass festival was in 1979. “It was the only one I paid for,” he says. The next year, he volunteered. After that, he became a campground supervisor, collecting money at Town Park campground. Later, he worked at the vehicle gate until longtime production manager, Big Jon Eaton, convinced him to take over parking responsibilities when the previous parking master, Peter Spencer, retired.

One might equate the barricade to the festival’s welcoming committee. The folks who man the barricade are the rst crew members Festivarians see when they drive into town. Longtime Festivarians may remember Peter Spencer, who manned the barricade outside of town in a top hat and tux coat. Dennis learned the tricks of the trade from Peter. “He was a force. I never tried to copy his style, but he was de nitely quite the character out there,” says Dennis.

The parking job lasts eight days. During that time, Dennis oversees a crew of 33 paid staff members and a host of volunteers who manage to squeeze 11,000 cars into all the available nooks and crannies around the valley. Some 2,200 of those cars arrive on Saturday alone.

Because of continuing development on the valley oor, each year presents a new puzzle to solve. “There’s less parking space available every year. We pack them into smaller and smaller areas. The town’s become so built up that all the places where we used to park on the valley oor are no longer there.” Each year, he says, his team comes up with a contingency plan in case they run out of space. So far, they haven’t had to employ it.

Despite its complexity, the job comes with rewards. Dennis’s favorite part of the job is the crew he works with. “I like the bluegrass family, all the people we work with,” he says. “It’s an amazingly close-knit group. There are people I’ve known for years, including lots of people whose names I don’t know, but they’re still like family.”

the elements are always something of concern when you’re camping people. there’s been everything from lightning storms to snow to serious droughts...

a festival within the festival

The bluegrass campgrounds are festivals in their own right. Not exactly a wilderness experience, the campgrounds are more like tent cities with temporary neighborhoods. There are established extended family campsites where campers gather and festivate each year, and there are sites more nuclear in nature that often end up joining neighbors to form new extended families.

The community of campers flourishes largely because of the care Denise Mongan has committed to her work. Denise worked on site as a supervisor at the Town Park Campground from 1986 until 1992. Then in 1994, she became director of camping, overseeing all the campgrounds; and coordinating lodging for artists, staff, crew and sponsors. Her crew consists of 28 paid staff and scores of volunteers. Since campers are mostly settled into their festival digs by Thursday, Denise’s job becomes much easier for the remaining days of the festival, until the post-fest loadout when everyone packs up and leaves at once.

One of Denise’s biggest challenges is Telluride’s unpredictable weather. “The elements are always something of concern when you’re camping people,” she says. “There’s been everything from lightning storms to snow to serious droughts where you’re afraid campers are going to burn up the valley. There can be winds that blow everything away,” she says, remembering a year when some portapotties blew over.

What has inspired Denise to manage the campgrounds for so many years? “A big part of why I’ve enjoyed this work is the people who come to town once a year. We work together, face to face, for two to three weeks and then they go away. It’s a family of people that come to town every June. I’ve become great friends with them. I love the relationships we grew together, working in a really cool business. A lot of us have been doing this a very long time.”

As of this year’s festival, Denise has officially retired from her post. This weekend, she’ll shed her two-way radio and attend the festival as a Festivarian. A self-professed “music junkie,” she plans to relax and take in as much music as possible.

the interesting thing about this festival is that there are children of the children of the original attendees coming now. there are three generations. the feeling of watching these people coming in with their babies and strollers it’s just unbelievable.

security with a smile

John Cohn became chief of security in 1975, working both the bluegrass and jazz festivals. “I’ve never liked the term ‘security,’” he says. “It sounds kind of rough, tough. That’s not my M.O. at all. You’ve gotta take it seriously, but at the same time it’s always been a light atmosphere. You get 12,000 people together in one place, some are going to be non-compliant, but there’s never been any sort of danger.”

For the first 10 years, John and his staff patrolled the festival grounds atop horses. As the festival grew, securing the grounds on bicycles or on foot seemed more appropriate—and safer for all concerned. Now he oversees a staff of 60, whose areas include the perimeter and interior of the festival grounds, along with the backstage area. He doesn’t really monitor backstage though, because longtime backstage crew members, such as pit master Hunt Worth, have perfected the art of backstage hospitality.

He describes his job as crowd management. “Crowd management is keeping everybody on the eld safe and happy. If there’s an incident, it’s almost always alcohol related.” But incidents are rare, compared to the wild and woolly early days. In general, the Festivarian crowd has become tamer, and more family-oriented, than in the distant past. “The interesting thing about this festival is that there are children of the children of the original attendees coming now. There are three generations. The feeling of watching these people coming in with their babies and strollers—it’s just unbelievable. For me, there are 12,000 people and a big percent are family people who are having fun. My job has gotten a lot easier because of that.”

In general, John likes to take a hands-off approach with his staff. “I tell them, ‘Here are the parameters. You do what you have to do to get the job done. I’m not going to tell you how to do your jobs,’” he says. “When you do that for people, they really shine.”

One of John’s favorite parts of the job is helping reunite families after they’ve been separated. “When families temporarily lose each other, the times that they’re united with each other are unbelievable— the looks on their faces. The kids are so scared. They’re at the customs gate with police. We try to make them feel comfortable with toys, puppets, etc. As a parent if your kid is lost for 10 minutes, you can’t even think straight. When they nally meet and they run up to each other, it brings tears to my eyes.”

Pit master Hunt Worth feels like he’s got the best job in the whole festival. “I’m right up front. I’m basically the maître d’ for the V.I.P. area. I’m responsible for seating everyone. I make sure the production crew, box of ce staff and Country Store staff have chairs, along with investors, artists, and families of whatever band is playing at the time.”

Hunt began his relationship with the festival in the second year, selling 50-cent hamburgers out of the back of a truck. At the time, there were no concessionaires, so Hunt and his roommates painted a sign on a bed sheet, displayed it with a couple 2x4s and they were in business. “It was high tech all the way,” he says. He estimates he began working in the pit sometime in the rst 10 years of the festival.

Like Dennis and Denise, both Hunt and John credit longstanding relationships as their favorite part of the festival. “The best part for me is seeing people every year,” says Hunt. “Even after 40 years, so many people come back every year, staff, guests, artists. It’s always great to reconnect.”

“Relationships I’ve made over so many years are really strong,” says John. “The richest part for me has been meeting nice people, relationships you can look back on as you move through life. It’s just a great feeling.”

bringing it all together

From 1992 to 2010, Big Jon Eaton ran a whole lot of the show. As festival manager, his job was to pull together all the other areas of production— parking, camping, security and stage crew. Big Jon also coordinated with the town, speci cally with Parks and Rec Director Rick Harrington. “Rick was my co-conspirator,” he says. “He represented the town; I represented the festival. When we rst got to know each other, we were on either side of the fence. But we quickly got together on things, and became very, very close. There are so many great people on the town side of things.”

Big Jon’s superpower is problem solving. Says John Cohn, “Big Jon is one of the all-time great people to work for—his demeanor, his way of handling people. He has no ‘buttons,’ so his ability to solve problems in a positive way is amazing.”

Big Jon’s most enduring lesson is this: “I learned what a dedicated team can accomplish. What an amazing group of people. I could probably name 300 people who worked for us as supervisors, managers. It’s amazing how enjoyable it is when people are doing something they want to do and are really committed to doing it.”

they look to me to answer questions and take on any task and make everybody’s life easier. i’m not there for the money, or even the music. i’m there for the crowd, the artists, other planet bluegrass employees-the lifelong relationships.

the roving fix-it guy

Big Jon, and now Zach Tucker, who’s taken over the festival manager duties—and pretty much everyone else in production— rely on Rich “Big Daddy” Estes to x whatever needs xing from the festival grounds to the stage. Big Daddy roves around the park, doing whatever needs to be done. “I’m not afraid to do any kind of work,” he says.

Big Daddy works for Telluride’s public works division. “I set up a lot of things before the festival. I’m like a liaison under Zach. I do anything Zach, Craig [Ferguson, festival director] or the town wants done. Everybody associated with the festival from the town—I know what their roles are, who to contact. I’m the guy that gets things done. If I can’t x it, it’s not broken. That’s been my mantra for the past 40 years.

“They look to me to answer questions and take on any task and make everybody’s life easier. I’m not there for the money, or even the music. I’m there for the crowd, the artists, other Planet Bluegrass employees—the lifelong relationships. It’s the most constant thing I’ve ever done. I’ve never done anything 40 years in a row. Bluegrass is my go-to. It’s my rock.”

the secret to longevity and a view of the future

It’s probably clear by now that cherished relationships are key to keeping a hard-working production crew happy. John also cites Festival Director Craig Ferguson’s uncanny ability to hire stellar staff.

