Summer and Colorado bluegrass music pair as naturally as “string” and “band” — from the renowned Telluride Bluegrass Festival to weeknight pickin’ sessions.
“Colorado is so outdoor-oriented, and the music fits perfectly, from campfires to more organized festivals,” says Harry Tufts, owner of the Denver Folklore Center and longtime proponent of acoustic music.
“It fits with our mountain mystique.”
Bluegrass, which typically features a combination of fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bass fiddle and banjo, began in the American Southeastern mountains.
Transplanted versions thrive everywhere, from twangy gospel to nostalgic traveling tunes and melancholy love ballads of infidelity and revenge.
Every generation seems to rediscover and reinvent bluegrass, from the songs resurrected more than a half-century ago by Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson, to new interpretations by Nederland-spawned bands such as Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident and Yonder Mountain String Band.
“Reviving the old tradition comes up — old-timey music, men singing high tenor parts in harmony, but there is an urge for progressive acoustic,” says longtime bluegrass musician Bridge Law, who plays fiddle with Elephant Revival. “Jamgrass — the fusion of jam band with bluegrass — has really put Colorado on the map. People move to Colorado because of the music scene. Really successful bands have come out of Nederland, including our band.”
Summer is peak season for bluegrass, says Tufts. Jam sessions and bluegrass festivals seem to pop up everywhere.
“Bluegrass is wonderfully well represented in Colorado,” he said. “It’s encouraged by a large and increasing number of festivals.”
The granddaddy is the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, which celebrated its 36th anniversary last month. RockyGrass, the Lyons-based late-summer festival, is a nationally known institution that often sells out long before summer officially begins.
For a list of bluegrass, roots and acoustic music in Colorado, go to , and .
