is this a bluegrass festival??

[bluegracias]

i'm looking over the '11 line-up again.....
looks like an amazing time, but i just looked at the rockygrass lineup again and i have to ask.....
where's the bluegrass at telluride??!!??
i know it's not sarah mclaughlin or steve earle or robert plant, but not even railroad earth or the punch brothers are really bluegrass bands. very few on this list are.....
the simple fix for the telluride bluegrass and country music festival, as i see it, is to change the name of it to the telluride pretty awesome music festival. because 'pretty awesome music' in this situation is far more honest than 'bluegrass'
it's been suggested to me that the non-bluegrass(y) acts are there to round out my musical experience and give me a break from a solid weekend for bluegrass music, but i didn't buy a ticket to the telluride top 40 festival and i don't really need a break from break-neck picking and the music that really fuels my soul (sorry sarah mclaughlin). there are SO MANY astonishing bluegrass, jazzgrass, newgrass, funkgrass, etc(grass).... bands and artists out there that aren't getting a shot because someone either decided this shouldn't be a bluegrass festival anymore or that we would have too much fun without a thursday night speed bump before the house band goes on.
either way, i have to say, bring some bluegrass back to telluride bluegrass!!!
because the northwest sting summit looks REALLY good stacked next to this...

[Hot Sugar]

Sam Bush, Tim O'Brien, Emmit Nershi, Peter Rowan, Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, The Infamous Stringdusters, Yonder Mountain String Band, Trampled By Turtles, and Cormeal. That's a good selection of Bluegrass in my book. Also, keep in mind that the sign that hangs above the Fred Shellman stage all weekend long says "The Telluride Bluegrass and Country Music Festival." Telluride was never meant to be only for Bluegrass, and that's what makes it the best festival in the world for me. I look forward to seeing the bluegrass every year and that's the main reason I show up for the festival, but some of the best sets of music I've ever seen have been bands or artists who are decidedly not Bluegrass tearing up that stage. Guys like David Byrne, Elvis Costello, The Frames, Mumford and Sons etc. etc. Also, Telluride is the only place where you can see the greatest Bluegrass band ever created play: The Telluride House Band. It doesn't get any better than Telluride.

[Pearhead]

Well said Hot Sugar 

 Listening to: Let it Grow

[swander99]

  Telluride Troubadour and the Band contest is awesome as well! 
String bands everywhere you look, sounds like a Bluegrass Fest to me. 

[johnny]

I hope this doesn't break down into the 'what is bluegrass?' debate, but Trampled by Turtles and Yonder Mountain are definitely NOT bluegrass.  Trampled is my favorite band in the whole world, but they fought for years to NOT be called a bluegrass ban, and have just recently gave up, though if you ask them they'd say no.  I've seen a similar interview where Jeff Austin said he wasn't in a bluegrass band.  Yonder even says it in their name: Yonder Mountain STRING BAND.  Cornmeal has a drummer.  That is really my type of music, but yeah, if you want Bluegrass, Rockygrass is the place for you.  If you want progressive string band music you should go to Telluride (that's why I'm going!).  Sam Bush helped start this whole debate with Newgrass Revival.  Just look what Bill Monroe said about that. 

A name is a name.  I went to the Talkeetna Bluegrass Festival in Alaska a couple times and didn't even see a single banjo. 

 Listening to: mumford and sons

[Yahtzee]

Its more than just bluegrass...its an experience.

 Listening to: White Stripe

[bluegracias]

I hope this doesn't break down into the 'what is bluegrass?' debate, but Trampled by Turtles and Yonder Mountain are definitely NOT bluegrass.  Trampled is my favorite band in the whole world, but they fought for years to NOT be called a bluegrass ban, and have just recently gave up, though if you ask them they'd say no.  I've seen a similar interview where Jeff Austin said he wasn't in a bluegrass band.  Yonder even says it in their name: Yonder Mountain STRING BAND.  Cornmeal has a drummer.  That is really my type of music, but yeah, if you want Bluegrass, Rockygrass is the place for you.  If you want progressive string band music you should go to Telluride (that's why I'm going!).  Sam Bush helped start this whole debate with Newgrass Revival.  Just look what Bill Monroe said about that. 

A name is a name.  I went to the Talkeetna Bluegrass Festival in Alaska a couple times and didn't even see a single banjo. 

that's what i meant, largely....

i even said, it looks like a great time with some great music, but it's called a bluegrass festival.
i'd still go to the telluride progressive string band music festival and had a blast at david byrne and elvis costello.
i'm going to be there in june and love the whole week of camping and music and brotherhood, just thinking that a little more of this and a little less of that might be appropriate, or a name change.
samfest? newgrass playground? telluride progressive string band festival?
maybe it's silly to rock the boat; i'm just a man with my thoughts........

[Hot Sugar]

I hope this doesn't break down into the 'what is bluegrass?' debate, but Trampled by Turtles and Yonder Mountain are definitely NOT bluegrass.  Trampled is my favorite band in the whole world, but they fought for years to NOT be called a bluegrass ban, and have just recently gave up, though if you ask them they'd say no.  I've seen a similar interview where Jeff Austin said he wasn't in a bluegrass band.  Yonder even says it in their name: Yonder Mountain STRING BAND.  Cornmeal has a drummer.  That is really my type of music, but yeah, if you want Bluegrass, Rockygrass is the place for you.  If you want progressive string band music you should go to Telluride (that's why I'm going!).  Sam Bush helped start this whole debate with Newgrass Revival.  Just look what Bill Monroe said about that. 