Craig says his hiring philosophy is “mostly intuitive.” At the same time, he acknowledges the phenomenal team that makes the festival happen. “I think so much of it has to do with the fact that what we do is produce these moments that allow people to go beyond their ordinary selves. People feel that and see the opportunity to be part of it. What we do draws the most well-intentioned people.”

These well-intentioned people include current festival manager Zach Tucker. Zach is part of a new generation that’s following in the footsteps of the longtime production crew. He began learning the ropes under Big Daddy’s wing. Now he oversees all areas of production and makes sure everyone gets paid. “I do all

the administrative work on the back end,” he says. “All of the supervisors have their world so dialed in it makes my life easy. it's a pleasure to work with them.”

While Dennis, John, Hunt and Big Daddy have no plans to stop what they’re doing anytime soon, they’re all happy to welcome the next generation into the production family. “Zach is part of a group of younger folks who are joining the challenge and becoming a team,” says Craig. “The young people coming in are so eager to keep on doing what we’ve been doing. It makes me so appreciative of the team that’s been doing it all these years.”

As we celebrate a bluegrass festival milestone this year, let’s raise a reusable beer cup to the passionate, hard-working production team. Next time you encounter a person wearing a two-way radio or staff shirt, be sure to let them know how much you appreciate them.

i

think so much of it has to do with the fact that what we do is produce these moments that allow people to go beyond their ordinary selves. people feel that and see the opportunity to be part of it. what we do draws the most well-intentioned people.

schedule of performances

JUNE 15 TH thursday

10:00am Gates Open

10:45 - 11:45am

Chris Thile

Noon - 1:00pm Bella White

1:15 - 2:30pm Long Jon

2:45 - 4:00pm

Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy

4:30 - 5:45pm Charles Wesley Godwin

6:15 - 7:30pm Del McCoury Band

8:00 - 9:30pm

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones

10:00 - 11:30pm The String Cheese Incident

JUNE 16 TH friday

10:00am Gates Open

10:45 - 11:45am Two Runner

Noon - 1:00pm Town Mountain

1:15 - 2:30pm The Peter Rowan Band

3:00 - 4:15pm

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba

4:45 - 6:15pm Leftover Salmon

6:45 - 8:00pm Sarah Jarosz

8:30 - 10:00pm Nickel Creek

10:30 - Midnight Greensky Bluegrass

JUNE 17 TH saturday

9:00am Gates Open

9:30 - 10:30am Band Contest Finals

10:45 - 11:45am Full Cord

Noon - 1:15pm Tim O’Brien Band

1:30 - 2:45pm Sierra Ferrell

3:00 - 4:30pm The Earls of Leicester

5:00 - 6:15pm Yonder Mountain String Band

6:30 - 6:45pm Telluride Troubadour

7:00 - 8:30pm Mary Chapin Carpenter

9:00 - 11:30pm Sam Bush Band

JUNE 18 TH sunday

10:00am Gates Open

11:00 - Noon The Infamous Stringdusters Bluegrass Gospel Set

12:15 - 1:15pm Yasmin Williams

1:30 - 2:45pm Punch Brothers

3:15 - 4:30pm Emmylou Harris with Watchhouse

5:00 - 6:30pm

Telluride House Band featuring Sam, Béla, Jerry, Edgar, Bryan & Stuart

7:00 - 8:30pm Gregory Alan Isakov

9:00 - 11:00pm Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

workshop stage

Workshop schedule subject to change. Please check for daily updates on sign boards.

JUNE 15 TH thursday

11:00am Birds of Play

Noon Troubadour Contest: Preliminary Round

JUNE 16 TH friday

10:00am Band Contest: Preliminary Round

JUNE 17 TH saturday

10:30am Throw Down Your Banjos

Noon Two Runner

1:30pm Town Mountain

3:00pm To Be Announced

4:30pm Andy Thorn & Bobby Britt

the

family tent AT ELKS PARK

thursday

10:00am - 5:00pm

JUNE 15 TH

Arts & Crafts, Tie-Dyeing and Free Time

10:30am - 2:30pm

Hula Hooping with Betty Hoops

1:00pm

Create Your Own Leave No Trace Pack Out Bag

3:00pm

Sunshine to Power by Atlasta Solar Center

1:15pm Troubadours: Lyle de Vitry

Gabrielle Louise Daphne Gale

2:30pm Troubadour Contest: Final Round

3:45pm Bryan Sutton & Friends

4:45pm Troubadour Contest: Winners Announced

5:00pm Wes Corbett & Friends

morning yoga

free at elks park

8:00-9:00AM

THURSDAY THRU SUNDAY (MATS AVAILABLE)

1:30pm Troubadours: Sean Magwire Lalo Hart Eliza Thorp

3:00pm To Be Announced

4:30pm The Infamous Stringdusters Happy Hour

Most activities at the family tent are free. Parents please accompany your kids at all times.

JUNE 16 TH friday

10:00am

Arts & Crafts, Tie-Dyeing and Free Time

Noon

Clown Yoga with Gumbo Wobbly & Friends

Noon - 4:00

Hula Hooping with Betty Hoops

12:30pm

Make Your Own Quacker & Kazoo with Gumbo Wobbly

1:00pm

Zany Puppet Mayhem with Dennis the Red

1:30pm

Story-Time with Gala the Flower Faerie

2:00pm

Create Your Own Leave No Trace Pack Out Bag

3:00pm

Kids music with Gala the Flower Faerie, Sol & Eve

JUNE 17 TH saturday

10:00am

Arts & Crafts, Tie-Dyeing and Free Time

Noon

Funny Bone Logic Games, Music and Stories

Noon-4:00pm Hula Hooping with Betty Hoops

12:45pm Mini Parade with Gala the Flower Faerie & Coco

1:00pm

Sunshine to Power by Atlasta Solar Center

2:00pm Drama Class & Talent Show Sign-ups

2:30 - 4:00pm The 25th Annual Telluride Kids Tent Talent Show!

JUNE 18 TH sunday

11:00am Full Cord

12:15pm Troubadours: Caitlin Cannon Jackson Emmer

Halley Neal Rob Drabkin

2:00pm Yasmin Williams

3:15pm Mike Robinson & Friends

JUNE 18 TH sunday

10:00am Arts & Crafts,Tie-Dyeing, Magic and Free Time

10:30am - 2:30pm Hula Hooping with Betty Hoops

Noon Story-Time with Gala the Flower Faerie

12:30pm Puppet Show with Dennis the Red

1:00pm Kids Music with Sol & Eve

2:30pm Parade preparations Until parade begins 2:45pm The 25th Annual Kids Parade

THURSDAY, JUNE 15 TH

chris thile

10:45 - 11:45am bella white Noon - 1:00pm long jon 1:15 - 2:30pm natalie macmaster & donnell leahy

Let’s look at the numbers. 50 years of TellurideBluegrass.That’seightyears older than Chris Thile. And it’s easy to remember Chris’s tally of TBFs: 2023 is his 23rd.

He was here rst at age 12, kneehigh to a bluegrasshopper, when he met Bill Monroe backstage in 1993. (The Father of Bluegrass would have been 81 at the time.) Legend has it the old master gave little Chris a quarter for playing the mandolin for him. That quarter would turn into a quarter-century of Chris giving us those sweet Thile Feelies.

So we can think of no better way to kick off our Golden Anniversary than with TBF’s ultimate fan and phenom, the incomparably brilliant Chris Thile, opening the Fest for the 9th consecutive year. Each year, Chris leads the charge of the we-made-it-back-again euphoria of theFestivarianfaithfulandembodies the incredible musical diversity and excellence of the annual Solstice sounds of the valley.

Chris is a one-man orchestra, a genius of genres, and a master of modes who oods our pineal glands with joy with every song, solo, story, and smile, Thileaving it all on the stage every time.

For years, Chris was the future of the Festival. Now, he is its beating heart, one that never stops. He will be the rst to help TBF turn 50. And we have no doubt that he will be on this stage when we turn 100.

For 50 years, we have established and nourished our only-in-Telluride traditions, building decades of memories with the TBF legends who come back year after year. At the same time, we continually look to the talented, inspiring young artists who will make up the future of our one-of-a-kind musical community.

We will celebrate that promise at the outset this year with the TBF debut of the ravishing Bella White on Thursday. Dancing along the fretboards between bluegrass yinjos and country music yangdolins, Bella is the new song siren of your Telluride dreams, a Calgary native with a dumplin-tender voice and the impeccable instincts to bend, oat, swing, and caress notes with gorgeous vocal phrasing.

