Soggy finish doesn't dampen great Telluride weekend

By Dan Ruby

Not even a steady rainfall could dampen fans' enthusiasm during The Black Crowe's closing set Sunday night at the Telluride Blues & Brews festival. Some dramatic flashes of thunder and lightning accompanied the band's flashy performance.

Maybe it's that the Colorado locals are used to it, but most in the audience pulled on their rain shells and panchos and continued to boogie. After a near-perfect festival weekend, fans wanted to savor the closing act. Very few of them headed for the exits.

On stage, Crowes lead singer Chris Robinson commended the audience, remarking that "you mountain people can show flatlanders how to play in the rain."

It was a satisfying close to a weekend full of highlights. Some of the top musical stories for me were:

• The incendiary playing of a host of New Orleans musicians, capped off with a great penultimate Sunday set by The Radiators with Bonerama. The spirit of New Orleans was captured in a mini Mardi Gras celebration while Chubby Carrier played a medley of "Hey Pocky Way" and "Iko Iko."

• The hardest working person at the festival had to be Henry Butler, the great New Orleans piano player, who played main stage and late night sets with both Rhythm Council and John Mooney's Bluesiana. During the outstanding set by steel guitarist Robert Randolph, I watched Butler as he grooved along to the music.

• Each of the headliners--The Black Crowes, Keb' Mo' and Los Lonely Boys--lived up to expectations, but the true revelation was the number of lesser known artists who impressed. I'll acknowledge there are plenty of gaps in my knowledge of contemporary blues players. This weekend, I was introduced to musicians like Joe Bonamassa, John Mooney, Eric Lindell, Marc Ford and more that blew me away with their playing chops and musical taste.

• The women's division of hot young players was well represented by Grace Potter in a well received return engagement from last year and Ana Popovic in a eye-popping review. Both performers trade on their sex appeal but in both cases the easy-on-the-eyes performance poses did not substitute for real talent and ability to entertain. The blues ain't just for men anymore.

• David 'Honeyboy' Edwards was a revelation. You probably thought that the early blues pioneers were all history, but Edwards has been picking acoustic blues guitar since the 1930s, when he is said to have known the legendary Robert Johnson. In a festival dominated by the sounds of New Orleans, Edwards' performance was a nod to other centers of blues history, Chicago and the Mississippi Delta

The festival introduced several innovations in its 14th year. Getting on board the green festival movement, Telluride Blues & Brews was announced to be 100 percent carbon neutral, accomplished through a partnership with Green Mountain Energy and Sustainable Waves. Attendees had an opportunity to offset their own energy impacts by purchasing a green ticket upgrade.

Also new was a Thursday night opening party, the Bal de Maison, at the Sheridan Opera House, featuring The Rhythm Council. This joins two nights of multiple juke joint options and a celebratory closing event, the Fais Do Do, also at the Sheridan, in the festival's extensive late-night program.

According to festival director Steve Gumbel, the event was a near sellout, with a capacity crowd on Saturday and strong numbers on Friday and Sunday. Sales of the late night events was also strong, with several of the juke joint concerts turning away ticket holders, who spilled over into the other late-night venues.

Overall it was an exceptionally well run and artistically satisfying festivals. The program pulled in a great many eclectic musical styles, all held together by a love and respect for the 12-bar blues.

Chubby Carrier finds the funk in zydeco

By Donald Frazier

He may hail from way out in Cajun country, but Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band delivered a rousing and festive set of zydeco-based party music last night just as proficient and sophisticated as any of the citified New Orleans performers we’ve heard here over the last few days.

From its first moments, this set was intended as a party, with an intro medley of Mardi Gras classics and costumed performers tossing beads to the audience in a well-practiced, crowd-pleasing bit of showmanship.

As for the music, this is strictly zydeco lite. No earthy, bluesy shouts or growls; none of the raw edges of a Beau Jacques or a Keith Frank. Every phase, every melodic line was as sharp and vibrant as last week’s pop hit.

And Carrier’s selection of material presented a retrospective of zydeco, showing how it evolved from backwoods juke joints such as El Sido’s to become one more element of the eclectic New Orleans mainstream.

