Keeping with our tradition of sharing our most important news with Forumvarians first… And since Sam Bush plays on the new Town Park stage (for his 42nd consecutive TBF!) exactly 6 months from tonight… And since the winter solstice is just a few days away…
We’re excited to announce the initial lineup for the 43rd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival, June 16-19, 2016…
Sam Bush Band
Neil Finn
Emmylou Harris
John Prine
Telluride House Band featuring Sam, Bela, Jerry, Edgar, Bryan & Stuart
Great start to the lineup, thanks PB! I’m very happy to see Greensky on the list. I always assume/hope they will be in Telluride in June, but it’s always nice to see it in writing. Also nice to see the Flecktones, Dusters and Dave Rawlings Machine back. Is it June yet?
Neil Finn? See what a terrible lineup guesser I am!!!
Kinda shocked that there’s no Janel Monae / Sharon Jones / kd lang / Cake / David Byrne type of NON-bluegrass surprises. But then again, there are “still many more to be announced”.
I can’t explain how cool it is to see The Lil’ Smokies on that lineup. I knew they would be, after all, I partied with them after they won the contest, but still, to see my friends and hometown bluegrass band on a Planet Bluegrass announcement is way too cool. And, of course, I’m happy to see The Dusters are back. Planet, don’t make us go this long without a Telluride Dusting again, please.
The Infamous Stringdusters
I’ve read ya’ll love these kats so I’m ready for this!!
Do they have any must have cd’s that could get me started?
Haven’t seen The Flecktones in 12 years so that’s way overdue.
I’m still hoping Greensky get to play a bigger place for their Nightgrass show and/or that they get the nod for the Mtn Village show the night before the fest starts. They totally deserve it…considering they co-headlined with YMSB last year at Red Rocks and are doing the same this year(with Leftover). They are one of the bands that I’m most excited about(duh!)
Hot Sugar is your guy for all things Dusters related, but I really like the album “Let It Go”. A few notes regarding Greensky…they do typically play at the Palm (high school) which is the largest traditional nightgrass venue. The Wednesday Conference Center show has been YMSB for as long as I can remember (maybe always?). I would personally LOVE if Greensky got that slot but my guess is that YMSB won’t be giving that up anytime soon. And last year Greensky co-headlined Red Rocks with YMSB but the reality was that Greensky got one 75 minute set and YMSB got two full sets. This year Greensky is the true headliner at Red Rocks and Salmon is playing one set as an opener.
A few years back they played the free Mountain Village matinee show, but as stated the Yonder Wednesday night CC show is a tradition I don’t see changing. I’m really hoping GSBG gets a Friday or Saturday night slot on the main stage come June.
The Infamous Stringdusters are, without a doubt, my favorite band in the world today. In my opinion, no other band can match the shear level of instrumental talent exhibited by The Dusters. If you’re looking for albums, Let It Go is a great start. It’s their most recent full album and is a must have for any hardcore Dusters fan. However, I’m actually a bigger fan of Silver Sky. Their earlier albums are also great, but are not an accurate representation of what the band is doing these days. I’d definitely say Silver Sky and Let It Go are the two to start with.
They also have a new album with all kinds of special guests due to be released in February that I cannot wait for and a brand new EP of covers called Undercover.
In reality, though, if you want to understand the magic that is The Infamous Stringdusters, I’d recommend heading over to Live Downloads and buying a few soundboard recordings from The Dusters. I highly recommend their Halloween run from this year (featuring the first ever electric Dusters sets) and anything from The Festy (the festival The Dusters throw every year in Virginia). Missoula, MT from March 10th of this year is another great show, as is Denver from last December (I’m sure this year’s Denver show was also excellent, but I have not listened to it yet). If you’re a fan of The Grateful Dead, check out 10/30/14 from New York; Keller Williams joined them for a night of Dead covers.
If you pay attention to their upcoming shows, you can also live stream a soundboard feed to any show they perform completely free. So do that.
And just to get you started, here’s a video of them playing “The Hitchhiker” in Burlington back in 2012.
Sugar, if I also didn’t know you so well, I would have complimented you on your usage of shear, a cousin to shred, or shredding…which is certainly what the Dusters do. :band