Bella’s debut, 2020’s Just Like Leaving, revealed a songwriter of stunning lyrical acuity, old-time acoustic picking, and three-part harmonies all rendered with a rustic authenticitythatwouldhavebuttered Ralph Stanley’s biscuit.

This year’s Among Other Things shifts into countrier waters, expanding the instrumentation but keeping the knee-weakeninglybeautifulmelodies on an album excellent enough to incite a Country Store riot.

Still just 22, Bella’s sunshine set on Thursday is a can’t-miss moment from one of the brightest lights to carry us into the next half-century of Telluride Bluegrass.

Hey, make up your own jokes about the name of Dierks Bentley’s bluegrass side project Long Jon, but we hope you’ll be mature and keep it clean because this is one humdinger of a band with seven members so wellendowed with talent that you’ll prick up your ears and have a ball.

Among the world’s arena-filling country megastars, none loves Telluride like Dierks. He has a home here,heworshipstheTBFlegends,he generously supports KOTO, and now he is bringing his Nashville buddies here to jam.

How big is Dierks? He has landed 26 Top 10 singles, 14 Grammy nominations, and 10 smash LPs, including 2019’s Telluride-inspired The Mountain and this year’s Gravel & Gold, a title that re ects Dierks’s unique blend of bluegrass grit and country hitmaking.

Long Jon is made up of some of the slickest pickers in the biz, all vets of Dierks’s touring band, including award-winning singer and multiinstrumentalistCharlieWorsham,set to trade their electric instruments for some down-and-dirty barn-burning bluegrass.

So Long Jon is going to be quite a hang. But if the name instead reminds you of the seafood chain, we’re ordering up a seven-piece of golden-fried goodness. Or donuts? These guys are the icing on the TBF cake. Or long thermal underwear? We recommend saving those for later: Long Jon is going to be a hot one.

2:45 - 4:00pm

As Canadaphiliacs, we are as proud as poutine to have, in addition to Bella White, the sensational Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy to represent the Great White North on openingday.Theyarealsoahusband/ wife duo in case love is in the air for you Friskyvarians out there.

Natalie is the Nova Scotian Commotion—the fiddling, pianoplaying, step-dancing dazzler who has thrilled us at TBF three times. Donnell is the lead fiddling force behind the legendary Leahy musical family from Ontario.

The two tied the knot in 2002, four strings became eight and then kept multiplying as the couple’s seven children formed an army of ddlers and dancers, two of whom will be on hand in Telluride.

The Juno-Award-winning couple now leads Canada’s neo-traditional movement with their delirious genrejumping, foot-percussion-assisted instrumental re, and complex, quickchanging arrangements. (Hoopers: please start slowly.) And when they cut loose, backed by electric bass and drums, it’s like prog-rock meets hightideIrish,Scottish,andMaritimemania.

Theirnewalbum,theglobe-trotting Canvas, is a thrilling collection featuring guest appearances from the likes of Rhiannon Giddons and Yo-Yo Ma. So pre-stretch on Thursday and prepare for a blast of tunes from Donnalie that will both warm your heart and turn your tarp upside down.

Every year, our Foof team creates an artful, creative atmosphere for the Fest. If it’s colorful and brings a smile to your face, they were behind it!

This year, Ann Hall and Jacob Leeuwenburgh bring their artistic vision full of seasonal imagery, time travel, and dream worlds to our Golden Anniversary. Their vision was inspired by being on Planet Bluegrass, surrounded by a magical and musical love-filled world.

It is a challenge to compete with the beauty we are surrounded with in Telluride so Ann and Jacob hope to only enhance the already beautiful space by adding their creativity. They are so happy to share this huge art labor of love with all of you lovely Festivarians!

THURSDAY, JUNE 15 TH

charles wesley godwin

4:30 - 5:45pm

AmongthemanysuperlativestheFest has collected over 50 years, we are con dent that TBF has showcased the greatest hair of any festival on earth. Sam Bush’s newgrass mullet, John Cowan’s Bridalveil replica, Peter Rowan’s snow-goose yaway, Vince Herman’s bong-concealing beard, Emmylou Harris’s exquisite cascade, Del McCoury’s silver space helmet. No other Fest comes close.

And now we welcome Charles Wesley Godwin, a follically blessed sumbitch with a thick blonde coiffure and a beard of serious integrity. But if you close your eyes, you'll be just as impressed with him.

Godwin is a consummate tunesmith who combines elemental imagery, freethinking soul, and everyman directness delivered with barrelaged woodsiness, the hummingbird vibrato of a MacDougal Street folkie, andmelodiesastimelessashistales.

His debut album, 2019’s Seneca, is lled with rustic sketches, like little holler-wood movies, of Godwin’s West Virginiacoalcountrysteepedinbedrock Appalachian folkgrass traditions and rich autobiographical details that turn the personal into the universal.

2021’s How the Mighty Fall added electric edges, proving Godwin to be anacewithboth ngerpickedballadry and hard-country shitkicking. Amid a sold-out national tour, CWG stops in Telluride to take us on a breathtaking musical and emotional ride. Time to let your hair down.

del mccoury band

6:15 - 7:30pm

In 1968, Del recorded his landmark album Del McCoury Sings Bluegrass 50 years later, the master released the celebratory Del McCoury Still Sings Bluegrass. And 50 years into the Festival, we say Dellelujah.

Del is the ultimate Nashville cat, the archetypal high-lonesome singer, the dapper-suited and silver-pompadoured Bluegrass Hall of Famer, the man who sang lead for Bill Monroe, the nine-time recipient of the IBMA Entertainer of the Year, and the man Sam Bush calls the King of Bluegrass.

Del is the definitive patriarchal picker, our greatest living link to bluegrass’s origins, and the purest purveyor of traditional forms with the singular ability to both expand the perimeters of classic grass and to also make new material across all genres sound like 1959 again.

At 84, Del is not only still singing bluegrass, but he is doing it in peak form, still giggling through his G-runs, working his eyebrow-batics, squeezing his eyes shut on those keening tenor notes, and directing his peerless band.

When Del opens his mouth to sing, high on the Del-uride mountaintop, he summons all Festivarians to a euphoric celebration of the legacy and continued excellence of Del. His latest LP is last year’s Almost Proud Almost? We are bursting with pride that Del is with us again on opening night…still singing bluegrass.

béla fleck & the flecktones

8:00 - 9:30pm the string cheese incident 10:00 - 11:30pm

InTBFhistory,noonehasexpandedthe Festival's sonic universe more than Béla Fleck. From his revolutionary banjo atom-splitting in New Grass Revival to his cutting-edge jazz and world-music ensembles to an original concerto with the Colorado Symphony, Béla has been TBF's most adventurous musical trailblazer.

In the master’s own words, “When I joined New Grass Revival in 1981, Telluride was the central festival in their world,” Béla remembers. “As time went on, the Festival welcomed me to do my own thing, and that was a thrill. As long as they want me to come, I will be there.”

We do and he is. And Fleckivarians rejoice: He’s here with the earthshattering, Grammy-gobbling funk-jazz fusion-grass gods, the Flecktones. It’s the original lineup of bass genius Victor Wooten, Drumitar inventor Future Man, and piano/ harmonica wizard Howard Levy, the only musicians in the Milky Way who can keep up with the breadth of Béla’s talent and ambition.

This year’s Flecktones reunion is Telluride-centric. “This tour was triggered by Telluride’s 50th anniversary,” Béla says. “This will be our rst performing reconnection in many years, so in order to be ready, we put together a set of shows leadingintotheFestival.”Allofthose roads—Béla’s, ours, yours—lead here, for one unforgettable moment, tonight in Telluride.

Itchin’, are you? Us too! Bad. It's been a full decade since the String Cheese Incident has played Telluride Bluegrass, so this itch has spread into a full-body faunching, and we positively for our big 50th Anniversary.

After all, String Cheese are a seminal band in TBF history, one thattookjamgrasstothebigleagues, built a transcendent connection artist and audience, and created legions of Cheeseheads and their many subgroups—the Freekers, the Jellyfish, the Hoopers, the Pirates, the Kyle Stans, Team Moseley—you know who you are. And if this is your rst-ever Incident, welcome to the party: It’s easy being Cheesy.

TellurideBluegrassiscentraltothe String Cheese origin story. Soon after forming in Crested Butte, SCI played the 10 a.m. opening spot at TBF ‘94, tearing into a genre- uid song that was slicker than a hockey period and twice as long. Festivarian Nation was instantly transformed by a fusion of bluegrass, rock, funk, jazz, and Latin music swirling with psilocybic colors for a cross-generational dance party like none other.

So a Flecktones/String Cheese double-header on opening night? Did you pack a costume? How crazy is this going to get? How are we going to recover for three more days of Festivating? We don’t know. But, like you, we are itchin’ to nd out.

