2009 Lineup
We are proud to announce the single-day lineup for the 36th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival, June 18-21, 2009.
Thursday, June 18
10:00am — Gates Open
11:00 - 12:00pm — Jerry Douglas & Tim O'Brien
12:15 - 1:30pm — The Lovell Sisters
1:45 - 3:00pm — Zac Brown Band
3:30 - 4:45pm — Peter Rowan
5:15 - 6:30pm — Three Girls & Their Buddy
7:00 - 8:30pm — Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band
9:00 - 10:30pm — David Byrne
Friday, June 19
9:00am — Gates Open
10:30 - 11:30am — Blue Canyon Boys
11:45 - 12:45pm — Crooked Still
1:00 - 2:15pm — The Greencards
2:45 - 4:00pm — John Cowan Band
4:30 - 5:45pm — Jenny Lewis
6:15 - 7:30pm — Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabaté
8:00 - 9:30pm — Elvis Costello & The Sugarcanes
10:00 - 11:30pm — Railroad Earth
Saturday, June 20
9:00am — Gates Open
10:00 - 11:00am — Band Contest Finals
11:15 - 12:15pm — Greensky Bluegrass
12:30 - 1:45pm — Punch Brothers Play & Sing Bluegrass
2:15 - 3:30pm — Jerry Douglas Band
4:00 - 5:30pm — Yonder Mountain String Band
5:45 - 6:00pm — Telluride Troubadour
6:15 - 7:30pm — Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson
8:00 - 10:00pm — Sam Bush Band
10:30pm - Midnight — Gaelic Storm
Sunday, June 21 (The Summer Solstice)
10:00am — Gates Open
10:30 - 12:00am — Mike Farris & The Roseland Rhythm Revue
12:30 - 1:45pm — Works Progress Administration
2:00 - 3:15pm — The Steeldrivers
3:45 - 5:00pm — Todd Snider
5:30 - 6:45pm — Tim O'Brien Band
7:15 - 8:30pm — Emmylou Harris
9:00 - 11:00pm — Telluride House Band
Tickets are available now. Once you have your tickets connect with your fellow Telluride festivarians in the Festivarian Forum. Make sure to sign up for the "Notes from the Planet" email newsletter for all the latest updates.
All artists have confirmed their appearance at Telluride Bluegrass; however, artists are subject to change without notice. Contrary to early announcements, Martie Maguire, unfortunately, will not be performing at this year's Telluride Bluegrass.
Boasting Grammy winners, IBMA Instrumentalist of the Year winners, MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipients, Country Music Association Musician of the Year awardees, National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowships, and countless other national and international awards, we're proud to call these six musicians the Telluride House Band - the best house band in the land. Together they have created much of the core repertoire of bluegrass and newgrass music - combining jazz, classical, Celtic, Americana, and inspired creativity. Together they make improvised music of grandeur, sophistication, and power that only happens in Telluride. 
For thirty-four years, Sam Bush has been the undisputed "King of Telluride." Sam played an integral role in changing the face of bluegrass music as a founding member of New Grass Revival - who for 18 years, during the 70s and 80s, fused rock 'n' roll grooves and extended virtuosic jams. When not heading the ever-popular Sam Bush Band, Bush has spent the past 15 years as a super-sideman with the likes of Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, and the Flecktones; spearheaded boundary-stretching collaborations with Edgar Meyer, Mark O'Connor, and David Grisman; and driven nearly every "bluegrass supergroup" imaginable with his inimitable mandolin playing. Onstage, Sam is the consummate performer - a dervish, a rhythm doctor, and the king of the party. The fact that his live CD, Ice Caps - Live at Telluride, remains his biggest seller speaks to the power of his live performances. We welcome His Majesty back for his 35th year to once again define the frenzied, virtuosic adventure that is Telluride Bluegrass.
& The Sugarcanes
Elvis Costello has followed his musical curiosity in a career spanning more than 30 years. He is perhaps best known for his performances with The Attractions and The Imposters. However, he has also entered into acclaimed collaborations with Paul McCartney, Bill Frisell, The Charles Mingus Orchestra, The Brodsky Quartet, T Bone Burnett and Allen Toussaint. Costello's songs have been recorded in a wide range of musical styles by a great number of artists including: George Jones, Chet Baker, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Dusty Springfield, Robert Wyatt, Charles Brown, No Doubt, Solomon Burke, and The Fairfield Four. During his career Costello has received numerous prestigious honors, including two Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting, a Dutch Edison Award, the Nordoff-Robbins Silver Clef Award, and a Grammy for 'I Still Have That Other Girl' from his collaboration with Burt Bacharach. Elvis Costello and The Attractions were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. During the same year he was awarded ASCAP's prestigious Founder's Award. Elvis is currently hosting the acclaimed "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..." interview program on the Sundance Channel (featuring recent guests Elton John, Bill Clinton, and James Taylor) and completing work on an acoustic album with T Bone Burnett.