Consider the progression between two songs. An old Boozo Chavis favorite, "Don’t You Mess with My Choo-Choo," hammered down a simple, emphatic two-step with the catchy staggered fourth beat that makes zydeco so danceable. A few songs later we were in Funk Nation, with the jagged basslines of the War classic, "The Cisco Kid." Half a century of music in 15 minutes.

But his infectious, good-natured performance made sure everybody had a good time in ‘the Chubby party.” At times he almost hectored the audience where their energy flagged: “git up and dance, y’all!” The got up, they complied, and they boogied.

On the ground in Telluride

By Donald Frazier

No broken glass. Not a single shard of it, and that’s at a beer-themed event burgeoning with glasses and bottles slung about with increasing abandon by a suds-befogged crowd.

That’s just one index of how well-run the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival is. Everything about it is clean, even the omnipresent Bob’s Johns. One part is an exceptionally mellow crowd. Lots of high-energy music, alcoholic beverage, and mass excitation, yet scarcely an tense word in the air, let alone some of the confrontation that has sadly become a feature wherever drink and raging hormones collide.

Credit is due also to the management of this year’s event. Lines begin early – some arrive at 6 a.m. for an 11 a.m.
opening – but are well-run, with no jostling and thronging. Seating areas are clearly marked, with diagonal access routes maximizing good sightlines for all, even at the back. VIP areas are spacious, but do not seem to prevent the rest of us from getting as close as we want to the music.

The rest of the amenities are also among the better in this year’s festival circuit. Food stalls are plentiful and varied, and not unduly expensive. A swarm of local volunteers mans every checkpoint, always with civility if not always with information. One pleasure compared with other festivals: almost no police presence. Nothing like being patted down for possible explosives to set a peaceful crowd on edge.

Parking is a big hassle, but accommodations are not an issue: the few actual hotels here are so expensive that camping is de rigeur. The town runs an extensive campground abutting the Festival area, with many spaces of various sizes from pup tent to RV. No campfires allowed, but a hot shower for two bucks, a place to wash dishes and, of course, lots more sparkling Bob’s Johns.

A few observations:

The Grey Panthers. The crowd here skews older than any festival in memory, as The Woodstock Generation hits
retirement age. Not just the holdout hippies with their tie-dyed shirts and bald-guy pony tails, but normal
civilians as well. Plenty of young people too, but a great relief to not be the oldest person here by two decades.

Hey, Dude. One new feature: actual, true-to-life groupies. Festival Preview was asked to provide an introduction to one bassist on stage, who seemed boyish to us but, to an tipsy yet determined 45-year old from Crested Butte, seemed ‘cute.’

Running the class lines. Telluride is one of the most expensive resort markets in the country, where hedge-fund managers from the Coasts snap up second and third homes for millions. Yet it’s full of energetic entrepreneurs offering all of the services needed to keep Masters of the Universe in style – and just scraping by. The result is a disconcerting vibe on the streets, with a clear line between the servers and the servees. Must have been like this in the Court of the Sun King.

The (Festival) Lifestyle. One new angle: many of the attendees here are practiced festival-goers, sporting tee shirts
from Lolapalooza to Merlefest to prove it. They are not just party animals, but discerning music fans with the experience to compare this event to others this year. As the crowd grows more knowledgeable and thus more demanding, we can expect the festival scene to become increasingly professional.

Guess the guitarist

The lineup at Telluride Blues & Brews was filled with hot blues guitarists. Guess who's who from these closeup photos. Send your picks to info@festivalpreview.com. The first three correct entries win a Festival Preview t-shirt.

Update: The contest is now closed. Congratulations to winners Shannon Pineda, Michele Choate and Matt Robinson.

Day 2 photos from Telluride Blues & Brews

Ana Popovich kicks off the afternoon

More Ana

Marc Ford

John Mooney's Bluesiana

A mini Mardi Gras breaks out

Festival director Steve Gumbel gets into the spirit

Chubby Carrier

Keb' Mo' closes the day

More Keb'

Piano 'professor' leads class at Telluride

By Donald Frazier

Morning at the Blues and Brews Festival, and the venerable New Orleans tradition of the virtuoso keyboard ‘professor’ is alive and well in the hands of Henry Butler with the opening act, R&B supergroup Rhythm Council.

