Kathy and I were camping and visiting friends and family in Colorado, so we thought we'd check out the Telluride Bluegrass Festival last week. It's only 17 miles from Ouray, where we were camping... but an hour's drive on the paved road that goes around the mountain. We knew it would be a zoo with 10K people there, but the hassle still surprised us. Not to worry: the music was great, and the rest was an adventure (two hours to get the tickets from will-call, drive to the ski area to park, then take a trolley and two gondolas back down to the village). We caught the first day, Thursday, though we missed the opening acts. Jackie Greene was very good, R&B, and a bit of Van Morrison in his style, if not his girth. The Avett Brothers got the crowd more excited with their high-energy "punkgrass," and then the Telluride House Band played some terrific bluegrass, featuring the likes of Bela Fleck on banjo, Edgar Meyer (bass) and festival veterans Sam Bush and (I believe) Jerry Douglas. Really got the blood pumping as the weather meandered from clouds and showers to intense sun and back again.

Emmylou Harris got a queen's welcome, and well-deserved. With John Starling and his band backing her, she sang country and folk favorites, then came back and joined Adam Duritz and Counting Crows on a tune or two. The Crows were all-acoustic and mostly came across great with their rootsy (but definitely not bluegrass) sound, which I much prefer to some of Adam's over-the-top, self-absorbed rants.

Then it was back up on the gondolas and the long drive back to Ouray.. but well worth it, considering the wonderful music. Dylan will be at the same park in July, and also at Red Rocks, and there's a fabulous Folks Festival slated for Aug. 17-19 in Lyons (Colo.) If anyone wants more info on music haps up there this summer, I'll be glad to send some links and pass along what I know. FYI, Santa Fe and Burque also have some exciting music coming up.