Steve at Telluride #19: Hill, Yeah!
Shane and I just took in the Band Contest Finals on the main stage. We sat down front and designated ourselves as unofficial judges. We were highly biased, however, since one of the bands, The Hillbenders, are from Springfield, Missouri, where Shane and I grew up. So we felt like we had a dog in the fight. And guess what? They won! As the winners of this contest, they get a full set on the main stage at next year’s festival, so these guys just hit the bluegrass jackpot, and you should have seen them whoop and jump when it was announced. The guitar player is a hoot–he looks and behaves much like Jack Black. I think he has Red Bull in his CamelBak. I’m hoping to catch up with them and talk about Southwest Missouri.