Greensky Bluegrass ~ Yonder Mountain String Band

The del mCCoury band

Railroad Earth ~ The Infamous Stringdusters ~ leftover salmon the travelin’ mCCourys ~ the lil smokies ~ lindsay lou special guests: sierra hull & justin Moses

FRIDAY, JUNE 16 TH

two runner 10:45 - 11:45am

It’s all about the number two. Two Runner: two women, two voices, two instruments, day two of the Festival. Plus, with two separate tarp lines, two runners will be vying for the same prime tarp spot to take in Two Runner.

Sam Bush could also tell you that in baseball, two runners cannot simultaneously occupy the same base, but in Two Runner, the bass is occupied by Ben Eaton.

Otherwise, Two Runner are rising folkgrass stars Paige Anderson and Emilie Ross. Anderson grew up as the guitar wizkid in Anderson Family Bluegrass and its later offshoot the FearlessKin.RosewasraisedonCeltic ddle traditions before studying at the Berklee College of Music.

Together, the duo locks vocal and instrumental lines—Paige on atpickedguitarsand clawhammered banjos, Emilie on ddle held down off the chin—with perfect old-tyme musical idioms while adding a modern hipster-hillbilly chic to Paige’s poignant songwriting.

This year, after videos of their rustic duets went viral, including a cover of “Highwayman”performedwhilesitting in the California desert, Two Runner released Modern Cowboy, a gorgeous debut collection of the band’s bucolic frailing and harmonizing.

Looking for the ideal way to ease into Friday? Two Runner have you covered, combining their voices and strings to create exponential rewards.

town mountain Noon - 1:00pm the peter rowan band 1:15 - 2:30pm

Telluride is where the beer is brewed from snowmelt and the music spills out of the bars, and we can think of no band better suited than Town Mountain for two-stepping at the Last Dollar Saloon, pint-swinging at O’Bannon’s, foosball throwdowns at the New Sheridan, singalongs at the Floradora, or wine ights at Side Work Speakeasy.

Indeed, Asheville’s Town Mountain are bluegrass ringers with rock-androll hearts, splitting the difference between traditionalism and rockytonk, racing up the bluegrass charts and collecting a pile of IBMA Awards, includingthe2013MomentumAward for Band of the Year.

Robert Greer (guitar), Jesse Langlais (banjo),PhilBarker(mandolin),Bobby Britt (fiddle), Zach Smith (bass), and Miles Miller (drums) blend redblooded melodies and communal picking across seven albums that have established Town Mountain as standard-bearers of gritty Americana countrygrass.

Their latest, Lines on the Levee, sounds like a mixtape of roots styles—red-dirtragers, ddle-happy Westernswingers,Levon-likecountryrockers, roadhouse boot-scooters, Tejanoesque waltzers—that frame stories of hardscrabble families and rip-roaring working-man blues.

They’ve been on our wishlist for years, so we are over the big ol’ Telluride moon to finally welcome the great Town Mountain to this mountain town.

Back in our 40th anniversary book, Pastor Mustard wrote that when Peter Rowan rst attended Telluride Bluegrass in 1977, he was “warm, brilliant, twinkly, transporting—and so, so constantly baked.” Legend has it that in those days if Rowan ran out of pills, he would eat a button off his shirt.

But now here he is, 80 years old, having played 43 of the Fester’s 50 midnight moonlights. Rowan is the only man alive to have played in bands with both Bill Monroe, singing lead for the Blue Grass Boys in the ‘60s, and Jerry Garcia, with whom he recorded Old and in the Way, the bestselling bluegrass album of all time. Only Pete stands as the historical connection between the twang and groove of those immortals, forever echoing through the walls of time.

His output as a musical sage is staggering: From Seatrain and Earth Opera to his dozens of solo records— bluegrass,country,rock,reggae—that have mapped the American musical landscape.Andthroughout,hisannual sets on the Shellman Stage continue to provide the deep foundation that grounds us all.

Today, Pete sounds as vital and inspired as ever, as heard on last year’s excellent Calling You From My Mountain. The wind is blowing across the mountain/Down on the valley way below. Telluride Bluegrass is Peter Rowan’s mountain. And the legend is calling you on Friday.

& ngoni ba 3:00 - 4:15pm

Here today, ngoni tomorrow. That’s why you can’t afford to miss the incredible Bassekou Kouyaté, the world’s premiere ngoni master.

For those of you so hungover today youcan’ttellthedifferencebetweenan akonting and a xalam, the ngoni is a WestAfricanstringedinstrumentmade from stretching the skinned carcass of a goat over a calabash. (And if that makes you hungry, these midday sets are a good time to visit the food vendors before lines get too long.)

The Mali-born Kouyaté is one of Africa’s most celebrated musicians, doing for the ngoni what Béla Fleck has done for the banjo. That is, he has expanded the boundaries of the instrument, adding strings, plugging into effects, and developing new pickingtechniquestocreatecrystalline cascades of notes. Unsurprisingly, Kouyaté and Béla toured together in 2010. (You don’t suppose Béla will make an appearance during Kouyaté’s set, do you?)

Kouyaté has brought his music around the world with his phenomenal band, Ngoni Ba, which features a host of ngonis in a range of tonal sizes, a phalanx of African percussion instruments, and the spectacular vocals of his wife and singing star Amy Sacko. And now they land here for an unforgettable performance in the TBF tradition of showcasing the greatest in world-music virtuosi. Don’t miss one of TBF 50’s most tarp-run-worthy sets.

FRIDAY, JUNE 16 TH

salmon

4:45 - 6:15pm

That’s right, Fishivarians: Leftover Salmon, the quintessential TBF latenight band, are playing midday on Friday. Sure, we are accustomed to Salmon’s bashgrass bedlam taking place after dark, but for our 50th Anniversary, we just couldn’t wait to get the party started. It’s Festivaaaalo’clock somewhere!

When Drew Emmitt (marking his 27th TBF this year) and Vince Herman joined forces back in 1989, they would soon be changing the lives of Festlonghairians forever by putting the all-night campground jamsontothemainstage,erasingthe line between artist and Festivarian, and creating decades of brand new good old days.

Musically, Salmon invented a heteromorphous hedonism that put the washboard in the country-reggae, the electric mandolin in the zydecofolk, and the steel-drum banjo in the jazzgrass, turbo-charging newgrass and becoming the mothership of pass-the-chillum string shredding.

Still, Salmon never forgot where they came from, as heard on the new Grass Roots, which nds them getting grassy again with a little Dylan, a little Dead, and jams with their musical progeny Billy Strings. You know the old adage: Tincture children well.

This Friday, it’s time for afternoon delight, Salmon-style. With these legends, that means looking back fondly, charging forward, and always reveling in the right now.

6:45 - 8:00pm

Friday is a glorious time at Telluride Bluegrass. We have our legs under us, the heavy hitters are coming out for the peak of the party, and the end of the Festival is nowhere in sight. This Friday, we’re going to tickle your tarp even more by bringing out one of the great Plectrumvarians of her generation: the sensational Sarah Jarosz.

Sarah’s prodigious conservatorytrained mastery of guitar, clawhammer banjo, and octave mandolin has been mesmerizing audiences since she was a teenager, and the tender warmth of her alto vocals and sophisticated songcraft have revealed a world-class talent of the rarest artistry.

It’s no wonder that she has become a Grammy machine, now with ten nominations and four wins, including Best Folk Album (2016’s Undercurrent), Best American Roots Performance (“House of Mercy”), Best American Roots Song (“Call My Name” as part of I’m With Her, the trio of Jarosz, Sara Watkins, and Aoife O’Donovan formed right here in Telluride),andBestAmericanaAlbum (2020’s World on the Ground).

Her latest is 2021’s spellbinding Blue Heron Suite, a song cycle about nding hope amid adversity, which bagged another nomination for Best Folk Album. It will all be part of a special career-spanning set on Friday as Sarah presents her sublime one-of-a-kindmusicalhybrid.Secure your spot for an all-time stunner.

8:30 - 10:00pm

“My God, it’s good to see you/right here in the esh.”

Those are the opening lines of Nickel Creek’s ambitious new Celebrants, their rst album together in nine years. Those lyrics hit home as that’s also how long we have been waiting for the fabled trio to return to Telluride. But now the Creek has risen again.

While we have been blessed with regular helpings of Chris Thile, Sara Watkins, and Sean Watkins in their various solo and group outings, the chemistry when these three brilliant artists reunite is an extraordinary kind of magic.

And one lled with nostalgia: What a time it was when these California wonderkids reinvented progressive bluegrass in the ‘00s, pushed the genre into expansive new directions, collected Grammys and IBMA Awards, sold millions of albums, and brought massesofnewfanstoacousticmusic through the band’s singular brand of complex new-age braingrass.

