TELLURIDE, 12:50 p.m. June 21, 2012 – The 39th annual edition of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival kicked off traditionally at 10 a.m. with sound of a sole bagpiper before the folks who waited in line all night long raced across the field to the sound of the William Tell Overture to lay down blue tarps in front of the stage under an intense blue sky.
The festival commenced with a set of mandolin and banjo duets. Sounds like a yawner, right? Start with Bela Fleck, the reigning banjo innovator, and Chris Thile, his generation’s Eric Clapton on the mando. They started improvising at 11 a.m. and played through the last note at noon.
The duo wove around a theme from Thelonius Monk’s “Straight No Chaser” with some Bill Monnroe lyrics overlaid.
Sometimes the two seemed intent on being as dissonant as possible, and other times holding a wordless conversation.
The duo, which only rarely performs, is called Thelma and Louise because of their tendency to drive off the cliff, musically speaking. They lived up to the name but landed the set back on firm ground.
It was a great way to start the bluegrass festival that has never really been a blluegrass festival since I started attending 35 years ago,
Coming up: Della Mae, songwriter Dan Mangan, Greensky Bluegrass, John Prine and Alison Krauss finishes the day at 9 p.m.
(John Lehndorff is the Content Director for the Aurora Sentinel. He has been writing about the festival and music in Colorado for more than 25 years.)
Sounds like a great time. I’m a big fan of bluegrass! Glad to hear the festival is heading in that direction.