Warhorse familiars like Tipitina and Down in New Orleans, just like they’re supposed to, took on a new stridency and oomf, thanks to vocals from Papa Mali and an unexpected delight, funk sousaphone master Kirk Joseph, a founding member of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band (which, for anyone with a long enough memory, was once something of a house band for that New Orleans seedbed of great brass bands, The Maple Leaf).

But this set’s guiding spirit, in keeping with the New Orleans theme of the festival, was definitely Professor Longhair (Henry Byrd). A critical mass of musicians and the confluence of musical styles ranging from blues and jazz to funk, country, classical and even West Indian made New Orleans and Lousiana into the finishing school for American indigenous music, spawning a rich variety of traditional, schools, and teachers – all hotly competitive.

In this demanding environment, a piano ‘Professor’ was a player who mastered all of the styles expected of him, and Professor Longhair was the acknowledged kingpin. Here in Telluride, we’re going to hear a lot of Louisiana styles in artists such as Chubby Carrier (zydeco), Robert Randolph (soul/gospel), Beth Popovic (blues), Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes (jazz/rock) and The Radiators (everything at once),

You can hear the excitement of discovery in Rhythm Council’s play: each of the members was accomplished in his own right before coming together in an impromptu recording session. Each song has a raw energy and these players, each with a lot to say and a zeal in saying it, finding a way to combine it into something new.

Challenging logistics at TBB

So many things are perfect about this festival that I was surprised to find the press facilities far less than perfect. The biggest issue is no Internet, which explains the delay in getting these blog items up.

I'm writing now Friday afternoon after the Grace Potter set. It was another star-power performance by Potter, but we got a further disappointment afterward when we learned she would not be making herself available to media. It puts a crimp in my plans for a video featuring Potter. Maybe not fatal. We got some footage and stills of her main stage set, and will be on hand tonight at the Sheridan Opera House for her late night set. I can follow up with a phone interview that would go with the images we have have.

(Now it is the next morning and I'm ensconced at Baked in Telluride, a top hangout for locals and festival-goers--partly for the great baked goods and coffee but also for the free wifi. Anyway, we didn't get into the Sheridan Opera House last night to see Potter's late night act, so the video is getting shakier. We'll move on to some other targets. Maybe The Radiators.)

Friday photos from Telluride Blues & Brews

Henry Butler and Kirk Joseph of Rhythm Council

Papa Mali of Rhythm Council

The view from the grounds

Joe Bonamassa

Juke Joint stage set

Grace Potter

Grace Potter hits a high note

Grace Potter trades riffs with Scott Tournet

Robert Randolph

Henry Garza of Los Lonely Boys

Henry and Jojo Garza

Wrapping up Bumbershoot

By Karen Martin

Good morning after to all of you die hard Bumbershoot fans. Yesterday was kissed goodbye by Wu Tang Clan at the main stage and Steve Earle at the Starbuck’s Stage. Many went to see the Greyboys Allstars and Solive at the Esurance Stage, but the majority were split between the other two stages. Attendance was good, and there were still people pouring in the gate at 9:30 last night for all three stages. The Starbucks Stage turned out to be a nice new innovation, as not everybody feels the need to drink beer while they are watching live concerts.
 
The Rain Goddess was especially generous as she waited until after the crowds had been pouring out the gate for at least 30 minutes before she decided to wash the Bumbershoot Grounds clean. Yes folks the majority of the kids go back to school on Wednesday and that means as the rain continues to pour this morning that winter is here.
 
I hope all that attended were happy. I know that we made new friends and that they will return next year. For all that attended thank-you for making Bumbershoot 37 a memorable one and here is to all the hard working individuals who worked late into the night all of you had gone home--volunteers and paid staff as well. For another year, goodbye and see ya next year at the 38th.

Preview playlist for Telluride Blues & Brews

From modern uptempo boogie to mellow deep-in-the-pocket acoustic noodling, here are two cuts from all the major players at the upcoming Telluride Blues & Brews Festival. This iMix will satisfy fans from all ends of the blues spectrum and serve as the perfect appetizer for the main event.