And they never stop growing: Celebrants is their most explorative album yet, and they seem to have had Telluride on their minds when they wrote it. As they sing on the title cut, “This place was our cathedral/These strangers were our friends.” Or on “Where the Long Line Leads”: “We only have a short time/So make it a big one/We’re going to have a big time.”

Threeuniquevoices.Oneincredible night.OnFriday,weareallCelebrants.

10:30 - Midnight

Lucky us! This year is the 13th time Greensky Bluegrass have commanded the TBF main stage. Yes, 2023 will make it a baker’s dozen, which is appropriate considering how comprehensively baked we were during their set last year.

It was another Greensky classic. Mandolin monster Phil Hoffman, banjo behemoth Michael Bont, dobro dynamo Anders Beck, guitar goliath Dave Bruzza, and bass burritoist Mike Devolplayedatarp-warpingscorcher last year, which included a Sam Bushassisted version of “Reuben’s Train” so hot that it set off smoke alarms over in Silverton.

They’ve come a long way since their early days at Telluride. When theseKalamazoorowdies rststarted playing NightGrass shows, we paid them by giving them a case of Schlitz and helping them pop start their van the next morning. And now they have beenclosingtheShellmansince2016 with their lawn-quaking rockgrass parties laced with mind-altering light-and-sound embellishments.

But GSBG are not just for Fungusvarians anymore. Their eighth studio album is another songful, genre-defying collection of wildcat picking, rich vocals, soulful lyricism, and innovative arrangements. The title: Stress Dreams. It’s Friday night. Stress? Not so much. Dreams? Oh, yeah. Greensky, the lords of the Telluride nighttime, are back to help you dream in color.

No more holding up the beer line while you fumble for your wallet or having to juggle your tasty beverages with your priceless Festy merch in hand. With a simple tap of your wristband, you can now purchase your favorite drinks and leave a tip (for charity) at all the TBF Bars.

Please note that only the TBF bars will accept payments with your wristband. The Country Store, food vendors, and craft vendors will still only accept cash and credit cards.

Link your wristband to your credit card and turn it into a digital wallet by scanning the QR code above.

JERRY GREENE

SATURDAY, JUNE 17TH

full cord

10:45 - 11:45am

We’re not talking about one-third cord or even half cord here, buddy. This is Full Cord.

As you know, a full cord of wood needs to be stacked as tightly as possible, and Full Cord is stacked with talent that specializes in tight picking and singing, and like a cord ofwood,alloftheirpiecesrunparallel to one another in perfect sync. A full cord is typically 600 to 800 pieces of firewood, which is also roughly the number of bluegrass songs Full Cord have in their repertoire.

2022 was quite a year for the Michigan-based five-piece. Not only were they crowned the IBMA Momentum Band of The Year, they were the winners of our very own Telluride Bluegrass Band Contest, putting them in rari ed air with the likes of other past winners like The Chicks, Greensky Bluegrass, and The Lil Smokies and earning a main stage set of their own.

The real winners are the FirstivarianswhogetupearlyonSaturday and tarp up for some by-god genuine, hard-driving, sure-footed bluegrass from the seasoned pickers in Full Cord—mandolinist Brian Oberlin, guitarist Eric Langejans, bassist Todd Kirchner, fiddler Grant Flick, and banjoist Ricky Mier—as heard on 2018’s excellently titled Chop and 2021’s critically acclaimed Hindsight Killer songs, slick solos, close harmonies, sharp shows? Timber! We have fallen for Full Cord.

tim o’brien band

Noon - 1:15pm

Over the 50-year history of Telluride Bluegrass, Tim O’Brien has been the strumming, singing, storytelling embodimentof rst-class,exploratory, amiable Festivarianism.

In many ways TBF has been de ned by Tim. He played the 2nd Fest in 1975 withtheOpheliaStringBandandhas beencomingbackeversince,helping shape the sound and character of the Festival. He has remained dedicated to our Bluegrass family through every phase of a storied life in music, including the revolutionary Hot Rize, who galvanized the contemporary bluegrass scene and influenced the next generation of fans and musicians that would make up Festivarian Nation.

As a result, Tim was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame in 2022 and has just released the delightful new Cup of Sugar, and O’Boy is it a sweet one. Despite a legendary songwriting career, the album marks the rst on which Tim has written every song, and it’s one of his liveliest and most thoughtprovoking albums ever.

It is with our heartiest gratitude and fondest esteem that we honor Tim O’Brien for his yearly trek—47 of them, in fact—to this western ank of the San Juans to spread his love and expertise of our musical traditions, sing his beloved original songs,makeusreachforourpartners, help de ne Colorado bluegrass, and promote bouzouki positivity.

sierra ferrell 1:30 - 2:45pm the earls of leicester

Hey, we know it’s dry out. The other day, we caught a fish in the San Miguel River that had a tick on it. Hopefully, we’ll get a little moisture before morning. But to combat the heat, we have one of the coolest artists in contemporary roots music: the smashing Sierra Ferrell.

The West Virginia-raised Sierra was born with an old soul and a vagabond heart, spending her early itinerant years soaking up musical regionalism coast to coast and building a reputation for magnetic live shows. Her extraordinary chameleonic ability to channel a range of Americana styles yields an eclecticism that has made Sierra one of today’s smartest writers and buzziest indie-country artists.

Her sensational 2021 debut, Long Time Coming, is a eet-footed tour through Western swing, honky tonk, Appalachian jazz, dobrolaced waltzes, bluegrass gambols, mariachiserenatas,Romanilaments, and folky ballads, all delivered with Sierra’s sweet, pliant voice—equal parts Dolly and Loretta. It’s an album that also brings in Telluride all-stars Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien, Sarah Jarosz, and Billy Strings, signaling the arrival of a major new voice on the country landscape.

Wear your cowboy hats and fringe on Saturday as Sierra plays guitar, breaks out the ddle, yodels, harmonizes with her crack band, and generates smiles from here to Ouray.

3:00 - 4:30pm

Quick. Close your eyes. What sound do you think of when you hear the words “Telluride Bluegrass”? There’s a good chance it’s Jerry Douglas’s dobro, Telluride’s soundtrack at its most elegantly peaceful and most laceratingly charged.

But as much as Jerry revolutionized the dobro and expanded the possibilities of bluegrass, the master has never forgotten the music he fell in love with as a kid, namely the 1954-1965catalogofthegreatLester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.

Jerry founded the Earls of Leicester in 2013 as a way to keep the genredefining Flatt and Scruggs legacy alive for a new generation. Little did he know that the Earls would become a sensation in their own right: Their debut LP won a Grammy, six IBMA awards, and the IBMA Entertainer of the Year prize three years in a row.

Flux and the boys—Shawn Camp (guitar/lead vocals), Charlie Cushman (banjo), Ashby Frank (mandolin), Daniel Kimbro (bass), and Johnny Warren (fiddle)—specialize in meticulous recreations of yesteryear. Warren even uses the same fiddle and bow his father, Paul, played in the original Foggy Mountain Boys.

Get ready as the Earls of Leicester take you back to a simpler time on Saturday, but rest assured they’ll bring it with enough modern re to have you doing corn-shucking jigs on your tarp and rolling in your sweet baby’s arms.

TUNE IN

SATURDAY, JUNE 17TH

yonder mountain string band

5:00 - 6:15pm

yonder? Your yearly yowl? Yes, you yodeling yayhoos. only one outstanding out t owns oodles of ovations outside: nederland’s noteworthy numbernailing neograss naturals. dave’s dynamic, dive-bombing dexterity delights dancers, even elevates every evening’s elation, evoking eventual ecstacy. replaying riotous reels ‘round really rowdy ramblin’ ramblers.

mountain mandolin music makes marshmallow messes mirthful. oh, orchestras of old-tyme oeuvres offer orgastic oohs, until universally uptempo urges unveil ultimate unions. nighttime noodling necessitates new neighbor nuzzling. taking Telluride tarps to toasty temperatures— terrific times. adam Aijala’s amazing acoustic axe acrobatics adjust attitudes. incredible inspiration instantly influences isolation into interconnectedness. n ifty notes nudge newly naked neighbors, necessitating night noises.

saturday’s sultry string sizzler shall see Slammin’ Sammy stun, treating tipsy trippers to titillating twirls toward twilight time. rest, relax, recover, roll reefers. Revive, resume rambunctious revelry. impeccable instrumental interplay is impressive in its intricacy. new York Nick’s nice neckwork nourishes numerous nutty new notions. guitar gorgeousness gives grateful groups great grass galore.

bluegrass Ben’s bass breathes beats between bodies bakedbybongs. andagesago,allaudiencesalways admired Austin and Allie. need nonpareil narcotic next-level note-nuzzling nirvana? don’t delay, dudes: do-si-do, day-drink drafts, dream, dance, delight.

mary chapin carpenter

7:00 - 8:30pm

Remember when you used to run into Mary Chapin Carpenter waiting in line for the gondola with her big fluffy dogs? It used to happen all the time!

