TELLURIDE, CO | Friday morning, I arrived at the park in time to witness my favorite Telluride Bluegrass Festival tradition: the tarp run. The bagpipes blare, signaling that the gates are about to open, upon which hundreds of Festivarians race to claim their small plot of music-viewing land for the day. Blankets are thrown down, tarps are nailed into the soil, and the celebrations begin.
The Northern Californian duo of Paige Anderson and Emilie Rose, otherwise known as Two Runner, kicked off Friday’s lineup with their modern mix of country folk. It was a rare moment of sunny skies on a Friday that saw a record two festival evacuations due to vicious hail and lightning. I was hiding from the rain and listening to a livestream of TBF (thanks, KOTO!) when I was so overcome by the music of Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba that I just had to see them live.
I got to the stage in time to see a few songs before their set was cancelled early because of—you guessed it—weather. The Mailian band, Ngoni Ba (Aminata Sacko, Mamadou Kouyate, Mahamadou Tounkara, Moctar Kouyate) lead by ngoni master Bassekou Kouyate, visibly wowed the crowd. It was one of the best performances of the weekend by a landslide, so thanks to Béla Fleck for getting them in the lineup.
Beloved Colorado jammers, Leftover Salmon, a band that was literally started in the TBF campgrounds in 1989, got the party going again after the first evacuation. Members Drew Emmitt, Vince Herman, Andy Thorn, Greg Garrison, Alwyn Robinson, and Erik Deutsch were pumping out the tunes when golf ball-sized hail started falling from the sky, thus prompting evacuation #2.
A few hours later, bundled and back into the park we packed for Grammy winner (times 4) Sarah Jarosz. Following her set, which included a great and appropriate John Denver “Rocky Mountain High” cover, super (blue)grass group, Nickel Creek, hit the stage. Composed of siblings Sara Watkins (violin), Sean Watkins (guitar), and Prince of TBF Chris Thile, they raised the collective energy, setting the stage for headliners, Greensky Bluegrass (for photos, check out Greensky at TBF 46). The fellas (Dave Bruzza, Paul Hoffman, Michael Bont, Anders Beck, Mike Devol) accepted the challenge, even busting out an Allen Toussaint cover (“Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley”) that hadn’t been played in 377 shows, as well as a Dawes’ “All Your Favorite Bands” encore with Sam Bush.
THE TARP RUN
TWO RUNNER
BASSEKOU KOUATE & NGONI BA
LEFTOVER SALMON
SARAJ JAROSZ
NICKEL CREEK
50th ANNUAL TELLURIDE BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL,
FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 2023
