A.J. Lee at Telluride Bluegrass Festival 2026 – photo © Anthony Verkuilen
Day One – June 29, 2026
Giddy up, Mr. Telluride Shuttle Driver. Get us to the valley of bluegrass and laughter just a little bit faster. There are friends to hug, tarps to run, and musical heroes to cheer. Can’t this mighty van just simply zip us there?
As Bridal Veil Falls comes into view, goosebumps, grins, and anticipation take over. Deep in our souls we know how lucky we are to live in paradise for a stretch to witness bluegrass’s best. Planet Bluegrass never disappoints, and it sure didn’t here at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival (TBF), its 53rd year.
Yee-Haw. Let’s Go!
Town Park Campground, the closest place to the Festival grounds to lay your head outside, is replete with traditions. Unique camp communities pop up throughout the forest, some with festival-goers who have been coming for decades — and several days to weeks before TBF even begins. This magical world is a festival unto itself, filled with characters, decorations, high-level picking, and fun little traditions, including beer tastings, the Goddess Walk, the wincing down of a Crunchy Frog, and the Town Park Campground TBF kick-off: the Wednesday pre-fest Rumballs.
It is here that Town Park friends greet each other many times for the first time in a year. After ceremonial sips of the potent rum concoction, festivarians gleefully set off for the Gondola to fly through the air to the top of the mountain, take in the gorgeous views of Mountain Village, and see the first TBF-related music of the year. For FirstGrass this year, we soaked up the sweet sounds of Noeline Hofmann’s Canadian country-folk, then we threw down hard and happily with East Nash Grass’s foot-stomping bluegrass. Hearty folks shuffled off to the Leftover Salmon Bluegrass Eve show, which by all accounts was spot-on musically, energetic, and enjoyable. The rest of us entered the Gondola bubble to float back to town, chatting excitedly with our fellow passengers about what we just witnessed and what is to come. The Festival gates haven’t even opened yet, but our cheek muscles are already sore from smiling so much.
The Festival Officially Begins with an Absolute Bang!
Whoa, what a line-up! Over coffee we ponder how on Earth we are going to live through this epic day, only to find ourselves at nearly midnight shaking our tail-feathers with friends at the festival grounds to the great Tedeschi Trucks Band, and excitedly talking about which NightGrass we are going to hit.
Did someone say Tedeschi? Good Lord! They got our mojo working for sure. They had us grooving from our crowns to our toes for nearly two hours. Susan’s soulful voice and bluesy guitar matched with Derek Trucks’ blistering licks were just what the doctor ordered. When the horns and back-up singers kicked in, no doubt we were in Heaven on Earth. Among other gems, TTB hit us with Crazy Cryin’, What in the World, Stand Back (by the Allman Brothers), and Sly and Family Stone’s Everyday People (hoots and hollers from the audience). The music was so sonorous I swear plates crashed off shelves in Ridgeway, down the mountain — in perfect, funkified time.
Sam Bush, the King himself, joined in with his awesome electric mandolin to pair up with Trucks to lay down the law on Bell Bottom Blues, and an almost nine minute ripping of Why Does Love Got to be so Sad? All in Telluride that eve were singing the chorus and boogeying to this one like it was their last dance. Those double drum sets made it impossible not to move your feet. Speaking of drums, those drummers knocked it out of the park on Beck’s Bolero.
An extra cool feature of TTB was everyone in the band had a chance to shine and boy did they. The drummers, the horns, and those amazing backup singers who showed us their pipes on solos that filled the space between the Telluride canyon walls with the sweetest, fullest sounds. The band closed it out with an apt song for the times: With a Little Help From My Friends.
Tedeschi Trucks Band on night one of the festival? Who thought of that? Whoa! Planet Bluegrass, were you trying to kill us? And, this after the Telluride House Band just a little bit earlier blew us away with its collective masterful picking and throwdown on some epic bluegrass tunes.
The Telluride House Band still reigns as the greatest name for this group of bluegrass elite: Sam Bush, Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Chris “Critter” Eldridge (who sat in for the second year in a row — and impeccably held his own). Nothing like starting with Hartford’s Steam Powered Aereo Plane. Huge grins, cheers, frolicking, and attempts to hit those beautiful high notes from all in and near Town Park. Too fun! A nod to tradition, which these boys consistently honor, while they also acknowledge and showcase bluegrass as the living and growing genre it is.
The House Band presented a rousing G Forces, a Stuart tune which Béla produced back in the day. It proved Duncan’s fiddling proficiency in such an enjoyable way, with each band member hopping in to subtly show off their own with Fleck notably throwing down some extra pops on this one. Critter led on his tune, Rygar, about a video game, which the elder bandmates apparently joyfully learned, resulting in a beautiful rendition replete with Critter’s lilting guitar accompanied by Edgar’s soulful low bows together with Sam’s tremolo, Jerry’s groove, and Stuart’s high cries. Jerry then led us on an adventure of King Silkie, which opened with hypnotic guitar pinging before rolling into an absolute raucous ride of what each instrument is capable of when picked by a master. So enjoyable!
True to form, the House Band mixed in some humor and commentary, playfully playing a slightly edited version of Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers Off of Me, Howard Hughes Blues, and the barn-burner, White House Blues. They also had banjoist Noam Pikelny come onstage, not to play the banjo, but to hold down Béla’s 5th string for Béla to “be in the right key” for The Country Gentlemen’s Silence or Tears. Comedy galore as Noam pressed that string throughout as Béla unconditionally shredded. Noam even took a phone call in the middle of it all to the audience’s delight.
