GREETINGS FESTIVARIANS! While the other half of our planet is experiencing the century’s longest lunar eclipse, the full moon over RockyGrass keeps on shining. The bluegrass stars are shining bright, and they whisper from on high: Behold a RockyGrass weekend rarer than the blood moon… Historic reunions, unique collaborations, Hot Rize’s 40th! Welcome to the center of the bluegrass universe, where acoustic instruments are larger than life and the ancient tones resonate in the currents of the St. Vrain River. Inspired by a music that honors tradition and reuse, we’re celebrating our third year offering only reusable plates at our food vendors. Thanks to your overwhelming support, this year we’re adding reusable forks and spoons! Help us keep this groundbreaking program completely free by returning all your reusables to the waste stations— staffed by volunteers from the Lyons High School band! After three years of preparation, we’re excited to debut our new parking and camping at the nearby Planet Bluegrass Farm. We’re also extending the idea of “reuse” to Festivarian transportation, by repurposing Telluride’s retired Galloping Goose buses to provide free rides to the parking area. We’re excited to introduce our new beer partner Avery Brewing! Fill up one of our new reusable cups with the Lyons debut of their Festival Lager. Be sure to visit their
partner booth for beer tastings every day at Noon and 4pm. While you’re in the partner area, pick a fiddle tune on one of the contest instruments or visit with one of our local non-profits— including Protect Our Winters and KGNU (who are streaming the entire festival for the 11th year!). Dance, pick and sing. Find a spot on an open tarp up front. Drink lots of water, use sunscreen often, and cherish this magical time together. We’re so glad you’re here.
Shine on! planet bluegrass
FESTIVAL PARTNERS
JULY 27TH THROUGH 29TH •
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A FEW FESTIVAL GUIDELINES If you remove, tear, damage, or lose your wristband, we will not replace it.
Feel free to sit on any open tarp (especially up front) until its owners return. Climbing the hillsides or cliffs is strictly prohibited. There is no lifeguard watching your kids in the river. Please monitor your children carefully.
Please use only low-backed chairs in designated areas. If we can roll a basketball under your chair, we will ask you to move it behind the sound booth. Umbrellas, shade tents, and other view-obstructing items are allowed only along the river & back perimeter. Please be respectful of others, and do not stand in the Festival seating areas.
Please do not smoke in the audience. Wander over to the smoking tent near the river, and deposit your butts in the proper receptacles.
No dogs are allowed at the Festival, in the campground, or in the parking lots. If you leave your dog in your car, we will call Animal Control to safely remove your dog from the car.
Once placed on, wristbands are nonrefundable and non-transferable.
Lost and found is located at the Festival box office.
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Tarp Line Policy: Festivarians may begin assembling for the next day’s line numbers no earlier than 11pm. At around midnight, the number line will be led through the customs gate, where we will distribute random numbers and mark wristbands to show receipt of a number. These numbers will be shuffled randomly; each person may receive no more than 1 number. The next morning, Festivarians should re-assemble in line-number order beginning one hour before gates. Festivarians will be admitted into the Festival in this randomlyassigned order, followed by all Festivarians without line numbers.
SUSTAINABLE FESTIVATION With your help, the Planet Bluegrass festivals continue to be models of Sustainable Festivation. As we continue to broaden the scope of our efforts, here are a few of our recent achievements.
WASTE STREAM
All offerings from our food vendors must be either reusable, compostable, or recyclable. So for the past 7 years, we have removed landfill containers inside the festival grounds in an effort to raise awareness of the landfill items brought in by Festivarians. To help improve our waste practices, we have been auditing our waste stream in detail since 2009. When we removed compostable plates from our waste stream in 2015, “diversion rate” became a less useful metric. Instead, we now aim to reduce the overall waste the festival generates. The power is in your hands, Festivarians. Let’s bring our collective attention to avoiding single-use items and make reusable cups, bottles, plates, and utensils our Festivarian Toolkit of choice.