Mary Chapin was a Telluride mainstay, a yearly xture on stage for 11 TBFs between 1990 and 2003, one of the great voices of the Festival, and a dedicated lover of all things Festivaria. It’s been 20 years since she has been here.

That is far too long without hearing those big Mary Chapin Carpenter smashes ringing across the valley: “Shut Up and Kiss Me,” “I Take My Chances,” “Down at the Twist and Shout,” “I Feel Lucky,” “Passionate Kisses,” “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her” and so many others—12 Top Ten hits and four #1 singles.

Mary Chapin is the all-Americana singer, winner of ve Grammys with 15 nominations, a two-time CMA winner of Female Vocalist of the Year, and an inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Moreover, MCC has dedicated herself to championing charities and the rights of others and was honored with the Americana Association’s Spirit of Americana Free Speech in Music Award.

Her latest album is the exquisite The Dirt and the Stars, a gorgeous record that captures Mary Chapin’s famous sonorous alto and heartfelt songs in peak form. The album’s title is the perfect encapsulation of MCC’s singular ability to evoke organic earthiness and celestial atmospheres, a weaving of soil and sky.

As the sun sets over town on Saturday and bends the colors stageward, the first star to come out will be one of our dearest friends: the fabulous Mary Chapin Carpenter. This time, we think we’ll keep her.

sam bush band 9:00 - 11:30pm

What can we say that we have not said about Sam Bush, the immortal, incomparable, uncontested King of Telluride? Sam himself faces a similar question ahead of every Summer Solstice: What fresh delights can he conjure up to waylay another eldful of Festivarians during his famous Saturday Night Slammin’ Sammy Extravaganzas? Incredibly, he has always delivered—every single year since 1975. And here we go again.

Sam is the Mando-lorian. He is our mandolin hero, sworn to newgrass our asses off, bound by a fierce loyalty to serve Festivarianism, never without his helmet of hair. Which means that Ol’ Hoss, his famous 1937 Gibson mandolin, is like his own Grogu. And the Force is strong with that baby. This is the way.

We all know Sam’s famous stage moves. The open-mouthed silent laughter. The oil derrick. The hobo circle-stomp. The faux confusion. The 14th-fret conniption. The splay-kneed applebobber. The one-legged sailor. The climaxing headbanger. The tasered wildebeest. The Farrah.

Sam can y, you know. That’s right. 8,750 feet. He’s ying circles around us now. And it’s been years since Sam closed on a Saturday night. But for our 50th, no one can jam after Sam. So take a little time for sunshine. Take a whole lotta time for love. Take time to praise and thank Heaven up above. You gotta make music. Raise your voice with joy every day. You got a lot to live for. You got a lot of time to stay.

Thank you, Sam Bush, for Telluride Bluegrass. It’s given us a lot to live for. So roll on, buddy. Can’t stop now.

did you know that there have been 4 different stages in town park since the first annual tbf? the most recent, named after festival founder fred shellman, was built in 2018.

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SUNDAY, JUNE 18 TH

the infamous stringdusters

BLUEGRASS GOSPEL SET

11:00 - Noon

This is the day Festivaria has made. Let us retarp and bluegrass in it. After all, this is our Golden Anniversary, so it’s the perfect time to observe the Golden Rule: Dobro unto others as you would have them dobro unto you.

Yes, it’s Sunday-go-to-meeting time in Telluride again, and although it looks like very few of you packed anything nice to wear, they say those without sin should dust the first strings, so you are all welcome on Sunday morning to come and get sanctified.

I mean, this is crazy, right? One of the de nitive amethrowing late-night jamgrass bands is playing rst thing Sunday morning!? God almighty! The Infamous Stringdusters—Travis Book (bass), Andy Falco (guitar), Jeremy Garrett( ddle),AndyHall(dobro),and Chris Pandol (banjo)—are liable to start one holy hell of a revival.

After all, the Stringdusters are master-level improv sorcerers, instrumental firework-spectacular composers, and hippie-tickling prog-grass powerhouses. But as modernistic and jambitious as the Dusters can be, they are just as uent in ancient tones: The Grammywinners for 2017’s expansive Laws of Gravity were nominated for another for 2021’s A Tribute to Bill Monroe

So the Stringdusters are about to serve up a gospel set like only they can. Service starts at 11 a.m. Dust you are and to the Dusters you will return.

yasmin williams 12:15 - 1:15pm

Look. You’ve been out here Festivating for at least four days, and we hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but your tent smells like someone used it to mop out one of the shitters. So this morning, instead of lying in there huf ng each other’s stank, head on into the Festival as the scintillating Yasmin Williams will be producing such fragrant music that redolent breezes will caress your crown chakra and freshen up your soul.

The 26-year-old Yasmin taught herself guitar just 14 years ago after mastering the video game Guitar Hero 2 and is on the main stage at Telluride as one of the most mesmerizingly skilled and groundbreaking guitarists anyone has heard in years.

Yasmin is a dazzling acoustic fingerstyle guitarist who creates breathtaking, melodically rich compositions using a variety of innovative playing techniques, including ngerpicking, percussive knocking, alternate tunings, and two-handed tapping.

At times laying her guitar on her lap, Yasmin will thumb an attached kalimba, create cadences with tap shoes,andplaythestringswithacello bow or dulcimer hammer, resulting in tricuspid-swelling textures and undulating new-age-folk melodies.

Check out her critically acclaimed albums Unwind (2018) and Urban Driftwood (2021). And get supine for Sunday’s set, an ideal hour for restorative poses.

punch brothers 1:30 - 2:45pm

We mentioned back on Thursday that Chris Thile is the beating heart of Telluride Bluegrass, and this year, he is pumping music throughout the Festival with a solo set, a Nickel Creek reunion,andaSunday-afternoonparty with the revolutionary Punch Brothers.

What a body of work for the Punchers: Six #1 albums, a Grammy and five other nominations, and albums like 2010’s Antifogmatic, 2018’s All Ashore, and last year’s reimagination of Tony Rice’s Hell on Church Street that forged all-new genres with the quintet’s outrageous bluegrassical inventions.

And,yes,Chrisisthecardiovascular system of Punch Brothers, sending instrumental arteries and compositional capillaries to the band’s other limbs. Noam Pikelny is the group's nervous system, the cerebral spark that shoots banjo ganglias in all directions.

Fiddlin’ Gabe Witcher is the band’s respiratory system, breathing fresh melodic air and voicings to the arrangements. Chris Eldridge is the skeletal system with guitar underpinnings that provide the music’s bones and connective tissue. And let’s face it, Paul Kowert is the reproductive system, the group’s sex symbol, with ballsy bass thrusts that gird the band’s swing and undercarriage.

On Sunday, how will the miracle of these ve systems combine? To make your body dance and to make you feel thrillingly alive.

emmylou harris with watchhouse

3:15 - 4:30pm

How long have you had a crush on Emmylou Harris? We know. Forever. That’s because Emmylou is the coolest, the songliest, the loveliest, the most immortal.With13Grammywinsandan incredible47nominations,Emmylouis thethird-mostnominatedfemaleofall timeandaCountryMusicHallofFamer with 24 Top 10 singles. Hell, the Trio album with Dolly and Ronstadt saved your parents’ marriage (for a while). With 18 TBF appearances, Emmy has played the Fest more than any other female artist, making her the Queen of Telluride. She remains a country superstar whose inimitable voice, earth-sister authenticity, and self-determined heart have made her one of music’s most beloved and in uential gures.

Emmy has always helped others achieve greatness, setting the standard for harmony singing with Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, and hundreds more. And now at Telluride, she joins with special Guestivarians and TBF favorites Watchhouse.

One of contemporary folk’s most popular groups, the duo of Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz blends honeyed vocal harmonies over cosmic Americana lled with twilight textures and graceful alt-country, most recently on their gorgeous 2021 self-titled album.

A towering legend meets the new standard bearers: the perfect 50th Anniversary pairing for the past, present, and future of Telluride.