Musician, artist, writer David Byrne has crafted a remarkable career by elevating the mundane or the banal to the level of art, finding the sacred in the profane, and injecting a bold creativity into every aspect of his life. David is well known as the co-founder of the tremendously influential group Talking Heads. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, Talking Heads took popular music in new directions, both in terms of sound and lyrics, and the introduction of an innovative visual approach to the genre. David has gone on to produce a rich catalog of 14 critically acclaimed solo albums - embracing South American music, film scores, musical theater, and last year's "electronic-gospel" collaboration with Brian Eno. His achievements have been recognized by Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe awards. In addition, David founded the record label Luaka Bop in 1988 - initially focusing on Brazilian and Cuban music, and eventually extending its reach around the world. A long-time fan of Americana/roots music (see his December 2005 radio show on classic country music), we are thrilled to welcome this engaging live performer to Telluride Bluegrass.
A steadfast supporter of roots music and a skilled interpreter of compelling songs, Emmylou Harris has been hailed as a major figure in several of America’s most important musical movements of the past three decades - from country-rock to the bluegrass revival, folk music to the Americana movement.
The wide range of her repertoire is mirrored by the diverse range of musicians who have sought her out as a collaborator, including The Band, Johnny Cash, Leo Kottke, Bob Dylan, Little Feat, Neil Young, Bill Monroe, Lyle Lovett, John Denver, Roy Orbison, Trisha Yearwood, Bonnie Raitt, Garth Brooks, and many others. Stars such as Ricky Skaggs, Rodney Crowell, and The Whites have emerged from the ranks of her bands. Harris was among the first to champion the songwriting of such figures as Jesse Winchester, Townes Van Zandt, Delbert McClinton, Carlene Carter, and Guy Clark.
Billboard magazine honored Emmylou Harris with its prestigious Century Award in 1999. At the time, she was lauded as a “truly venturesome, genre-transcending pathfinder” who being given the award “to acknowledge the uncommon excellence of (her) still-unfolding body of work.”
& The Mystic Valley Band
Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Conor Oberst has been writing, recording and performing original music since he was thirteen years old - most notably as the leader of Bright Eyes, a band the New York Times called "one of the most startling, evocative and emotionally frank bands in any genre." Since the release of his first cassette, Water, in 1993, Conor has been hailed as the heir to an American Songwriting tradition, and compared to the likes of Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, and Leonard Cohen. Preferring immediacy over perfection, Conor is continually constructing and reconstructing verses for songs, feeling that a song is never truly finished. After 8 critically lauded albums with Bright Eyes, Conor returned to his early recording roots in 2008 with his eponymous debut, inspiring Rolling Stone magazine to recognize him as the Best Songwriter of 2008.
Bringing together four music legends, this special set features all four artists - Eleven-time Grammy Award winner Emmylou Harris, critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Patty Griffin who has penned tunes for the Dixie Chicks; triple Grammy Award winner Shawn Colvin, and one of the treasures of modern Americana music and musicianship Buddy Miller - performing onstage together, sharing the songs and stories that have defined their venerated careers. The four have a long-established history of musical associations, having been in each other’s bands, produced and played on each other’s albums, covered each other’s songs, and guested on each other’s shows many times over the years. Buddy Miller was Emmylou’s band leader in the outfit Spyboy. Patty Griffin’s song “One Big Love” was recorded by Emmylou, who has made appearances on Patty’s last two studio albums. Emmylou, Patty and Buddy – with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings – toured together as Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue, a special run of collaborative shows. Buddy has performed many times over the years with Shawn Colvin, beginning with her inclusion in The Buddy Miller Band in the 80s in New York City and leading up to the These Four Walls tour in the fall of 2006.
Although the Yonder Mountain String Band was formed in Nederland, CO, its origins go back to Urbana, IL, where college student and banjo player Dave Johnston met mandolin player Jeff Austin. Austin moved west and settled in Nederland. Johnston joined him there, and the two met bass player Ben Kaufmann and guitarist Adam Aijala at a club called the Verve. In December 1998, they formed the Yonder Mountain String Band to open for a band at the Fox Theatre in Boulder.