CARBON FOOTPRINT
Since 2007, Planet Bluegrass has been neutralizing the festival’s travel and energy emissions by investing in carbon reduction projects. Thanks to our 15-year partnership with Renewable Choice Energy (now Schneider Electric), Planet Bluegrass has offset 25,630 metric tons of carbon and purchased 5,402 megawatt hours of renewable electricity. That’s the equivalent of not burning 32 million pounds of coal or taking 6,350 vehicles off the road for an entire year! This year we again partnered with Pinhead Climate Institute to purchase Colorado-based agricultural carbon offsets generated by the May Ranch, a 16,480acre parcel of Colorado shortgrass prairie. Through this “regenerative agriculture” project, the May family is paid to leave its soil forever intact and untilled, where it can remove planet-warming carbon from the atmosphere, store it, and help address global climate change.
OUR COMMUNITY
In 2017, we donated 1,100 pounds of leftover food (from our Lyons festivals’ vendors and catering) to local organizations assisting those in need.
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Each year, your generous tips at the beverage booth help fund local organizations including Lyons Fire Protection District, Habitat for Humanity, Lyons Community Foundation, and the St. Vrain Creek Coalition. This weekend’s daily tips will go directly to Leave No Trace, the Lyons Regional Library District Foundation, and Protect Our Winters. Thank you, Festivarians!
PUBLIC BENEFIT CORPORATION
This Spring we took the next major step in committing to higher standards of purpose, accountability and transparency—in perpetuity. Since 2015, Planet Bluegrass has been a Certified B Corporation™. This voluntary certification required a rigorous examination of our business, environmental and community practices. But as a company, we wanted to make a more long-lasting commitment. Thanks to the advocacy of B Lab (the nonprofit entity responsible for certifying B Corps) more than 30 US states now offer a framework for responsible business: the Benefit Corporation. Last April we made the legal changes to become Planet Bluegrass, PBC—one of a growing number of Public Benefit Corporations in Colorado. To learn more, visit with B Corp in the partner area during the Festival.
Vintage Performance TM
Modern Reliability
Handcrafted in the USA by Beard Guitars. Hagerstown, MD Beardguitars.com 301-733-8271
JULY 27TH THROUGH 29TH •
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REUSABLE FESTIVATION In 2016, we traded single-use compostable plates and bowls for 4,000 sturdy reusable ones made from a sustainable mixture of bamboo, sugarcane, and corn. This program makes our Lyons festivals the first and only special events in Colorado to offer a Reusable Plate Program—all at no additional cost to Festivarians! Last year’s program was our most successful: we diverted 29,480 single-use compostable plates from the waste stream (nearly double 2016!), while dramatically reducing overall waste! Plate loss dwindled from 31% in 2016 to 13% at RockyGrass 2017, to only 5% at Folks Fest 2017. Thanks to our amazing food vendors, volunteers, and Festivarians for making this program a success! This year, with assistance from Boulder County’s 2018 Zero Waste Funding Program, we are introducing 6,000 reusable forks and spoons. At RockyGrass alone, we expect to divert 30,000 single-use compostable utensils from our waste
stream! Please return all reusable utensils to the “Plates” bin in the waste stations. Want to start a reusables program at your event? We’re eager to share what we’ve learned! In addition to providing online resources, we will be offering on-site tours of the dish pit to event organizers and curious Festivarians. For a peek behind-the-scenes, sign up at the Sustainable Festivation booth or email green@bluegrass.com. This program is a collective effort; it absolutely cannot succeed without your help. Please remember to return all plates and utensils to the proper bin, never take plates or utensils outside the festival grounds, and remind your fellow Festivarians to do the same! This program is the only one of its kind, as it is completely free to all Festivarians. Let’s work together to make sure it can stay that way! Everyth Flippin ing’s ’ Tasty!
Welcome Festivarians! Festival Hours: 6am-2pm
Tasty Mexican food made from scratch
Organic Espresso, Coffee & Tea Scrumptious Baked Goods
7 salsas made daily in house, creative tacos, enchiladas, refreshing craft margs, ceviche, great tequila and mezcal selection, and more!
216 E Main St 303-823-2321 mojotaqueria.com happy hour 3-6pm
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Killer Breakfast Sandwiches & Breakfast Tacos Cocktails, Mimosas & More 5th & High Street 303.823.2345 www.thestonecup.com
Have fun out there...
We’re here when you need us.