SUNDAY, JUNE 18 TH

telluride house band

featuring sam, béla, jerry, edgar, bryan & stuart

5:00 - 6:30pm

50 things we love about the house band:

1. Sam’s chop-champ precision 2. Béla’s freakish six- nger roll 3. Jerry’s double-hip-shot tuning toggler 4. Bryan’s pure-prairie tenor 5. Cornball stage banter 6. Stuart’s atomizing chromatic runs 7. Their “East Bound and Down” cover 8. Edgar’s contrapuntal eyebrows 9. Stuart’s oral-patterned Three’s Company vibe 10. Jerry’s time-warping Flux capacitor 11. Sam’s laser-eyed conducting 12. Béla’s subtle neckitude 13. Bryan’s hammer-on quadruplets 14. Edgar’s caboose waggle when bowing 15. Drinking game: when Jerry says, “Nice talkin’ to ya,” chug the whole cup 16. Bluejazzical compositions 17. Edgar’s thunder-thumb mobility 18. Jerry’s miraculous bar control 19. Stu’s cuckoo crossbow tricks 20. New My Bluegrass Heart remixes 21. Bryan and Flux’s stage-left bro-crush 22. Béla’s virile Hemingway beard 23. Unprecedented drone power 24. Jerry’s rattlesnake switchbacks 25. Bryan’s deadly crosspicking ow 26. Uncannygrouphomophony 27. Land-on-a-dime precision ying 28. Ryman-era musicology lessons 29. Communal jig picking 30. Stu’s haunted-torso contortions 31. Edgar’s bow-spinning soft touch 32. Béla’s single-string acrobatics 33. Sam’s enchanted arpeggios 34. Jerry’s lyrical, driving tone 35. Stuart’s swooping note approaches 36. Béla’s intra-string syncopation 37. Sam’s uncanny right-hand sweep 38. Bryan’s inverted hybrid picking 39. Those alien chord progressions 40. Edgar’s rotund swing rhythms 41. Jerry’s haberdobroshery vests 42. Bryan’s double-stop voodoo 43. Béla’s vibrato-created sustain 44. Sam’s sweet tremolo honey 45. Improvisational telekinesis 46. It’s fun to guess their collective weight (last year: 1210 lbs) 47. They are history’s greatest bluegrass band 48. This same sextet is 10-years strong 49. They and you are here again 50. You’ll have the time of your lives

gregory alan isakov

7:00 - 8:30pm

In 2007, a South African-born Colorado-dwelling farmer named Gregory Alan Isakov showed up at the Festival with his guitar and took rst place in the Telluride Troubadour Contest. Twelve years later, IsakovascendedtoFestivalheadlinerstatus, lling the canyon with his soft-textured hymns, searching poetry, and shadowed atmospherics. Now, we are thrilled to have him back a third time ahead of a sold-out Red Rocks show in September and a highly anticipated new album.

On records such as 2009’s The Empty Northern Hemisphere, 2013’s Weatherman, and 2018’s Grammy-nominated Evening Machines, Isakov paints sonic murals out of vintage instruments, from guitars to ukuleles, Mellotrons to Moogs, musical saws to brooms. The music has attracted a passionate fanbase drawn to Isakov’s unique, literate brand of contemporary folk, augmented on his 2016 album with the Colorado Symphony.

Isakov is also a noted Farmervarian who grows over 100 varieties of vegetables (alongside sheep, bees, and cannabis) on his four-acre farm near Boulder. Horticulture is a natural passion for a man who has spent his life communing with nature and reaping fresh harvests, both agricultural and musical.

Outnowis“TheFall,”the rstsinglefromhis fth full-length album Appaloosa Blues, due in August, continuingIsakov’sgiftforlushtextures,emotionally rich lyricism, and sonic gracefulness. For closing night,weembraceGregoryAlanIsakovastheperfect soundtrack for nestling in the mountains as the sun starts to set on the 50th Telluride Bluegrass.

robert plant & alison krauss

9:00 - 11:00pm

So how has TBF 50 been for you, friends? Did you get some silver? Did you get a little gold? Well, to put the cap on our Golden Anniversary, we are bringing back rock’s Golden God and the Queen of Grammy Gold.

RobertPlant!!Wherewereyouwhenyou rstheard hisvoice?Noidea,right?That’sbecauseLedZeppelin hasbeenramblingoninyourrock-and-rollDNAforever, fronted by the most badass singer in rock history, the one everyone can agree on. Plant’s voice is the sound of the love, the communion, the sex, the immortality of youth, the altered states, the endless nights, the good times, the bad times, the dazed-and-confused times that for your whole life have poured out of your speakers and into your imagination.

Andthere'saladywho'ssureallthatglittersisgold, andit’sAlisonKrausswithanastounding27Grammy winsand42nominations.Throughherbirdsongvoice, herscintillating ddle,andherbeautifulsongs,Alison has set the gold standard for bluegrass for over 35 years. She’s just a country girl, but she’s got silver in the stars and gold in the morning sun.

Their duet albums—2007’s Raising Sand and 2021’s Raise the Roof—are gold-selling sensations and instant classics. In Telluride, there’s gold in them thar misty mountains, and with this ultimate crossover duo, we’ve got a pot of gold here at the end of the Festival.

Many dreams come true, and some have silver linings. We live for our dream, and a pocket full of gold. Happy Anniversary, Festivarians. Thank you for a golden time. Here’s to the next 50 years.

Steve Leftridge has written every artist bio for every Telluride Bluegrass Festival for the last ten years. He lives in St. Louis. His father, Bob Leftridge, wrote the Lester Flatt song “I Can’t Tell the Boys from the Girls,” which was one of two bluegrass singles on the jukebox in the Pizza Inn in Wheeling, West Virginia, when Tim O’Brien was 15 years old. Connect with Steve at leftridge.steve@gmail.com.

On May 26th, 2022 Griffin Charles Ferguson, fondly referred to as “Griff,” was killed in a motorcycle accident near his home in Lyons, Colorado. The son of Planet Bluegrass’ President Craig Ferguson and Sally Truitt, Griffin was a beloved brother, friend, protector, and professional firefighter dedicated to serving his community.

Last year, the Planet Bluegrass family gathered in Town Park two weeks after his accident, in shock and utterly heartbroken, prepared to produce the full-scale return of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival after the 2020 Fallow. We were held in our tremendous grief by the buoyancy of the Festivarian spirits surrounding us, supported by our found festival family. We were cradled by this glorious box canyon as we fondly remembered stories of Griffin, knowing we were exactly where we needed to be: with the community that raised him.

Griffinhadaspecialaffinityandloveforanimalsofallkinds.Asachild he could often be found cuddling and caring for cats, dogs, chickens, and any critter that seemed in need of a helping hand. He grew up fishing at the Kid’s Fishing Pond, and may or may not have swindled a few campers into buying (cash only, of course) his freshest, er… fishiest catches.

Griffin worked at the Planet Bluegrass Farm, caring for the horses, alpaca, and ducks that made their home there. He was inseparable from his hunting dog and best friend Ranger, whom he trained diligently. Through his passion for hunting and dedication to conservation, Griffin sought the silence and tranquility of places people seldom traveled: the remote Bush of Alaska, the idyllic Sandhills of Nebraska, and the peaceful blue waters of Dome Lake in Wyoming. These landscapes shaped him from boyhood, and left a lasting impact that he carried with him through his life.

Griffin loved fiercely, intensely, and without question. He was quick with a quip, swift to support his family and friends, and even faster with his request that you please rub his back and scratch his head since you’re already sitting right there.

It’s been one year, and we don’t miss Griffin any less. We don’t think we ever will, but we are finding joy in the moments we are able to be close to him, remembering his effortless vibrancy, anima, humor, and sass. We were lucky to have him and love him. Thank you for seeing our grief and loving us through it.

The folks on Planet Bluegrass are excited to announce that this year’s Telluride Bluegrass Festival will be immortalized on film. In addition to performances by this year’s amazing Main Stage lineup, the film will include archival footage from festivals past, along with interviews with many of your festival favorites. Here’s where you come in: This project is intended to be a living, breathing cinema verité account of what catapults the Telluride Bluegrass experience from a simple concert to a true multifaceted festival. That important X factor is, of course, you, the Festivarian! A film crew will be roaming the town, the Festival grounds, campgrounds, workshops and family area this weekend to capture the magic you make. So don’t be shy. If you spy a cameraperson aiming

when the main stage closes and the sky turns starry, hold off sleep while you can, you won’t be sorry! nightgrass boasts an experience you cannot surpass, with lineups that are certified first-class. sheridan opera house and palm theatre host, we love the intimacy of the shows the most. not for the faint of heart, staying awake is a work of art. engage your nocturnal powers, and join us after hours!

On Wednesday afternoon, ride the free gondola to Mountain Village for the 13th Annual free outdoor FirstGrass concert in Sunset Plaza featuring Town Mountain and Bella White from 5-8pm. Then head over to the Telluride Conference Center for a Bluegrass Eve show from Leftover Salmon. Did someone say FESTIVAAAAAAAAAL!?

