A recent report suggests that Telluride, Colorado tops Los Angeles for America’s worst air quality. Yet, even as the wildfires burned outside Telluride at this year’s event, it was the combination of cotton-wood pollen and large, puffy-white marshmallows that filled the sky during the Yonder Mountain String Band show Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
This historic festival drew such bands as Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, KT Land, Bruce Hornsby, and many other prolific noise makers on the same grounds as their historic counterparts have been playing for the last 39 years. 
Neither the smoke, nor the confectionery sugar could stop the crowd from jamming their afternoon away to the sights and sounds at Colorado’s most notorious, and out of the way Bluegrass Festival.
“It was one hell of a show” as someone in the crowd yelled during a brief intermission between Saturday’s heavy-hitting line-up of Bluegrass Musicians.
The weekend hosted other such acts as John Fogerty, Leftover Salmon, John Prine, the Punch Brothers, the Devil Makes Three, Allison Kraus, and many more.
If this year’s festival was any indication of the quality future acts, it’s safe to say that you should book your tickets for the 40th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival before they too go up in smoke.
Other upcoming festivals include:
- RockyGrass Academy – July 22-26
- RockyGrass – July 27-29
- The Song School – August 12-16
- Rocky Mt Folks Festival – August 17-19
- Kinfolk Celebration – August 24-25
Photo credits: Photo one Telluride Bluegrass site, all other photos from JasonLombard
Mississippi born and raised, Mark Walsh spends his time these days in Antarctica as a weather weather observer at McMurdo Station. The Frozen Toe is an outlet for his stories, photos and observations about life on the ice. He is also the founder of Barefoot Wallets, wallets for the adventure traveler, which comes in an assortment of colors and designs.