~ 80+ primary and specialty care providers ~ 22 departments – From allergy, cardiology and family medicine to orthopedics, pediatrics, women’s care and more ~ 5 locations in Boulder, Louisville, Longmont and Broomfield ~ Urgent Care clinic in Boulder
bouldermedicalcenter.com/pbg 303.440.3045
FARM
This summer, we’re excited to welcome you to the next major evolution of the Festivarian experience: the Planet Bluegrass Farm. As festival attendance and traffic through Lyons has increased over the years, our use of Bohn Park for parking (nearly a mile from the festival grounds) continued to raise concerns about pedestrian safety, parking in neighborhoods, and our impact on congestion. So in 2015, Planet Bluegrass purchased the 28-acre property up the North St. Vrain River adjacent to the Ranch. After spending 2 years restoring the property from flood damage, last August the citizens of Lyons voted to annex the Farm into the Town of
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Lyons. Under the agreement with the Town, the property will be used for parking and camping to support the Festivals on the Ranch, while functioning as a working farm the rest of the year. As RockyGrass is the first use of this new property for parking and camping, please tread lightly and be respectful of our new neighbors. Looking toward the future, we’re envisioning a pedestrian underpass to alleviate any road crossings on your journey to the Festival. But until that time, travel between the properties under the bridge or through the river is strictly prohibited. We welcome your Farm feedback via our online survey (www.bluegrass.com/rgsurvey), email to planet@bluegrass.com, or 800-624-2422.
INTRODUCING THE NEW INTRODUCING THE NEW
Deering Banjos & Alison Brown Collaborate on the John Hartford Inspired Julia Belle Low Banjo
info@deeringbanjos.com
(800) 845-7791
Deering Banjos & Alison Brown Collaborate On the John Hartford Inspired Julia Belle Low Banjo
LEARN MORE AT: deeringbanjos.com/juliabelle info@deeringbanjos.com
(800) 845-7791
1 1 TH ANNUAL
CAMPSITE CHALLENGE
With more than 2,000 campers in Lyons this weekend (more than doubling the size of our town!), it’s vitally important to be mindful of our camping footprint. In collaboration with the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics and EcoProducts (suppliers of free compostable bags for your campground compost), we will again be rewarding campsites that excel in creative, sustainable camping. To nominate your campsite or one of your neighbors: 1. Submit a 1-page entry form at the Leave No Trace booth – explaining how the campsite exhibits cleanliness, sustainability, and creativity. 2. Stop by the Leave No Trace booth each day to view the campsite entries and vote for your favorites. Each day we select 2 winners—one random, one staff choice—for prize packages that include: Avery beer, Klean Kanteen reusables, and Planet Bluegrass merch. After the pack-out on Monday we will select grand prize winners to receive a pair of 3-day passes and camping for the 2019 RockyGrass.
Congrats to 2017 winners: Anarchy in the Outfield
Jerry Douglas • AMCO • Meadow Mountain • Hot Rize • Wood & Wire The Earls of Leicester • Becky Buller • Grant Gordy & Ross Martin • Wood Belly Mile Twelve • Keller Williams • Lonesome Days • Rapidgrass • Sugar & the Mint Rising Appalachia • Grateful Dead • Bluegrass Patriots • Jeff Scroggins & Colorado Yonder Mountain String Band • Grant Farm • Jeff Austin Band • Billy Strings KC Groves • Head for the Hills • Leftover Salmon • Railsplitters • Jake Schepps T Michael Coleman • Danny Barnes • FY5 • Smithsonian Folkways • Rebel Records
Thanks, Pickers!
Ragged Union • Crow & the Canyon • Ginny Mules • The Modern Grass Trout Steak Revival • Lineage • Prairie Wildfire • Justin Hiltner & Jon Weisberger
Mastering all shades of Bluegrass for 35 years Dock Boggs • Ralph Stanley • Woody Guthrie • Mike Seeger • Doc Watson “The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records” • “The Anthology of American Folk Music”
J The Ea Mile Tw Rising Yond K T Mich
To book a session, contact: studio@airshowmastering.com 303-247-9035
Ra Trout S
www.airshowmastering.com DAVID GLASSER / ANNA FRICK
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Doc “The Rise
46 TH
ANNUAL
MUSIC COMPETITIONS
Since the first Rocky Mountain Bluegrass Festival in 1973, the band and instrument contests have been an important part of the Festival experience. Discover the next generation of musicians as they vie for new instruments and spots on the main stage. Past instrument finalists have included Mark O’Connor (1974) and Tim O’Brien (1975), as well as recent band winners Steep Canyon Rangers (2001) and Meadow Mountain (2017).
