Bluegrass releases 2007 lineup
Published: Thursday, November 30, 2006 7:36 PM CST
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Krauss, Corea, Thile on the bill
By Katie Klingsporn
Numb faces, slick streets and air like the inside of the ice box have arrived in Telluride, signaling the onset of winter. For those who are feeling the chill, here’s some news that’ll warm you to the core.
Telluride Bluegrass Festival — the annual four-day festival of sunshine, bare feet and music in Town Park — has announced its preliminary lineup. And it’s stellar.
The 34th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival will feature musical giants Alison Krauss & Union Station, Chick Corea & Bela Fleck, Emmylou Harris and Chris Thile & How to Grow a Band.
Festival standards Sam Bush Band, Jerry Douglas Band, Yonder Mountain String Band, Peter Rowan & Crucial Country, B/la Fleck and the Flecktones and the John Cowan Band also crowd the lineup.
And several newbies will grace the main stage in Town Park for the first time, including the Avett Brothers, Sparrow Quartet, Crooked Still and the Infamous Stringdusters.
Brian Eyster, the communications director for Planet Bluegrass, said the lineup is about two-thirds complete.
“There’s a bunch of possibilities still out there for things that could come together,” he said from Planet Bluegrass’s headquarters in Lyons, Colo. “But it’s certainly a great start.”
In addition to the acts already mentioned, festivarians will be treated to one of the hallmarks of Telluride’s festival — musical collaborations, many of which unfurl spontaneously on stage.
The Telluride House Band, which will feature heavy hitters B/la Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Sam Bush, Bryan Sutton and probably some special guests, will get together for a set. As will Tony Rice and Alison Krauss & Union Station, playing material from Rice’s rich and highly influential career. Jazz legend Chick Corea is teaming up with banjo virtuoso B/la Fleck, and Bryan Sutton will join Chris Thile & How to Grow a Band.
And while it’s not on the bill, more of this unplanned musical mingling is inevitable. It’s something of a Bluegrass tradition, and this fraternization one of the factors that makes the festival unique, Eyster said.
“Telluride Bluegrass is really the only place where that kind of thing happens,” he said.
Festival organizers still have some slots to secure, including late-night sets and the alternative act, which in the past has been filled by bands like The Decemberists, who have a distinctly non-bluegrass sound.
“We’re certainly hoping to have a couple real exciting new additions,” Eyster said.
Another task that remains is putting together the daily schedule for the festival.
The final lineup is typically locked down by February, Eyster said.
Tickets for the festival, which is scheduled for June 21-24, go on sale on Dec. 6 at 8 a.m., mountain standard time, and early-bird four-day passes will cost $145. These early tickets will be available at www.bluegrass.com of by calling 1-800-624-2422.
As evidence of the immense popularity of the festival — which draws some 10,000 fans to the valley each summer — Town Park camping and vehicle passes sold out by Nov. 6, well before the lineup was announced. Festivarians from 49 states and two foreign countries applied to the random lottery, Eyster said, and Planet Bluegrass ended up turning a couple hundred away.
However, Warner Field camping is still available, he said.
Telluride Bluegrass Festival’s preliminary lineup:
