Don’t know about ticket sales, but since She Who Must Be Obeyed will not let me attend this year, beer sales will be off.
Don’t forget The Dead’s “Fare Thee Well” and post-show “The Music Never Stopped”
They’re Just 2 weeks after the festival this year and there is a ton of overlap
Hornsby, Greensky, Keller Williams, The Infamous Stringdusters, Railroad Earth to name a few
That’s why I’m not coming this year. Bought Telluride passes the minute they went on sale, then this historic event came up in Feb. Can’t do both.
FWIW, I would say that’s primarily the fact that the sale date/instantaneous sell-out require a major commitment before anyone knows either the fest schedule or their own schedule. So we’ve all been trained to over-buy, then see how the lineup and our schedules shake out. I would say that the lineup is surprisingly underwhelming this year, especially compared to recent years with the likes of Steve Winwood, and that certainly plays into it.
Don’t flame me for that last comment. I’m very much looking forward to this year, but find it odd that Friday seems to be the highlight of the weekend!
See you all next week!
I’d chalk it up to the the staff simply pulling back a bit. It’s been a wonderful run, and although it’s great for business to be called #1 festival, it also creates needless headaches. I am satisfied with this lineup- hell, 98% of everybody here could play circles around most other musicians. I say if you really want to see a national rock act, then go see one. Personally, I’d like to see things stay a little more local and a little more attended by their core audience- which are generally fun-loving serious music lovers…All the best events I’ve attended throughout my life eventually lost their shine due to over marketing, over attendance and eventually folded because they tried to be too much to too many people.
That being said, I’m happy for a little ‘pulling back the reins’. And again as I mentioned above, even the most basic TBF lineup is beyond spectacular, right?
I put up the initial post and after reading all of the responses, I do think the most compelling reason for so many surplus resale tix are a combination of 3 factors: 1. Competing events of high stature this year that are funneling off some attendees. 2. A slightly less compelling line up this year. and the most important 3. After sell outs and tight resale tickets over the last few years, more and more people are preemptively grabbing tickets to have the OPTION to go, but haven’t made firm plans. This creates redundant and false demand, and crowds out people who would plan on it but can’t or won’t commit money in December to own the option. Bottom line, none of this is bad at all. Over commercialization of TBF is worse than whining about the line up when all of our favorite guys are still there every year and always plenty of delightful new acts. ONE WEEK FROM THIS VERY MOMENT THE MAGIC BEGINS!! I (WE) could not be more excited.
I think the points made are all right on target. We have a number of friends heading to Chicago in a couple of weeks and that used up their “festival” budget this time around. There is also no rock headliner (I am not sorry about that… they are never my favorite part of the festival). I also would bet that some of the scalpers got scalped in the last couple of years and I am not sorry about that either!
Many of the highlights for me over the years have been the acts that I have never seen or even never heard of. The festival is getting a bit repetitive for my taste. I understand we all have our favorites that we could see every year and be happy… but this festival has a few too many of those favorites. I will refrain from mentioning any specific ones… just that there are too many. I would rather see more new acts or performers that I have not had a chance to see.
For me this year, the show I am most excited to see is Ry Cooder. He has been a musical hero of mine since long before I started coming to T-ride and is on the very short list of musical heros I have never had an opportunity to see live.
See you all soon!
What happened to Yonder?
IMO, Yonder is now like Creedence Clearwater Revival without John Fogerty
I just read up on it. No bueno. I think I would much prefer Telluride without a major headliner if that means fewer people.
Jeff Austin and the rest of Yonder have parted ways. Some are upset about it, some are excited, and others are indifferent. Personally, I’m enjoying Yonder more now than I have in years. I believe many fans are overstating Jeff’s importance. Yes, he was the front man, but Ben was always there with him on the banter and song introductions. However, Jeff was not the lead singer, nor was he the primary songwriter; I don’t believe anyone in Yonder held those positions.
Here are the songs from Mountain Tracks:
Tracklist Hide Credits
1 Sharecropper’s Son
Written-By – C. Stanley*
3:06
2 Keep On Going
Written-By – J. Austin*
12:05
3 My Gal
Arranged By – YMSB*
Written-By – Traditional
5:52
4 Snow On The Pines >
Written-By – J. Austin*
14:36
5 Whiskey Before Breakfast >
Written-By – Traditional
3:02
6A If You’re Ever In Oklahoma >
Written-By – J.J. Cale
6B Elzic’s Farewell >
Written-By – Traditional
6C If You’re Ever In Oklahoma
Written-By – J.J. Cale
At The End Of The Day
Written-By – J. Austin*
4:38
2 Dawn’s Early Light >
Written-By – J. Austin*
11:05
3 Two Hits And The Joint Turned Brown >
Written-By – John Hartford
3:38
4 Raleigh And Spencer
Written-By – Traditional
5:26
5 Good Hearted Woman
Written-By – Jennings*, Nelson*
4:03
6 No Expectations
Written-By – Richards*, Jagger*
10:02
7A Peace Of Mind >
Written-By – J. Austin*
7B Follow Me Down To The Riverside >
Written-By – J. Austin*
7C Peace Of Mind
Written-By – J. Austin*
1-1 Bloody Mary Morning
Written-By – Willie Nelson
3:14
1-2 Coo Coo’s Nest
Written-By – John Hartford
3:23
1-3 Town
Written-By – B. Kaufmann*
2:27
1-4 If There’s Still Ramblin’ In The Rambler (Let Him Go)
Written-By – J. Austin*
3:42
1-5 Steep Grade, Sharp Curves / Ramblin’ Reprise
Written-By – J. Austin*
7:05
1-6 Traffic Jam
Written-By – B. Kaufmann*
10:28
1-7 Years With Rose
Written-By – B. Galloway*
7:16
1-8 Winds O’ Wyoming
Written-By – B. Galloway*
4:17
1-9 Traffic Jam
Written-By – B. Kaufmann*
4:36
1-10 Holding
Written-By – John Hartford
8:56
2-1 Queen Of The Earth
Written-By – Traditional
3:22
2-2 Train Bound For Glory Land
Written-By – B. Galloway*
3:54
2-3 Little Rabbit
Written-By – Traditional
7:46
2-4 Left Me In A Hole
Written-By – A. Aijala*
5:40
2-5 Old Plank Road
Vocals – Sally Truitt
Written-By – Traditional
3:01
2-6 Deep Pockets
Written-By – B. Galloway*, D. Johnston*
3:54
2-7 Maid Of The Canyon
Written-By – D. Johnston*
3:59
2-8 Too Late Now
Written-By – J. Austin*
6:19
2-9 Yee Haw Factor 0:45
2-10 Kentucky Mandolin
Cello – Rashad Eggleston
Fiddle – Brittany Haas
Written-By – Bill Monroe
8:53
2-11 Peace Of Mind
Cello – Rashad Eggleston
Fiddle – Brittany Haas
Written-By – J. Austin*
5:30
2-12 Snow On The Pines
Cello – Rashad Eggleston
Fiddle – Brittany Haas
Written-By – J. Austin*
8:37
2-13 Peace Of Mind
Cello – Rashad Eggleston
Fiddle – Brittany Haas
Written-By – J. Austin*
4:07
I think critically, YMSB sounded as good as ever last year, whether it was with Ronnie McCoury or with the two Sarahs. The latter, at Elks Park, was one of the highlights of the festival for me. The musicianship was better, except for the usual suspect, they just did not have that driving “front man” that people were used to. Ronnie was not much for bantering, the mandolin did the talking for him. Jolliff and Allie Kral are more laid back, too. To me they are just as good, but different. Perhaps because they are more laid back, maybe that has an impact on ticket sales?
Despite your point, Billy, it seems like they’re productively pushing themselves more now than they were the last couple of years w Jeff… They might be less of a party, but Jeff also seemed to wield a lot of control as “frontman.” Ben has a lot of great songs, and along with that many of their oldest. I really like the direction they’re going, though as I posted in another thread, Yonder has never been a primary draw for me when it comes to Telluride and they likely never will be. I do think they’ll eventually need to go the way of the Mule and solidify a final lineup, and I think that’s likely to be the telltale moment for their future.
Billy, your post made me think I should revise my statement to say that 75% of my favorite Yonder songs are Ben songs, but then I decided to do some digging.
I went and looked at the liner notes of every album and EP Yonder has available on their website and counted the song writing credits. I kept track of solo credits as well as co-writing credits. Some of the co-writes were with other members of Yonder and others were with songwriters outside of Yonder, such as Burle. I also checked all of the mountain tracks albums for songs that were released on studio albums, too, so as not to give any one member 2 song writing credits for the same song. Here are the results:
Jeff Austin:
Solo Credits - 16
Co-writing credits - 10
Ben Kaufman:
Solo Credits - 13
Co-writing credits - 8
David Johnston:
Solo credits - 11
Co-writing credits - 15
Adam Aijala:
Solo Credits - 8
Co-writing credits - 11
So it is fair to say that Jeff wrote more songs than any other member, but I don’t think it’s fair to say he was the primary song writer. I like Jeff, and I like the rest of Yonder. I would like to see more Jeff Austin Band shows end up on archive; the few I’ve seen on there don’t impress me much, but I’ve seen several videos from other shows that blow me away. I think the idea that Jeff is Yonder is ridiculous. Jeff does not equal Jerry or Fogerty or Sam. I never thought of him as the band leader or the driving force behind Yonder. I don’t think any one member can take that credit.
The main conclusion you can draw from these statistics is that I’m really bored at work.
Well done, Sugar. My job (yes, I have one) is selling research so I applaud the effort! :thumbsup
Bottom line for me: Yonder Mountain String Band is Jeff, Adam, Ben, and Dave. The current lineup isn’t really Yonder - can never be. I know they are damn good and I know Jeff Austin Band is damn good. Sadly, the old Yonder Mountain String Band is gone…and nothing’s going to bring them back (well, that may not be true!).
Comparisons between old and new Yonder just don’t make sense. It just don’t make no damn sense! It just doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter!
Billy, is there a rat in a drain ditch? :wave
I loved Yonder with Jeff. I like yonder with out him. It though has not effect on my plans to travel 2500 miles. Albeit this is my first TBF and we had planned 18 months to pull this off.
To some degree the challenge is planning with how “hard” it is to get tickets on day one. Didn’t they sell out in last than an hour? For someone like me who is planning on flying out, getting a condo (which needed to be booked last June) that can be scary even though I know I will always find a ticket to a show. To drop condo cash upfront knowing tickets may sell out is scary.
just a thought
^^ Amen to that. The condo game is a hard one to play, but necessary for some of us - especially when we don’t come every year.
I think to some extend the tarp run makes some not want to do the festival as much.
Which is why it sells out every year?