INSTRUMENT COMPETITIONS Each instrument contestant performs 2 tunes in the preliminary round. The top 3 on each instrument advance to the final round where they perform 2 different tunes. Judged “in the blind,” musicians are scored using the following criteria:
50% OVERALL ABILITY
(includes difficulty, expression, and execution)
25% RHYTHM 25% TONE
MANDOLIN
PRIZES
1st Prize: Instrument 2nd Prize: $100 3rd Prize: $50
1st Prize: San Juan Mandolins F-5 Prelims: Friday, 2:30pm, Wildflower Pavilion Finals: Saturday, 10:00am, Main Stage
BANJO
FIDDLE
1st Prize: Deering John Hartford Banjo Prelims: Friday, 11:30am, Wildflower Pavilion Finals: Saturday, 10:30am, Main Stage
1st Prize: Thomas Verdot Paragon Fiddle Prelims: Friday, 4:00pm, Wildflower Pavilion Finals: Saturday, 9:45am, Main Stage
FLATPICK GUITAR
DOBRO
1st Prize: Preston Thompson D-MA Guitar Prelims: Friday, 1:00pm, Wildflower Pavilion Finals: Saturday, 10:15am, Main Stage
1st Prize: Paul Beard Deco Phonic Model 57 Prelims: Friday, 5:30pm, Wildflower Pavilion Finals: Saturday, 9:30am, Main Stage
BAND COMPETITION
SCHEDULE
Cheer on these inspiring young bands from around the country as they gather around a single microphone to compete for a spot on the 2019 RockyGrass lineup.
2018 CONTEST BANDS
Prelims: Saturday, 1:30pm, Wildflower Pavilion Finals:
Sunday, 1:30pm, Wildflower Pavilion
BAND COMPETITION PRIZES
Bowregard Boulder, CO
Man About a Horse Philadelphia, PA
Steel Wind Oklahoma City, OK
The Bow Ties San Francisco, CA
Mark Lavengood Band Grand Rapids, MI
Stillhouse Junkies Durango, CO
Gift Horse Meadow Park, CO
Ran Off the Rooster Estes Park, CO
Turkeyfoot Denver, CO
1st Prize: $750, strings & 2019 RockyGrass main stage performance 2nd Prize: $500 & strings 3rd Prize: $300 & strings
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The Wernick Method in Colorado! Learn to jam with the best...
Lafayette
Lyons
Frisco
Kevin Slick
K.C. Groves & Erik Yates
John Holenko
Saturdays, 1-4pm
Sundays, 11am-3pm
Mon-Fri, 1-4pm
Aug 18-Sept 15
Sept 30-Oct 21
7000 students in over 43 states and 10 countries!
Jul 30-Aug 3
Make music with friends, Make friends with music!
Pete & Joan Wernick Jam class Noon Saturday, Wildflower Pavilion Bring your instrument! Only 4 chords required: G, C, D, A. “I wish I had been introduced to this format much earlier. Isolated music is nowhere near as fun as being with a group.”
You will learn jam skills while playing “real bluegrass” in small groups at moderate speeds with low-key, understanding coaching — no one left behind! How to follow new songs quickly/easily How to fake a solo when you don’t know the song l Full jam etiquette of typical jams l Learn classic songs, harmony singing, much more! .... with people like you, who live near you! l l
“I’ve been waiting to start playing real bluegrass with people and now I can.” “I came out of my shell and had a blast jamming with new friends on the first day.”
