Telluride Bluegrass Festival

The view from the mainstage in Telluride Town Park does crazy things to people. Actually, the view from anywhere in Telluride can do crazy things to people, especially musicians, it seems. Ajax Mountain, still tipped in snow, looks over the valley and Ballard Mountain looms above. As a local, one of the lucky Telluride year-rounders, I get that view everyday and it never gets old. It still makes me feel exactly the same way it did when I first came into the Box Canyon as a 10-year-old kid going to the Bluegrass Festival–small. The highlight of the 2009 TBF took place in Elks Park, the tiny venue in the middle of town where all music is free and the concerts are intimate (a nice change from being in the official festival grounds). Sarah Jarosz and Abigail Washburn took the stage mid-afternoon, playing a set that felt more like a backyard session than an official concert. I had heard Sarah Jarosz before, her producer’s wife is a friend and had passed on her new CD, thinking I might enjoy it. And did I ever… Seeing her live, it took me a little while to get over the jealousy of her talent. Barely graduated high school, this woman is a legend in the making. I think all the legends of bluegrass might have something to do with her making as well, seeing as she has already played with the likes of Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brian, Abigail Washburn, Chris Thile and countless others. This year, she hits the Main Stage on Thursday and we will see how she’s grown in the last year and what she will say about the view from the stage.