With Festivarian support, Yonder Mountain has become one of the fastest rising touring bands in the country, its fan base having ballooned over the past six years through steady gigging and high-profile festival sets, all of which are full of improv and none of which feature the same set list. It can’t be overstated just what the band has achieved with that untraditional banjo/bass/mandolin/guitar line-up.
Eight-time Grammy Award winner Béla Fleck was fascinated with the banjo from an early age, but his teachers kept pushing him to play other instruments. Luckily, he kept up with the banjo — when he wasn't being forced to sing tenor or play the French horn. This richly diverse background has earned him Grammy nominations in more different categories than anyone in Grammy history - including jazz, country, classical, pop, bluegrass, and spoken word. Through tenures with Newgrass Revival, The Flecktones, Strength in Numbers, and numerous ongoing collaborations, Béla has become one of the premiere banjo players in the world. The documentary "Throw Down Your Heart," followed Béla's journey through Uganda, Tanzania, The Gambia, and Mali as he explored the African roots of the banjo. For his 28th consecutive year at Telluride Bluegrass, Béla will be joined by one of the most important musicians in Africa, Toumani Diabate. Toumani plays the kora, a harp unique to West Africa with 21 strings, which 71 generations of his family have played.
The six members of Railroad Earth aren’t losing sleep about what “kind” of music they play – they just play it. When they started out in 2001, they were a bunch of guys interested in playing acoustic instruments together. After a couple months, the band took five songs from their budding repertoire, recorded a demo, and found themselves booked to play the Telluride Bluegrass Festival before they’d even played their first gig. That was the beginning of Railroad Earth’s journey: since then, they’ve released two more studio albums for Sugar Hill Records and amassed a huge and loyal fanbase that follows them from show to show. The band's music is driven by the remarkable songs of front-man, Todd Sheaffer, and is delivered with seamless arrangements and superb musicianship courtesy of all six band members. They can jam with the best of them, but they’re not a jam band. They’re bluegrass influenced, but they use drums and amplifiers.
A singer of unusual clarity and originality, a self-taught multi-instrumentalist of rare ability, and an incisive songwriter, Tim O’Brien has, during the last 20 years, made a lasting mark on what some are calling Americana music through his innate musicianship and his wide-ranging tastes. Whether it’s the reinterpretation of an old fiddle tune, a revitalized honky-tonk shuffle from the 1950s, or an original, bluegrass-inflected folk song, O’Brien’s music feels familiar and comfortable while never lapsing into the predictable. These rare talents earned him a Grammy in 2006 in the Best Traditional Folk Category for his album Fiddler’s Green.
Tim holds the esteemed honor of having played the most Planet Bluegrass Festivals - Telluride Bluegrass, RockyGrass, and the Folks Fest. After consecutive 31 years at Telluride Bluegrass, Tim took a year-long hiatus in 2007. We are thrilled to welcome him back to Telluride.
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson
Having sold over one million albums, been awarded seven ARIA’s, five CMAA Golden Guitars and a swag of APRA Awards, Kasey Chambers is undoubtedly one of Australia’s most loved and respected female performers. Kasey’s balance of commercial success with her credible country roots has accorded her the admiration of her fellow musicians - her supporters including notables such as Emmylou Harris, Elton John and Ben Harper to name a few. Last year, for the first time, Kasey and fellow singer-songwriter and husband Shane Nicholson teamed up for a guitar, banjo and dobro driven recording highlighting their impeccable harmonies and stellar songwriting. The resulting album, Rattlin' Bones, has been called "skeletal, hypnotic, rootsy" (USA Today) and "a crisply charming album that draws from the wellspring of American bluegrass and folk music." (New York Times) It's the start of a musical partnership that once more emphasizes Chambers’ title as Australia's greatest alt country performer, and which introduces Nicholson as the perfect foil for her as a songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist.