Find a class, register now at:
LetsPick.org
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M A I N
S TA G E
S C H E D U L E
FJ URLYI D2A7Y
SJ UALYT U2 8R D A Y
SJ UULYN D2A9 Y
10:00am Gates Open
9:00am Gates Open
10:00am Gates Open
11:00 - Noon Meadow Mountain
9:30 - 11:15am Instrument Contest Finals
11:00 - Noon The Lyons Bluegrass Collective
11:30 - 12:30pm Bill & The Belles
12:15 - 1:30pm Jeff Scroggins & Colorado
12:15 - 1:30pm The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys 1:45 - 3:00pm Richie & Rosie 3:30 - 4:45pm Robbie Fulks 5:15 - 6:30pm Alison Brown, Becky Buller, Sierra Hull, Missy Raines & Molly Tuttle 7:00 - 8:30pm David Grisman Quintet Reunion featuring Mike, Darol, Todd & Wyatt Rice
9:00 - 10:30pm Sam Bush Bluegrass Band
12:45 - 1:45pm Grant Gordy Quartet 2:00 - 3:15pm The Cleverlys 3:45 - 5:00pm Balsam Range
3:15 - 4:30pm Jeff Austin Band
5:30 - 6:45pm Della Mae
5:00 - 6:15pm Peter Rowan Band: Carter Stanley’s Eyes
7:15 - 8:30pm ArtistWorks Bluegrass All-Stars:
6:45 - 8:00pm Steep Canyon Rangers
Bryan, Darol, Michael, Mike, Missy & Tony
9:00 - 10:30pm David Grisman & Peter Rowan Play “Old & In The Way”
with Sam Bush, Keith Little & Samson Grisman
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1:45 - 3:00pm I Draw Slow
• FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL ROCKYGRASS
8:30 - 10:00pm Hot Rize Join us for free yoga inside the festival: Friday, Saturday & Sunday at 7:30am
WILDFLOWER PAVILION FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
J U LY 2 7
J U LY 2 8
J U LY 2 9
11:30am Banjo Contest: Preliminary Round
12:00pm Pete & Joan Wernick: Basic Bluegrass Jamming
12:30pm Boulder Valley Waldorf School Strings
1:00pm Flatpick Guitar Contest: Preliminary Round 2:30pm Mandolin Contest: Preliminary Round 4:00pm Fiddle Contest: Preliminary Round 5:30pm Dobro Contest: Preliminary Round
(Bring your instrument!)
1:30pm Band Contest: Preliminary Round 3:45pm Darol Anger & Emy Phelps: Music of Our People 5:00pm John Reischman & Friends
1:30pm Band Contest: Final Round 3:00pm Meadow Mountain & Friends 4:30pm Justin Hoffenberg, Dominick Leslie & Friends: Growing Up at RockyGrass
JULY 27TH THROUGH 29TH •
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R O C K Y G R A S S A RTI STS MEADOW MOUNTAIN FRIDAY 11:00 - NOON
Friday 11:00 - Noon
THE PO’ RAMBLIN’ BOYS FRIDAY 12:15 - 1:30pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
RICHIE & ROSIE FRIDAY 1:45 - 3:00pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
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We all find our own entry point into bluegrass music. For many it’s Monroe or Scruggs or Old & In The Way. For Jack Dunlevie (mandolin) and Summers Baker (guitar), it was Punch Brothers. The two bonded in their Vail Valley high school over the progressive stringband, spending their college breaks learning bluegrass through jams at farmers’ markets. “It was only when we dug into the history of the music that we discovered how rich this tradition
of bluegrass actually is,” says Summers. By their college senior year, Meadow Mountain—which now includes Ian Parker (fiddle), George Guthrie (banjo), and Wilson Luallen (bass)—took form. The Denver quintet have been TEDx presenters, the house band of the Norwegian Dawn cruise ship, and deserving winners of the 2017 RockyGrass band contest. Today our journey into the 46th RockyGrass begins with Meadow Mountain. Let the pickin’ begin!
“A tree can’t stand without its roots. So we are just trying to keep those roots alive,” says mandolinist C.J. Lewandowski. Born in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys spring to life with all the zest and zeal you’d expect from a 1950s-style Tennessee bluegrass band: Jasper Lorentzen’s bass pounds like a jackhammer keeping time; the melodic rhythm of Josh ‘Jug’ Rinkel’s guitar hooks you deep and doesn’t let go until the last playful
note of Jereme Brown’s banjo. This is authentic bluegrass with heart and conviction (highlighted on their new Gospel collection God’s Love Is so Divine). With their recent signing to prestigious Rounder Records, the Boys don’t just ramble into their first RockyGrass, they arrive—with the kind of hard-edged, first-generation sound that would’ve inspired Bill Monroe to book them for the 1st Annual Rocky Mountain Bluegrass Festival 45 years ago.
