Yes, Bela and Chris are two of the most talented musicians on the planet, and are also two of the most polarizing. I know several people at the festival who are frequently bored by their sets (though I’ve heard very little negative about the symphony this year). Both Bela and Chris played three sets this year. Yes, all three were drastically different, and I’d never dream of suggesting taking Bela out of the House band or doing away with the House Band all together. But I think there is room for them to scale back to two sets to allow for some hot, young, up and coming bands like The Dusters. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a Chris set as much as I do every Dusters set I see. I can’t say that about Bela, but there have definitely been times when his sets have left me cold.
I think a few legends can take a step back to make room for the future of bluegrass. I don’t find that unreasonable at all.
Agree 100% Sugar with 6 sets between there was too much of a good thing, perhaps the Planet is trying to groom Chris as the “Crown Prince” of Telluride so he can take over from the king, but he can’t come close to filling the King’s shoes, and there are way too many great acts out there to have two people tie up what amounts 1 whole day of the Festival. I think the Symphony was one of the best sets of the weekend, and it was nice to hear another side of Bela, the best banjo player on the planet. Let’s spread the wealth Planet :pirate
I can’t help but wonder if there is a financial aspect to multiple appearances by some of the regulars? I’m sure they get taken care of well by PB regardless & look forward to being here, but I’d be curious to know if a second or third set/slot which primarily includes the same “big names” get paid out at the same rate as the first set? In other words, there might be a “quantity discount” at play re: multiple appearaces … which could be viewed as a win-win in so far as providing the festivarians what they want while simultaneously lowering the overall cost for PB. But the flipside is that if this is a component which might be at play, then the negative aspect is that it excludes of a wider cast of artists.
Personally, I think there’s typically sufficient diversity in the overall lineup, but things do get relatively incestual at times vs. other festivals. Then again, many other festivals have next to zero cross-pollination (i.e. Telluride Blues & Brews) which I find a bit sterile and disheartening.
The Dusters aren’t the future of bluegrass, nor are they up-and-coming. Chris Thile’s many and various projects are far more diverse and interesting. He’s not exactly a geezer, you know.
It’s kind of a “to each his own” thing when it comes to preference (the Dusters bore me to death), but if it’s a “future of bluegrass” thing, I don’t see how you could possibly give preference to the Stringdusters over Punch Brothers or Nickel Creek. More people are listening to Nickel Creek, Punch Brothers, Trampled By Turtles, Devil Makes Three, etc. than the Stringdusters.
If you want a wider cast of artists, I don’t think the main stage is the best place to facilitate that. Most festivals have one or more smaller stages where they schedule lesser known artists. I wouldn’t want to mess too much with Elks Park since that’s usually where the more intimate performances are, but maybe it would be cool to have another alternate venue where they just schedule smaller, regional acts.
Really, though, I think it’s a solution in search of a problem, because it’s not like there aren’t new artists there every year. Frank Sullivan, Jason Isbell, Andrew Bird, Nicki Bluhm, Ray LaMontagne, Steve Winwood… Wasn’t this the first appearance for all of them? And then there were some who hadn’t been there for awhile, like Brandi Carlile and Nickel Creek…
As you said, to each their own, but I have to chime in and say I’m the exact opposite. I am bored more by Nickle Creek and Punch Brothers than I am by The Dusters, whom I think you are selling short by implying that they are a regional only act. They tour across the country and pack good sized venues pretty much everywhere they go.
And as far as more people listening to Nickle Creek, Punch, DM3 and TBT, the only one of those bands that is remotely bluegrass is Punch, so I don’t see how that excludes The Dusters from being the future of bluegrass music. And Punch doesn’t really relate very well, as they kind of have their own, non-bluegrass, vibe going on, even though they can undoubtedly rip up some bluegrass tunes when they feel like it.
In the end, though, as you said, it’s all of little consequence. There’s never a shortage of good musicians at the festival, both new and old.
I appreciate that there are bands in Telluride every year that I “don’t get”, but other people love. For example, over the years I’ve walked out on K.D. Lang, DM3, OCMS, Bruce Hornsby. Punch did such an awesome job alienating me the first couple of years (mainly because my tarpmates hate cacophony), I haven’t been won over yet, so i still listen from camp.
In the meantime, as I said after 2013 festival, the Dusters and Greensky are the top two touring string bands for me. Frank Solivan (not Sullivan, folks) and the Dirty Kitchen are going to vie for the title I think.
Every TBF is heavy in some artist. Some years Sam is all over the place, or Tim, Or Jerry, or bela, or Chris. As long as it’s not the same artist every year, i really love having a festival influenced so strongly by one of my favorite musicians.
So…yeah…everything is just exactly perfect…well done PB!
I like when a headliner supports the Fest in it’s entirety. Sam or Chris, like a sponsor almost…weaving in and out of sets. Old and new, mix and walah. Excellence abounds.
I watched a man with a new born baby. He had head sets on her but he was in front of the speakers and her little eyes were about to pop out of her head. My liver was shakein so I am sure she was feeling all kinds of vibrations. PLEASE PEOPLE, YOU ARE NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE ON THE PLANET! YOUR BABY IS! REMOVE YOURSELF AND STEP BACK! PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN! I wanted to grab that baby and run to the rear but was told to mind my own business. It was painful for me to watch.
I don’t think I implied the Dusters are a regional act. Just that they’re not “up and coming.” I know it’s unscientific, but if you look at Facebook likes, all of the artists I mentioned have at least twice as many, and even Greensky has 50% more. They just don’t have much appeal outside of bluegrass circles, and they don’t seem any more popular now than they did three years ago. It sounds counterintuitive, but if they’re the future of the genre, they have to have some cross-genre appeal. I would bet that’s why TBF always features so many quasi-bluegrass acts…otherwise the demographics are just gonna get older and older and the crowd will literally just die off.
Maybe TBT, DM3, Nickel Creek, etc. aren’t traditional bluegrass, but they all have obvious bluegrass influence, and isn’t that how any genre evolves? I doubt you can find any genre of music where the listeners are so bent out of shape over tradition as bluegrass. Those non-traditional acts are the future of the genre because, like it or not, those are the artists younger observers think of when they hear about bluegrass.
I think they’ve definitely gotten more popular in the past 3 years. When I saw them Halloween 2012, they sold out a 200 person venue. When I saw them in April in the same town, they sold out a 500 person venue. Members of the audience included String Cheese Fans, Hipsters, Dave Matthews fans, and, of course, the bluegrass fans. I ran into a friend I’ve known since kindergarten at a party recently and she had a Dusters sticker on her water bottle. She has little to no exposure to bluegrass. She had never heard of them but went to see them in Chicago and thought they were amazing. The Dusters’ fan base extends beyond bluegrass fans.
When they started out, they were a traditional band. But when Jesse Cobb left, they went in a different direction and they’ve been finding favor with jam band fans every where. Excluding the House Band, I don’t think there’s a better group of pickers around. These boys know how to throw a party.
Of course, everyone has their own opinions. I’m not trying to say that they should be everyone’s favorite band the way they are mine. Just that these guys are on the rise and deserve to play at the best festival, bluegrass or otherwise, in the country.
Hey, I’m not saying they’re not a good band, or that there’s anything wrong with liking them more than any other band. That’s subjective; and that they can play can’t be denied. But if you say they’re the “future of bluegrass” or “up and coming,” well… the facts just don’t support that. Popularity does matter at that point.
There are objective indicators for whether or not something is a trend, and a message board topic on a bluegrass festival forum or whether they sold out a venue in a particular town are not very useful. If they’re “up and coming” one would expect interest in them to be rising, but it’s not: http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=%2Fm%2F03grq02
Compare that to Greensky Bluegrass, or The Devil Makes Three, who have both seen consistently increasing search interest over the past few years. Trampled By Turtles and Punch Brothers have had more oscillations, but they’re both decidedly more popular now than they were three years ago. There is also little apparent interest in the Dusters in any major city outside of Denver; the other bands have a noticeably more even distribution across major cities.
I’m not saying they don’t deserve to play Telluride. They do, just not as often as you might like (I’d like to see Head For The Hills, Elephant Revival, Josh Ritter, Steve Earle, Darrell Scott, Trampled By Turtles, Neil Young, et al every year, but that’s just not a reasonable expectation). There are very few artists who should be yearly, and I think Planet Bluegrass is doing a pretty good job selecting those.
Interesting topic. i think the BG/OT scene is unique in the outstanding support the old guard provides to the new gen. I can’t name all the instances of established artists taking time out to mentor and support new talent. In many other music genres, the boundaries are much more strict and the access restricted. It is extremely heartening to see world class talents like Bela, Jerry and Edgar play on up and coming musicians projects, specifically the work they did with Sarah Jarosz a few years back on Follow Me Down.
Whether the old guard should give up some time to the new is academic to me. They’ve already proven their largesse and the new folks have plenty of time in their careers. Let PB make the tough choices, they are more than capable.
I’m hoping PB never starts using Facebook likes or Google trends to determine acts to book, I’m sure Miley Cyrus has more than this year’s entire lineup…… That said, I feel as a long time Stringdusters fan I do need to add a few things. Calling them a traditional bluegrass band could only be done by someone who’s idea of a bluegrass festival is one headlined by Steve Winwood. Living here in the heart of traditional bluegrass I can definately state that they are considered by most to be a progressive, Newgrass band- one that is right in line with the Telluride format. In addition to the music, their work with American Rivers, and with Oskar Blues to benefit Lyons, and the way they conduct their festival has them definately in line with the PB/Festivarian mindset. Their festival ( The Festy Experience) which I have attended every year, shows a lot of PB influence, even surpassing PB in some ways ( a Kleen Kanteen cup is included in multi day ticket price and there are no plastic beer cups). Their fan base is probably a little younger than the Telluride average, about the same as Greensky I would guess. I feel that musically as well as culturally they are definately as worthy of any band for an annual appearance, but that is between PB and them. PB seems to have done a pretty fine job without my input over the years….Since Telluride is difficult for me to do every year logistically, it would be nice if they settle on a every other year or every third year pattern they could send me a message and let me know so I could coordinate my years :thumbsup. The other thing that I’m finding interesting about this thread is the idea that having the Dusters/ Greensky every year would have to cost us a Sam/Tim/ CT etc set… It would seem to me that if any of those artists had taken Ray LA Who cares? spot it would have been a better fest for all (Ray included, judging by his comments)
Posted by: KYDeadhead: I’m hoping PB never starts using Facebook likes or Google trends to determine acts to book (+1)
I’ve learned no matter how much you love (or dislike) a certain band that music is personal and subjective and even though it can be fun, it’s not really worthwhile trying to convince someone why a certain band is great - or not so great. For me I absolutely love both Greensky and the Dusters. I’ll travel to see them both and hope they play the festival each year. On the other hand I’ve never been able to enjoy anything Chris Thile has done and I’ll leave to shower or hike during any of his sets including Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers. By the sounds of it ShatteredArm feels the exact opposite. So…I guess the point is to each their own. Overall PB does a pretty great job giving us a wonderful and diverse lineup each year. :cheers
