The legendary Telluride Bluegrass Festival celebrated its 50th year in 2023 with a diverse lineup highlighting the pervasive influence of Appalachian string band music on the modern live music landscape.
After raining on and off throughout the festival’s opening day on Thursday, which featured sets by The String Cheese Incident, Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, Del McCoury Band, Chris Thile, and Bella White, the weather put a serious damper on the festivities on Friday, forcing not one but two festival evacuations due to lightning. Leftover Salmon‘s set was cut short after just two songs. Sarah Jarosz and Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba‘s performances were also affected, but the rest of the schedule, including sets by Greensky Bluegrass, Nickel Creek, and The Peter Rowan Band, went ahead as planned.
Luckily, the rain let up on Saturday in time for Sierra Ferrell, whose set was a major highlight of the weekend. Other Saturday highlights included Sam Bush, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Yonder Mountain String Band, and The Earls of Leicester featuring Jerry Douglas.
Sunday finished strong with a wide-ranging, talent-filled lineup comprised of Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Gregory Alan Isakov, the all-star Telluride House Band featuring Sam Bush, Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, and more, Emmylou Harris featuring Watchhouse, Punch Brothers, Yasmin Williams, and a bluegrass gospel set by The Infamous Stringdusters.
Click below to view photos from Telluride Bluegrass Festival 2023 courtesy of photographer Conrad Meyer. The festival has already announced its 51st edition, set to take place in 2024. For more information, visit the festival website.
The post PHOTOS: Telluride Bluegrass Festival Celebrates 50th Year With SCI, Béla Fleck, Sierra Ferrell, More appeared first on L4LM.