Play & Sing Bluegrass
Punch Brothers — whose name is taken from the Mark Twain short story, Punch, Brothers, Punch! — is one of the most formidable and virtuosic young bands in acoustic music. Bandleader Chris Thile released the first of five solo albums when he was just thirteen and, by the time he was 20, he was attracting a following among pop, country, and alternative-rock audiences as a member of the Grammy Award–winning Nickel Creek. A Washington Post critic recently said Chris “may well be the most virtuosic American ever to play the mandolin.” Guitarist Chris Eldridge was a founding member of the Infamous Stringdusters and occasionally sits in with his father's band, The Seldom Scene; bassist Paul Kowert studied at The Curtis Institute of Music with Edgar Meyer; banjo player Noam Pikelny has performed and recorded as a solo artist and collaborator with acoustic music heavyweights like John Cowan, Tony Trischka, and Leftover Salmon; violinist Gabe Witcher is a sought-after session man who has recorded with a range of artists from Willie Nelson to Beck to Randy Newman. After performing the conceptually daring, emotionally cathartic "Blind Leaving the Blind" on last year's Telluride stage, the Punch Brothers return in 2009 for a set of traditional bluegrass.
In addition to being widely acknowledged as America's foremost master of the dobro, the twelve-time Grammy winner is a freewheeling, forward-thinking recording artist whose output draws upon a bottomless well of musical inspiration, incorporating elements of bluegrass, country, rock, jazz, blues and Celtic into his distinctive musical vision. In addition to his critically-acclaimed solo releases, Jerry's stellar fretwork has graced over 2000 albums encompassing a dizzying range of musical styles. As a sideman, he's recorded with artists as diverse as Ray Charles, Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton, Paul Simon, James Taylor, and Trisha Yearwood. As a producer, he's overseen albums by such esteemed acts as the Del McCoury Band, Maura O'Connell, and the Nashville Bluegrass Band. He's been part of such notable groups as the Whites, J.D. Crowe and the New South, the Country Gentlemen and Strength in Numbers. Since 1998, he's been a key member of Alison Krauss and Union Station, touring extensively and playing on a series of platinum albums. In 2009, Jerry Dougla celebrates his 25th year of celebrating the summer solstice at Telluride Bluegrass.
It has now been more than a decade since Gaelic Storm’s career lifted off with their appearance in the
blockbuster film Titanic. Cast as the "party band" in the steerage scene, they landed the
part while still drinking pints and playing weekly at O'Brien's in Santa Monica. In the ensuing years the one-time-pub-band has turned into one of the premier touring acts in the
Celtic/World music genre, combining compelling songs steeped in Celtic traditional melody with their unique blend of world rhythms. Gaelic Storm released their 7th album What's the Rumpus? in July 2008 with a stellar debut at #1 on the Billboard World Album Chart and #1 on the iTunes World Album Chart. Inspired by the music that drives their loyal fan base, What's the Rumpus? is a wild party of an album, full of colorful characters and outrageous stories, flavored with Gaelic Storm's signature acoustic sound. This is music for singing and for dancing.
A Grammy-award winning musician, Peter Rowan's career has spanned from Sea Train to Old & In the Way to numerous solo and ensemble projects with Don Edwards, David Grisman, Richard Greene and others. He is a soulful singer and a poignant songwriter. He began his professional career playing guitar, singing lead vocals and co-writing as a member of the Bluegrass Boys, led by the founding father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. He embarked on a well-received solo career in the late '70s, releasing such diverse and critically acclaimed albums as Dustbowl Children and Bluegrass Boy, as well as much-admired collaborations with ace Dobro player Jerry Douglas, Flaco Jimenez, and his brothers Christopher and Lorin Rowan. Iconoclastic and innovative, Rowan has a long history of expanding the musical boundaries of his loyal fans and contributing landmark works to the bluegrass canon.
Singer/songwriter Jenny Lewis is one of indie-rock/alt-country's treasured characters, known for her work as the primary vocalist of Rilo Kiley as well as her burgeoning solo career. A former child actress, Jenny helped launch Rilo Kiley in 1998 with fellow former child actor Blake Sennett. Lewis steadily developed her own vocal style, drawing from the sly country twang of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and Patsy Cline while remaining indebted to pop music. Entertainment Weekly calls her "a hip-swaying, soul-tugging chanteuse with a country-gospel heart." Her second solo album, the excellent Acid Tongue, features collaborations with M. Ward, Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, Lewis' own family members, and Elvis Costello - who was so inspired by Jenny that he went into the same studio two weeks later (with many of the same musicians) to record his next album.
Three-time Grammy Award-winning bassist Edgar Meyer has won remarkable acclaim both for the music he has written and for an inexhaustible variety of recordings and live performances with everyone from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to Garth Brooks, James Taylor, The Chieftains, and Yo-Yo Ma. Meyer began studying bass at the age of five. Throughout a lifetime of performing and composing, he has turned the double bass – an instrument with, as The New Yorker once put it, a “relatively unchronicled history” – into a modern virtuoso instrument that is equally at home in classical music and in the American vernacular. In 1994, Meyer became the first bassist to win the Avery Fisher Career Grant. He is also a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Award and three Grammy Awards.
The duet is a magical thing. To celebrate Jerry Douglas's 25th year at Telluride Bluegrass, he'll be opening the festival with his old friend Tim O'Brien. We can't wait.
Bluegrass. Newgrass. Rock N' Rollgrass. True innovators defy easy categorization and John Cowan is the ultimate innovator. His ability to move easily between music styles and blend and bend genres into creative new forms has made him one of the most significant voices in acoustic music over the past thirty years.
After making a name for himself as one of the most in-demand vocalists in the early 1970s' music scene in Louisville, KY, Cowan rose to fame when he became the lead singer for New Grass Revival for nearly two decades. When the current line-up of his band came together, he knew he was on to something special. The music began to take a natural, organic turn back to Cowan's acoustic roots. Returning once again to the Telluride stage, veteran Festivarians know that a John Cowan set is one that is not to be missed.
Says Kris Kristofferson: "Todd Snider is a true songwriter, with the heart and humor of John Prine, the wild unpredictability of Roger Miller, and a fresh, original spirit and freedom of imagination that's absolutely his own." For twelve years, Snider has been a satirist, class cutup and the rare artist who understands and celebrates the connections between the Stones, Dylan, Bill Hicks, John Prine, Hunter S. Thompson and Randy Newman. Snider’s records are fun even when they aren’t being funny, funny even when they’re sad, and no less truthful for the laughs. But Snider has a unique way of sidling up to a topic, spinning a yarn, making you chuckle amidst all the sinister stuff going down. There’s an edge to what he’s done over seven albums, and his latest album and his wildly popular live performances hone that edge.
Playing upwards of 200 dates a year, more than 3,000 shows in their career and selling more than 30,000 CDs independently, Zac Brown Band has only begun its ascent. Driven by awe-inspiring musicianship, skillful songwriting and a dynamic live show that inspires word-of-mouth buzz, Zac Brown Band is already embraced by audiences who sing along with every word - an audience that includes loyal country music fans, jam lovers and seemingly everyone in between. The Dahlonega, Georgia-raised Zac Brown, worked as a chef and former restaurant owner, while beginning to gig as a solo artist with jaw-dropping flat-picking skills and an extensive catalog of originals. Now backed by his ace band - "everybody in my band is able to burn his instrument down to the ground," nods Zac, matter-of-factly - the ZBB's first major label release debuted at #3 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and the band has been sharing stages with the likes of Etta James, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, Willie Nelson and BB King.
Formerly known under the working title The Scrolls, WPA is an American eight-piece supergroup consisting of Glenn Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket), Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek), Luke Bulla (Jerry Douglas Band), Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek), Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), Greg Leisz (Lucinda Williams, Bill Frisell, and many others), Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello & The Imposters), and Davey Faragher (Cracker, The Imposters). Says Sean Watkins: "We just meet as friends in the studio with everybody having fun and just sort of experimenting with music." After meeting in fall 2007, the band completed work on its debut album which is expected sometime this spring.
With two Australians and an Englishman, The Greencards are probably the least likely Austin-formed/Nashville-based band you’ve ever heard. Their love and respect for country, Americana, blues and bluegrass brought them together in 2003 and–now signed to Sugar Hill Records–the trio will release their fourth album Fascination. Meticulously crafted arrangements serve as springboards for exhilarating improvisations. Acoustic textures and Carol Young’s moving vocals shimmer in the light of innovative production. The Greencards have already toured with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, earned the Americana Music Award in 2006 for “Emerging Artist of the Year and in 2008 landed a Grammy nomination (“Best Country Instrumental Performance”). Their urge to challenge themselves, to test the limits of any established genre, continues to guide The Greencards – singer/bassist Carol Young and multiple stringed-instrument master Kym Warner from Australia, and violinist/violist Eamon McLoughlin from the U.K.
After five years of touring and establishing themselves as "the most important folk group to emerge from Boston since the early 60's" (Boston Globe), Crooked Still underwent a major change in November of 2007. Founding member and cellist Rushad Eggleston left the group. Crooked Still was on the cusp of a new musical chapter: the quintet became five with the addition of fiddler Brittany Haas and cellist Tristan Clarridge. Already a visionary group capable of being simultaneously beautiful and adventurous, the new lineup allows even more exploration, breathing cosmic fire into old songs and writing bold new ones. USA Today writes: "No one captures the eerie, gorgeous menace of classic Anglo-American folk ballads like this Boston band." Much like moonshine distilled in the apparatus that inspired their name, Crooked Still is still fermenting. And the music is undeniably intoxicating.
Only Nashville could give birth to a band like the SteelDrivers: a group of seasoned veterans – each distinguished in his or her own right, each valued in the town’s commercial community – who are seizing an opportunity to follow their hearts to their souls’ reward. In doing so, they are braiding their bluegrass roots with new threads of their own design, bringing together country, soul, and other contemporary influences to create an unapologetic hybrid. This is new music with the old feeling. SteelDrivers fan Vince Gill describes the band’s fusion as simply “an incredible combination.” The band’s self-titled debut profoundly resonates with classic bluegrass soul while exploring entirely modern lyrical and harmonic byways. The blistering, soulful vocals of guitarist and songwriter Chris Stapleton immediately announce that this is dark and dangerous terrain, which the SteelDrivers’ rugged ensemble playing quickly confirms.
Formed in the fall of 2000 by Michael Arlen Bont (banjo), Dave Bruzza (guitar), and Paul Hoffman (mandolin), Greensky has undergone a musical evolution as unique as the music it has produced. As newcomers to the bluegrass scene, the three sought to define themselves within the framework of their bluegrass favorites while establishing a voice of their own, drawing upon an array of influences and varied musical backgrounds. In the fall of 2004, Greensky Bluegrass welcomed bassist Michael Devol, followed by dobro player Anders Beck about a year ago. Jambase describes their "new acoustic roots" music as "timeless without being strictly confined, current without sacrificing a compelling old-soul timbre – killer Springsteen covers and all."
& the Roseland Rhythm Revue
"Mike Farris has enough heart, soul, and power to light up a city." (Buddy Miller) After 15 years fronting rock outfits the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies and Double Trouble, 2008 Americana Emerging Artist of the Year Mike Farris has found his soul. "When I was growing up, we had five records in my family - and three of them were by Johnny Cash," says Mike. His second solo album, Salvation in Lights, is a traveling tent-revival, working its way up the banks of the Mississippi River from New Orleans through Memphis and onto points north. Recorded at the same Nashville house-studio where White Stripes/Raconteurs leader Jack White recorded Loretta Lynn's award-winning Van Lear Rose album, Farris' sophomore solo effort uses the musical language of spirituals, timeless stories of struggle - some of which are centuries-old slave spirituals - and soul to tell a uniquely redemptive story. Billboard writes: "It's impossible to listen to [Mike Farris] and not be moved." As the sun rises on the Telluride Sunday morning gospel set, prepare to be moved, shaken, and healed.
There is a word often used when describing rising Americana stars The Lovell Sisters: Passion. It’s what these three
young women (ages 18-23) feel when they step on stage to perform. Passion is the
fuel that feeds their writing and arranging, and it colors every note they play and sing on Time To Grow, their upcoming album.
Winners of Prairie Home Companion's National Teen Talent Competition in 2005, the Lovell Sisters spread the heavenly harmony of sisterhood and sibling string virtuosity — Jessica on fiddle, Megan on dobro, Rebecca on guitar and mandolin (the first female to win the Merlefest mandolin contest). In Telluride the sisters are joined by Daniel Kimbo on bass and Matthew Wingate on Guitar.
Blending incredible brother-duet-style vocals and hard-driving instrumentals, the Blue Canyon Boys have established themselves as one of Colorado's most energetic and exciting young bluegrass bands. The four current members - Drew Garrett, vocalist/mandolin player Gary Dark, vocalist/guitarist Jason Hicks and banjo player Jeff Scroggins - discovered their potential at an energetic jam at the Mid-Winter Bluegrass Festival in Northglenn, Colorado. Rooting themselves in tradition, The Blue Canyon Boys draw upon influences like the Stanley Brothers, Jim and Jesse, Jimmy Martin, Bill Monroe and others to entertain audiences with a thoughtful selection of traditional and original songs. In 2008 they released their second CD, Hello City Limits about which Bluegrass Music Profiles wrote: "with impeccable timing and tasteful licks, there’s not a dull moment."