For the rest of the weekend, Telluride’s most storied venues host indoor shows— including the historic Sheridan Opera House, and state-of-the-art Palm Theatre.

Tickets to NightGrass shows are completely separate from Festival tickets. We still have select tickets available—take a look at shop.bluegrass.com for more information.

wednesday

JUNE 14 TH

FirstGrass Concert

TOWN MOUNTAIN AND BELLA WHITE

Outdoors at Sunset Plaza, Mountain VIllage

5pm-8pm • All ages

BLUEGRASS EVE

LEFTOVER SALMON

Telluride Conference Center

8pm doors • 9pm show

All ages

JUNE 15 TH thursday

SARAH JAROSZ

Sheridan Opera House

GREENSKY BLUEGRASS

Palm Theater

JUNE 16 TH friday

YONDER MOUNTAIN

STRING BAND

Sheridan Opera House

NICKEL CREEK

Palm Theater

JUNE 17 TH saturday

SIERRA FERRELL

Sheridan Opera House

THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS

Palm Theater

JUNE 18 TH sunday

PUNCH BROTHERS

Sheridan Opera House

all nightgrass shows

10pm door / 11pm show

Sheridan: 21+ unless accompanied by an adult Palm: Strictly 21+

looking for nightgrass tickets?

Select tickets available at SHOP.BLUEGRASS.COM

matthew froehler:

sarah hansen:

This is a photo I took at TBF 2022 of my husband (Ross, top) and one of my closest friends (Andrew, bottom). Ross and Andrew grew up in the same home town, went to the same high school, attended the same prom - but, weren’t ever really friends. When Andrew moved to Denver in 2016 he reached out to Ross. Although they weren’t close before, they became fast friends. We started attending TBF as a family in 2016 and have never looked back. In Telluride, our family grew as we started intermingling with other TBF families with stories similar to ours. Just this fall we had the good fortune of attending a TBF love story wedding in Telluride. I love this picture of Ross and Andrew, because it illustrates the love of our TBF family.

sarah clinebell:

A group of friends from opposite sides of the country who rst met at TBF and continue to attend every year!

tiffany:

john burns:

Bluegrass memories…

My father, Jim Clinebell, performed at the First Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival. He performed at resorts and in taverns for the door throughout the 1970s. During his journeys he came to know John Herndon and other members of Fall Creek.

We moved to Telluride after my dad passed away, and got to experience a few magical Telluride Bluegrass Festivals. I particularly remember New Grass Revival’s performance in 1988, because they were (and still are) my absolute favorite. I had listened to their Barren County album many times on my dad’s record player.

I don't have any photos of my dad playing at the First Annual. Here is a photo of my dad from that same time period, which was very likely taken in Telluride.

bryan and shannon gruidl:

In 2010 we biked 250 miles from Fort Collins to Telluride for the festival. It took us over one week and we climbed ve mountain passes! Camped the whole way, carried our own gear. Bryan and I got married during the festival!

joann rando-moon:

For days prior to the fest we kept running into fellow St. Louis Blues fans celebrating our 2019 Stanley Cup win. We decided to arrange a group shot. Go Blues!

My friends Susan and Allen here in Kanab, UT had never been to Telluride, so in 2011 they came with me and camped with our group at Tiki. It was an amazing time. Allen passed away this year and I wanted to remember him this way.

carly latcham:

I have had many amazing memories at the bluegrass festival, but I think it’s pretty darn special that our son Georgie took his very first steps in town park during bluegrass fest 2021!

Even though the fest was smaller than normal it was his rst festival experience. We were hanging with friends in their pod and he was so excited and energized by all the action that he decided it was time to walk!! We are proud that Georgie is a bluegrass festival kid!

WE LOVE HEARING ABOUT YOUR BESTIVARIAN MEMORIES! SEND THEM VIA EMAIL TO EARLY@BLUEGRASS.COM

kyle macdonald:

I went to my first Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 1978. After that I catered backstage with Marikay Shellman and my friends from Durango. That is when these photos were taken. It was fun to see Doc Watson and Vassar Clements vintage, plus the beginning of Sam’s career. Fun times and Fred was absolutely a blast and crazy!!! It would never have happened without Fred’s vision and Marikay’s steadiness.

dell erickson:

My buddy Phil and I...2015 maybe? We might have been a little high :-) on life of course!

These are just a small collection of the wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experiences we’ve enjoyed sharing with you over the years. We can’t thank you enough for being part of our yearly solstice celebration—we look forward to doing it all over again next year, and the next year, and the next year...

TELLURIDE BLUEGRASS

June 20-23, 2024 | June 19-22, 2025

and our events in lyons, co

ROCKYGRASS

ACADEMY

July 24-27, 2023

ROCKYGRASS

July 28-30, 2023

THE SONG SCHOOL

August 7-10, 2023

ROCKY MOUNTAIN FOLKS FESTIVAL

August 11-13, 2023

ELEPHANT REVIVAL “REVIVAL” REVIVAL

August 19th, 2023

WILDFLOWER FALLGRASS

September 15-16, 2023 More info coming soon!

virtual tarp

Throw down your virtual tarp, commune with your fellow Festivarians, and be the rst to hear about lineups, ticket sales, and giveaways for next year’s festival! web festivarian.com @planetbluegrass @planet.bluegrass

online survey

We’ve spent the last 50 years continually re ning every aspect of the Festival experience. Your voice is a vital part of this process. Please complete our online survey to be entered to win a pair of tickets to next year’s Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

2024 tickets

Visit Bluegrass.com beginning in

While you’re waiting for the next scintilating set to start, (and for your tarpmates to come back with libations), why dontcha make new Friendivarians with those folks sitting next to you? Just ask’em for the words below to fill in the blanks–and then read the story back to them. You’re bound to have a few laughs... and make new Festibuddies.

bluegrass bedlam

When the days are __________________ and the weather is __________________ , that’s how you

ADJECTIVEADJECTIVE

know it’s Bluegrass time. But as you know, the magic of TBF starts long before Chris Thile takes the stage. It all begins when you grab your __________________, put on your finest __________________, and __________________ into your Festival chariot. The journey is underway! Shoot, we forgot __________________... Turn back around, quick!

PLURAL NOUN VERB

FRIENDIVARIAN ADVERB

VERB ENDING IN -ING

OK, now we’re ready to go. What can keep us busy on our drive but for __________________ __________________? It’s the only sensible way to keep our minds occupied. We know we’re close when we pass by __________________. We’re ready with a Festival wristband around our __________________ , prepared to __________________ the weekend away. Hold on a second, is that __________________ we see?! __________________ on top of __________________?! Geez, things sure are getting weird already and the Fester hasn’t even started… It’s going to be a(n) __________________ golden anniversary weekend!

BUSINESS IN TELLURIDE

SINGULAR BODY PART

ARTIST PLAYING TBF

TELLURIDE LANDMARK

the tumultuous tarp run

VERB

VERB ENDING IN -ING

ADJECTIVE

Ever wonder how those __________________ Festivarians get the tarp spots upfront? It's all about mastering the Tarp Run. You’ll never see anything like this at __________________, it’s like a __________________ __________________. Starting __________________ before gates you must __________________ in line and don’t even think about cooking up any __________________ or sleeping in your __________________, because you’ll definitely lose your spot. Maybe you should enlist __________________ & __________________ to help take turns, but their soooo __________________, so nevermind! You’ll be stoked when the sun rises and you are awarded number __________________ for all your __________________ work! When the gates open make sure you have your __________________ on so that you are ready to __________________ your way to the front. When you hear the __________________, put your tarp under your __________________ because it’s go time! A helpful hint to keep you going, is to imagine seeing __________________ singing __________________ from your super close tarp spot. When you find your spot, __________________ your tarp down, give yourself a pat on the __________________ and scream, “ __________________ !”

This year’s program and pocket schedule are printed on FSC-certi ed Neenah Conservation paper at Cottrell Printing, an FSC-certified printer in Denver.

By using this 100% post-consumer recycled ber made with 100% renewable energy, we saved: 11.04 tons of fresh (green) wood (that’s 66.25 trees!); 5,280 gallons of water (which is enough water for 3.79 clothes washers operated/ year!); 28,660 pounds of carbon emissions (equivalent to the annual emissions from 2.598 cars); and 229 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 at the Festival.

Raffle tickets available in the Instrument Tent in Harmony Greene. All proceeds to support KOTO.

Drawing held 2:45 Sunday on the main stage. You need not be present to win.

The 14-fret dreadnought sized guitar packs a big sound with its Sitka spruce top, East Indian rosewood back and sides, and custom TBF inlay.