Susan Tedeschi joined for All Around You. Legends all. Fleck set it on fire on Eager and Anxious to close out this year’s House Band set. Each of them threw their own fireworks on those flames. It could not have been any hotter — or fun. When they played Strength in Numbers’ No Apologies earlier, a friend told me “when I first heard the Strength in Numbers Telluride Sessions album, I told myself I have to move to Telluride.” And, get this: he did! That is what this music and these masters: they change peoples’ lives — for the better. They fill us with elation, awe, and an un-ending supply of “Let’s do this!” Thank you, House Band!
Earlier in the day, AJ Lee & Blue Summit (Sullivan Tuttle, Jan Purat, and Sean Newman) showed us why they keep making the TBF lineup. Their youth belies their stellar picking and melodic abilities. Innate talent all around. AJ treated us to the fun, lilting Weenie Dog Song, which actually seriously showed us her singing chops. What a voice. So strong. So soothing.
We were also treated to He Called Me Baby and I Can’t Find You At All, more AJ vocal showcases, with Tuttle’s guitar prowess and Jan’s sweet fiddling on clear display. Meanwhile, Newman kept it altogether soulfully on the upright. The band gave us a down and dirty Ghost Riders in the Sky and a burning From a Buick 6, where we got to enjoy Tuttle’s clean picking and striking low voice just getting after it.
Fan favorites Watchhouse Duo wowed all with their raw expressive arrangements, and icon Peter Rowan showed us how it is done with his Walls of Time Band. Dallahan, the Scottish-Irish band had us jigging in tarpland at the ripe ole time of high noon. The mantra from that moment on was: this festival is gonna jam.
First in show on this Thursday of all Thursdays was everyone’s festival buddy, Chris Thile, that epic entertainer, to kick off TBF53 in style. One man. One mandolin. One helluva show. He can do it all and he shows us that this time every year.
Chris Thile seamlessly flowed from Bach’s Partitas to the Grateful Dead’s The Music Never Stopped (as a tribute to Bob Weir) to Bach Sonatas to high-speed traditional tunes such as the ever so fun Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night with his signature, cool mando chop. Thile is filled with group hugs, positivity, enthusiasm, and uplifting, amusing, and poignant stories. There really is nothing like having Chris Thile welcome you to the festival. He is the perfect TBF opener to set our stage for what we know at his first note and smile is going to be nothing short of an epic adventure.
It is Only Friday!
How is it only Friday, Day Two of TBF? Didn’t we see about nine concerts yesterday? Yes. Yes, we did. And, get that cowboy coffee going because we’re going to do it again!
While some friends ascended new heights on the myriad hiking trails around town, and others sprinted tarps to the front of Town Park, others slept in and/or took in a hearty breakfast and fluids after NightGrass adventures. Some simply sat squarely on their tarps for the day’s shows. Said shows included Rett Madison, the incomparable Dom Flemons with the Traveling Wildfires, and Nashville darlings, East Nash Grass.
Tarpland was happy land on Friday, and it got even more so with the sweet sounds of ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro, who, himself, just imbued happiness from the Fred Shellman stage. Jake’s playing is fire and precision. At times he plays it like an electric guitar. At other times he plays it with a slide! He set the perfect tone for mid-day TBF Friday. He genre-hopped from While My Guitar Gently Sleeps to cool island music from his times with Jimmy Buffet to a mash-up of Margaritaville into Friend of the Devil, with Sam Bush joining for the well-received Dead tune.
Jake closed it out with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. On the ukulele. Wow! It turned into a huge sing-along! Galileo! Figaro! Even the Poser Pit posers were singing! Now, that was a good time.
TBF mainstay — for good reason — Leftover Salmon whipped up the crowd in delightful fashion. Their loose, joyful, and made-for-Telluride playing boosted us to rowdy in that late afternoon sun. How do you not smile, smile, smile at the one and only Vince Herman? And, how do you not hop around to Drew Emmitt’s, Andy Thorn’s, and the rest of the band’s rhythms and pickings? Salmon gave us a host of tunes, including Mountain Top, Troubled Times, Big Wheel, and Salmon Scales. King Sam Bush jumped in on fiddle for two songs: Boogie Grass Band, a barn-burner, and jammy Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. When they broke out with Breaking Thru, all — vendors and bartenders included — were twirling along. Hard to believe there may be a higher level of happiness.
You gotta love Planet Bluegrass. Who else would place an opera singer and a banjo player in between sets of Leftover Salmon and Shakey Graves? This is why we love the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. It is beyond our wildest imaginations. OK, we admit, it was not just any opera singer and just any banjo player. No, it was world-renowned Renee Fleming and 19 time Grammy-winner and House Band buddy Béla Fleck. These two virtuosos joined together for a celebration of Appalachian music featuring their new album, The Fiddle and The Drum, with Béla’s My Bluegrass Heart Band. It was nothing short of the absolute epitome of class. We are quite sure the festivarians have never witnessed anything like this in the canyon before. Fleming’s delivery of Ave Maria with Fleck’s dignified accompaniment under Bridal Veil Falls on that beautiful evening was a sacred moment. To follow this unfollow-able act, Béla and the bluegrass boys played a flawless Rhapsody in Blue(grass) from start to finish.
Then, in a total change of pace, Shakey shook us for sure. Knocked our socks off, in fact. Shakey Graves opened as a one man magical and purely magnetic show. He threw down raw, gritty vocals, contagious guitar lines, and thrill-inducing kick drum thumps. His tune, Roll the Bones, got the place partying with that too-cool beat and guitar groove. Shakey brought out a small ensemble to back him up on a few tunes in his set, including fan favorite Dearly Departed. Evergreen Greensky Bluegrass closed out Friday night TBF in style with their blistering picking and jam band electricity. A sea of adoring fans outpoured heaps of love back at them.
