Love from Colorado: The 43rd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival

Ah, beautiful Telluride, CO. I spent seven days, six nights camping in Telluride last week for the 43rd annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

For those of you not familiar with Telluride, it's a mountain town 330 miles from Denver in SW Colorado. The drive from Denver is on winding two lanes roads that take you through the San Isabel National Forest and provide canyon and mountain driving. Not a bad view in sight, folks. The town itself is quaint, with mostly if not only ma and pa shops, and is surrounded by sweeping mountain views.

The festival is one of the best in the country (she said, biasedly). But for real, they get some of the biggest names in bluegrass including Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Yonder Mountain String Band, Punch Brothers, Emmylou Harris, etc. And with a stage like this that provides views like this, what band would seriously say "no thanks" to playing Telluride?

Sara Watkins.

Peter Rowan Band.

Punch Brothers.

The fest is put on by Planet Bluegrass who also does the annual Folks Fest I attend. And, like Folks Fest, Telluride Bluegrass Fest is an often needed step away from the hustle of city life; everyone's just having a good time and kind to everyone. Plus, I ran into a few people I knew from elsewhere, which is always exciting, but especially so when you're in such a happy place!

Playing music after hours, all night, in the campground. One of the best parts of the fest.

IDK but she was loving the music.

As I mentioned, I was camping for the fest. I camped with about a dozen other people in the fest grounds, most of whom I didn't know directly prior to the fest but left as my "fest family". We cooked, drank, danced, and enjoyed the best week together.