“I ain’t going nowhere, nowhere in time.” Richie Stearns and Rosie Newton grew up 150 miles and a few decades apart. A founding member of past RockyGrass headliners The Horse Flies, Richie’s innovative banjo style (which Tony Trischka describes as “a transcendentally clawhammering force of nature”) has led to collaborations with Natalie Merchant, David Byrne, and Pete Seeger. While Rosie— dubbed “a truly monster old-time fiddler” (No Depression)— found
herself fiddling with folk rockers The Mammals while still in high school. Together, the 2 found kinship in Ithaca, NY’s old-time scene, as the 5-piece Evil City String Band and (for the past 5 years) this powerful duo of 2 voices and 2 instruments. With their beautiful 2nd album Nowhere in Time, these 2 musicians—in 2 very different parts of life—craft music that is both danceably ferocious and quietly personal. “I am only here right now, I am yours and you are mine.”
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THE NEW ALBUM
ON TOUR NOW JULY 27TH THROUGH 29TH •
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R O C K Y G R A S S A RTI STS ROBBIE FULKS FRIDAY 3:30 - 4:45pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
ALISON BROWN, BECKY BULLER, SIERRA HULL, MISSY RAINES & MOLLY TUTTLE Friday FRIDAY 11:00 - Noon 5:15 - 6:30pm
DAVID GRISMAN QUINTET REUNION FEATURING MIKE, DAROL, TODD & WYATT RICE
Friday FRIDAY 7:00 11:00- 8:30pm - Noon
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If you don’t yet recognize the name “Robbie Fulks,” today is the most inspiring day of your musical year. Like your songs tightly crafted? Robbie dropped-out of Columbia University in the ‘80s to focus on the Greenwich Village songwriter scene. Prefer your pickin’ gutsy? Robbie’s guitar chops landed him a spot in legendary bluegrass band Special Consensus. Need a little rebel? Robbie’s early solo albums helped define the “alt-country” movement
of the ‘90s. Crave some wit? Robbie’s weekly residency at The Hideout has featured mash-up themes like Thelonious Monk vs. The Monkees and Jerry vs. Lou Reed. And his 2017 release Upland Stories (which Tim O’Brien called “soul bluegrass for the modern day hillbilly”) earned a year’sbest nod from Rolling Stone. This afternoon Robbie is joined by Shad Cobb (fiddle), Matt Flinner (mandolin), and Todd Phillips (bass) for this hotly anticipated RockyGrass debut.
As these 5 virtuosic artists take the stage for the first time this evening, it’s tempting to focus on their role in shattering the ‘grass ceiling—as the first women to win IBMA Instrumentalist awards on their respective instruments: Alison (banjo, 1991), Missy (bass, 1998 + 7 more years!), Sierra (mandolin, 2016 & 2017), Becky (fiddle, 2016), Molly (guitar, 2017). As inspiring musicians and mentors, they’ve earned an immediate ovation. But let the open-
hearted cheers ring on: as singers and songwriters, each has led her own influential ensembles on this stage; as collaborators, each lifts everyone around her through her generosity and musical drive; as recording artists, each is sophisticated and impeccably tasteful (sharing the studio recently for Missy’s “Swept Away”). And when the applause finally quiets, they’re 5 of our favorite pickers crafting a magnificent set of music on the RockyGrass stage.
40 years ago, Hot Dawg opening track “Dawg’s Bull” twin-mandolin’d its way through home hi-fi’s for the first time. It was a bold mission statement: inventive chord voicings, Hot Club lyricism, modern jazz harmonies, swinging rhythms, bluegrass drive and instrumentation. David Grisman was the visionary maestro, but much like the Blue Grass Boys of the 1940s, each of the Quintet members brought his own distinctive voice and vocabulary to the developing
Dawg music—guitarist Tony Rice, fiddler Darol Anger, bassist Todd Phillips, and 21-year-old mandolinist Mike Marshall. Together they were creating something new as composers, arrangers, and improvisers. With each gig they were redefining “new acoustic music” and influencing future generations of stringband musicians. Tonight we reunite this seminal band for the first time in years, featuring the masterful Rice-style guitar of younger sibling Wyatt Rice.
