Beloved bluegrass ballyhoo Telluride Bluegrass Festival took over the small mountain town of Telluride, CO over the weekend for its 2024 edition. The 51st installment of the “festivarian”-favorite festival once again saw a heavy emphasis on collaboration, with Billy Strings and Chris Thile kicking off Telluride Bluegrass with a highly-anticipated collaborative set.
It has become a tradition over the past several years for mandolin genius Chris Thile to open the festivities in some way or another. While this has long been a best-kept secret among returning Telluride Bluegrass attendees (nicknamed festivarians), this year the cover was blown wide open as the festival announced in advance that Billy Strings would join the Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek frontman. Though no additional details were announced other than the promise of these two performers of the highest caliber together on the same stage, thousands showed up bright and early on Thursday afternoon to witness the collaboration.
Billy Strings and Chris Thile have shared the spotlight twice before Telluride, once at the finale of Thile’s 65th Street Session collaborative series at Lincoln Center featuring keyboardist Cory Henry and then appearing the following day on CBS Mornings as a duo. The pair reprised their duo configuration for Telluride Bluegrass, squaring off for a 75-minute mono-y-mono mountain music standoff that was heavy on traditional bluegrass songs like “I Am A Pilgrim”, “Wild Bill Jones”, “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz”, “The Train That Carried My Girl From Town”, and more. Thile and Strings also snuck in a few more recent covers like The Beatles‘ “Rocky Raccoon”, Moody Blues‘ “Nights in White Satin”, and Radiohead‘s “Videotape”, the latter adding yet another entry to the growing number of Radiohead covers in Chris’ live toolbelt. The two performers had arguably the most fun out of anyone in attendance, and luckily for fans it appears this bluegrass bromance is only just beginning.
Chris Thile & Billy Strings — Telluride Bluegrass Festival 2024 — Full Audio
[Audio: BOOTsy Jacobs]
While Billy and Chris’ starting gun of a collaborative set was a highlight for many, the undisputed man of the weekend was Sam Bush. The founding New Grass Revival mandolinist celebrated his 50th straight appearance at Telluride Bluegrass Festival, having begun his long and storied relationship with the festival in 1975. Acts from across the lineup and beyond all came out to pay their respects to the man christened the “King of Telluride” with a ceremonial plaque, with the festival also honoring the baseball-loving Bush with a commemorative bobblehead at the merch table.
Per Saving Country Music, Bush perhaps sat in on more sets than not as he appeared alongside the likes of The Infamous Stringdusters, fellow bluegrass icon Peter Rowan, and slamgrass vets Leftover Salmon who—until Bush arrived—played through a sheet of rain and were then promptly greeted by clearing of clouds and an overhead rainbow when Bush joined in with his fiddle. Bush’s traditional Saturday headlining set was a fittingly star-studded affair. In addition to the myriad artists from the lineup who all came out to kiss the ring, Telluride’s most famous resident and country music star Dierks Bentley made a surprise appearance during Sam’s set. While becoming a bluegrass icon over the past half-century, Bush also become one of the most in-demand session musicians for roots music of all varieties. Bush lent his strings to Bentley’s 2010 album Up on the Ridge, featuring his song about Telluride, “Sun Sets in Colorado”, which the two played on Saturday along with Bentley’s take on U2‘s “Pride (In The Name of Love)”.
The climax of Bush’s set came in the form of a couple oversized jam sessions on “Ralph’s Banjo Special” and Bush’s classic “Same Ol’ River” which, when added together, amounted to nearly half an hour of music. It was all hands on deck as generational talents spooled out from the side of the stage, with appearances by Thile, Bentley, Tommy Emmanuel, Andy Thorn (Leftover Salmon), Andrew Marlin (Watchhouse/Mandolin Orange), Noam Pikelny (The Punch Brothers), Kyle Tuttle (Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway), and too many more to count.
“We found a friend for life in this town, and friends for life at this festival,” Bush said at one point of his enduring legacy at Telluride.
Sam Bush & Friends — Telluride Bluegrass Festival 2024 — Full Audio
[Video: foxfireman188]
Sam Bush & Friends — “Same Ol’ River” — Telluride Bluegrass Festival 2024
[Video: Owen Perkins]
Check out a collection of images from Telluride Bluegrass Festival 2024 courtesy of photographer Conrad Meyer along with a selection of fan-shot videos from Owen Perkins (unless otherwise noted) and audio by foxfireman188.
Sierra Hull — Telluride Bluegrass Festival 2024 — Full Audio
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