A name is a name.  I went to the Talkeetna Bluegrass Festival in Alaska a couple times and didn't even see a single banjo. 

that's what i meant, largely....

i even said, it looks like a great time with some great music, but it's called a bluegrass festival.
i'd still go to the telluride progressive string band music festival and had a blast at david byrne and elvis costello.
i'm going to be there in june and love the whole week of camping and music and brotherhood, just thinking that a little more of this and a little less of that might be appropriate, or a name change.
samfest? newgrass playground? telluride progressive string band festival?
maybe it's silly to rock the boat; i'm just a man with my thoughts........

And I respect those thoughts. They are completely valid. I wasn't trying to attack you, just state why I love this festival so much. If I had the money, I'd go to Rockygrass in a heartbeat, but I have to save year round to be able to afford one festival, and as long as that's the case, I'll be in Telluride every summer for the solstice.

[ferg]

OK, I've had this discussion/debate for a looonnng time, somehow I've been tempted to chime in again. I've been able to reduce my "postion" on this from a few beers to a brief email.

Here goes:

No, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival is clearly not "a bluegrass festival". Never was.

Bluegrass is a "genre.
Country is a "genre".
Jazz is a "genre".
Even jamgrass and alt-country are "genres".

Telluride Bluegrass is a genre.

That clear it up?

 

(first time trying one of those cute lil pictures!)

 Listening to: oh, hell, Mumford and Sons again.

[bluegracias]

OK, I've had this discussion/debate for a looonnng time, somehow I've been tempted to chime in again. I've been able to reduce my "postion" on this from a few beers to a brief email.

Here goes:

No, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival is clearly not "a bluegrass festival". Never was.

Bluegrass is a "genre.
Country is a "genre".
Jazz is a "genre".
Even jamgrass and alt-country are "genres

Telluride Bluegrass is a genre.

That clear it up?

 

(first time trying one of those cute lil pictures!)

thanks, Craig. don't mean to beat a dead horse.....

i've had this conversation a few times, too, and i always preface it by saying "i love telluride bluegrass festval"!
it makes me, a grown man, giddy! i have my camping gear out in the middle of the room waiting to be packed into the car come april. no lie. spring fever means telluride is on my horizon, every year! we're there early and we stay late! i love you people like you are my family!

Telluride Bluegrass is it's own genre, indeed! stating it like that really puts it in perspective!

[Auntie Hope]

And remember, Not all the bluegrass is posted in the line-up, nor plays on the Shellman Stage or the Elks Park stage. It's in the campgrounds. Many pickers come to play bluegrass with old friends, or friends they haven't even met yet.

TBF as a genre.. Yup! 

Lack of Bluegrass... NO WAY DUDE!!!!! 

[pamia]

Seems to be the way of Colorado festivals.  Have you seen the lineups for the Aspen and Snowmass "Jazz" Festivals for the last few years?  Lynryd Skynyrd, Wilco, The Black Crowes, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Black Eyed Peas, Allman Brothers?  TBF has way more bluegrass than Aspen & Snowmass have jazz!

And TBT and Yonder are definitely bluegrass-based bands - they just have expanded the genre in their own directions.  Trampled by Turtles has joined Splitlip Rayfield in the speedgrass category!

[psayhey]

bluegrass specific, no, ferg's right on with that one (suppose he should know better than anyone, the deliverer of livestock and all), but it's a progression of what guys like sam and bela and john hartford, et al....were doing back in the day and still bring to our hearts and souls with every lick, whether they have a drummer or whatever.
progression, right?
bill monroe > john hartford> sam bush> leftover salmon> the universe and who knows.......love it!
progression, right?! if it was bad, it'd be called congression!!
hey, wait......
sure, telluride bluegrass festival could use danny barnes every third set, IMO, but what festival couldn't?!
love it!

 Listening to: bad livers

[bdouglaswood]

"Seems to be the way of Colorado festivals.  Have you seen the lineups for the Aspen and Snowmass "Jazz" Festivals for the last few years?  Lynryd Skynyrd, Wilco, The Black Crowes, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Black Eyed Peas, Allman Brothers?  TBF has way more bluegrass than Aspen & Snowmass have jazz!"

That's a common mistake though--the jazz aspen labor day festival is not a jazz festival at all--'jazz aspen' refers to the society that sponsors it/benefits from it--not to the music played at it.  it's a labor day festival, not a jazz festival--just happens to be put on by a society with 'jazz' in their name.

and as somebody who thinks that genres place more limits on music than they should, i'm glad that TBF is the telluride "bluegrass" festival even if many genre purists don't recognize much of the music herein as bluegrass.  I think there's plenty of bluegrass in cornmeal, RRE, and Yonder, even if they don't strictly adhere to guidelines of the Monroe and the bluegrass boys.

[Tracy]

I'm in love with the whole scene. 

 Listening to: An Dochas