Telluride Bluegrass Fest Bestows Big Opportunities in 50th Annual Lineup
There are bigger festivals, and maybe in someone’s opinion, better festivals. But few festivals in the roots space are as prestigious as the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in beautiful Telluride, Colorado. Celebrating its 50th year in 2023 of hosting bluegrass and bluegrass-adjacent music in the beautiful mountains during the summer solstice, this year is slated to be something especially memorable.
As you can imagine, the 2023 lineup for June 15th to 18th includes some stalwart names of bluegrass, from The Del McCoury Band, The Peter Rowan Band, and The Earls of Leicester, along with ample acts from the jamgrass world such as Greensky Bluegrass and Leftover Salmon, as well as legends from the country and bluegrass world like Emmylou Harris, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Alison Krauss with Robert Plant.
But the best part is how Telluride Bluegrass continues to open its doors to the important voices of independent country, and give them an opportunity to mark off a bucket list experience by taking the Telluride Bluegrass stage. In 2023, this honor is going to Charles Wesley Godwin, who is absolutely surging right now do to his sincere and powerful Appalachian songwriting and proximity to Zach Bryan, and Sierra Ferrell who is finally filling the void in independent country of a true female headliner.
Also just announced as part of the full 2023 lineup is fan favorite Town Mountain, who just released a new album Lines in the Levee in late 2022, and Two Runner out of California which has paired Paige Anderson and Emilie Rose. They’ll be releasing their debut album Modern Cowboy on March 24th. Another worthy name is Bella White, who releases her new album Among Other Things on April 21st.
Unfortunately if you want tickets, Telluride has long since sold out. However, promoter Planet Bluegrass will put refunded tickets back on sale in the coming weeks. You can find info about re-sale tickets by CLICKING HERE.
But whether you can make it to Telluride or not, it’s cool to root on your favorite artists who will enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in 2023.
50th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival Lineup:
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
The String Cheese Incident
Sam Bush Band
Béla Fleck and The Flecktones
Emmylou Harris with Watchhouse
Gregory Alan Isakov
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Punch Brothers
Del McCoury Band
Greensky Bluegrass
The Infamous Stringdusters
Leftover Salmon
Nickel Creek
Yonder Mountain String Band
Long Jon
Telluride House Band
Sarah Jarosz
Tim O’Brien Band
The Peter Rowan Band
The Earls of Leicester
Chris Thile
Sierra Ferrell
Charles Wesley Godwin
Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy
Bella White
Yasmin Williams
Town Mountain
Two Runner
Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba
Full Cord (winners of the 2022 Telluride Band Competition)
March 3, 2023 @ 4:08 am
Trigger have you ever gone to this and covered it? I talked to a couple at Under the Big Sky who travel a lot for shows. They said that Telluride was their favorite by far.
March 3, 2023 @ 8:34 am
Yes I went there last year for the first time. Always wanted to go there, but obviously it’s difficult to attend, and I’m not exactly a pure bluegrass guy, but they put Tyler Childers and the Turnpike Troubadours on the lineup. I had a great time, despite the weather being dodgy all weekend. Will try to be back this year as well.
March 3, 2023 @ 8:46 am
Have heard 3 of the songs from the new Bella White album. If the rest are as good this will be easily Album Of The Year.
March 3, 2023 @ 8:53 am
Emmylou Harris and Watchhouse is kinda cracking me up.
March 3, 2023 @ 10:20 am
” Emmylou Harris and Watchhouse is kinda cracking me up.”
Ya know, I’ve managed to catch Emmylou several times in the last 30 years and I truly miss the days of her Nash Ramblers Band. I never got to see The Hot Band as I was just a kid, though I wish I had. Emmy sounds great with a vigorous Honky-Tonk band behind her, it energizes her music considerably. I caught her live I think maybe 6 or 7 years back and she was backed by an all girl acoustic folk band. Truthfully it was soooooo slow and melancholy and hardly any foot tapping to be had. I lost my interest midway through….it was insufferable….the fact it was outdoors early afternoon in the sun, at a festival made it worse. Im thinking that group late night, in a small dark listening room kinda venue would have been better suited for what she was doing. If you are gonna play outdoors on a big stage you gotta be able to hold a crowds attention, and one sad weeper after another, played acoustic, slowly, doesn’t do the trick. Apparently this is where Emmys at now, acoustic folk band…I guess the Nash Rambler edition ain’t coming back….
March 3, 2023 @ 10:40 am
I too was a little disappointed to see that Emmylou Harris was being backed up by Watchhouse, and not because I’m anti-Watchhouse, but because she’s usually fronting a hot shit band, and has fronted some of the most hot shit bands in country history.
That said, this is not “where Emmys at now.” I have seen her two or three times in the last few years, and she has always had what she calls the “Red Dirt Boys” behind her, which is definitely an electric country band. I saw her at Under The Big Sky Fest in 2021, and this was my review:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CReb0aUha2X/
““Does anyone like country music? Does anyone remember country music?” She asked. “This is a Kitty Wells song. It’s real country,” she said before launching into “Making Memories.”
“Three chords and the truth, that’s what Harlan Howard said,” Emmylou said later before performing a soul-stirring a capella song with her backing band The Red Dirt Boys.
“And we still like that country music!” Emmylou said as the crowd erupted after the song.”
My guess is Telluride Bluegrass wanted Emmylou to play, but she couldn’t make routing possible where she could carry the full band. Telluride is EXTREMELY isolated and tough to get to. So my guess is the idea of having her backed by Watchhouse came together. And let’s remember, this is ultimately a bluegrass festival. They definitely have electric acts as well, but Emmylou backed by Watchhouse doesn’t feel inappropriate in this context.
March 6, 2023 @ 6:35 am
“bluegrass” fest lol