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TICKETS ON SALE NOW •
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA • PICKININTHEPINES.ORG
camping • jamming • kid’s activities • educational workshops • band contest • community barn dance
Shawn Colvin • Kathy Mattea Amy Helm • Ellis Paul Mike Farris Penny & Sparrow Sam Baker • Liz Vice Hubby Jenkins Sloan Wainwright Les Poules á Colin Mean Mary Festival Pass: $130 Single Venue: $40 MoabFolkFestival.com
JULY 27TH THROUGH 29TH •
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R O C K Y G R A S S A RTI STS SAM BUSH BLUEGRASS BAND FRIDAY 9:00 - 10:30pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
BILL & THE BELLES SATURDAY 11:30 - 12:30pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
GRANT GORDY QUARTET SATURDAY 12:45 - 1:45pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
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“As you go through life as a musician,” offers legendary mandolinist (and fiddler) Sam Bush, “try to keep in mind the reason you started playing, which is that you love music.” For more than 45 years, the Kentucky native has been bringing vivacious joy to stages and stereos: as the co-founder of seminal progressive bluegrass outfit New Grass Revival; an in-demand collaborator with everyone from Emmylou Harris to Lyle Lovett; and a bandleader with 8 solo albums under
his name. And through it all, Sam’s love for the music and his audience still inspire him to jam harder than ever before. On this RockyGrass Friday night, Sam and his band—Scott Vestal (recipient of the 2017 Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo & Bluegrass on the RockyGrass stage last year!), Stephen Mougin (guitar), Todd Parks (bass), and Chris Brown (percussion)—open up the bluegrass songbook to lovingly celebrate their bluegrass roots.
“We like old music—and some of us are consumed by it,” smiles singer/ guitarist Kris Truelsen. Kris grew up around Boulder County, but he found his true home among the mountains and musical legacy of Tennessee, where he earned a Masters in Appalachian Studies. Joining with like-minded singers/musicians Kalia Yeagle (fiddle), Grace Van’t Hof (banjo), and Karl Zerfas (bass), the quartet (named after 1920s performers Bill and Belle Reed) embraces a light-
hearted approach to the golden era of early 1900’s pre-bluegrass music, somewhere between old-time country and vaudeville. While they’re regularly heard performing comical jingles as the house band for Radio Bristol’s Farm and Fun Time (presented by the Birthplace of Country Music Museum), Bill & the Belles’ rich harmonies and bright melodies shine today on their wonderfully sentimental originals, as featured on their upcoming debut Dreamsongs, Etc.
Grant Gordy’s high school bedroom was decorated with scanned photos from the DGQ-20 liner notes. At age 17, he discovered David Grisman’s Dawg music—“the coolest music I’d ever heard in my life.” And by his mid-20s Grant had earned a spot as the legendary band’s full-time guitarist. “Taking part in the lineage of Dawg guitarists gave me a unique and nearly sacred (to me) opportunity to leave my own mark on the canon of Dawg music.” Over his 6-year tenure,
Grant’s deft assimilation of post-bop jazz and freethinking improvisation left an enduring mark. Today with his Quartet of Alex Hargreaves (fiddle), Dominick Leslie (mandolin), and Aidan O’Donnell (bass), Grant’s elegant and wonderfully unpredictable flatpicking leaves a mark on his own music (first introduced on his selftitled 2010 debut); inspiring a young Festivarian somewhere to begin printing pixelated photos of their new guitar hero.
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Bluegrass great Peter Rowan pays tribute to The Stanley Brothers and other musical heroes on his Rebel Records debut.
AVAILABLE NOW IN STORES AND ONLINE rebelrecords.com • peter-rowan.com
R O C K Y G R A S S A RTI STS THE CLEVERLYS SATURDAY 2:00 - 3:15pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
BALSAM RANGE SATURDAY 3:45 - 5:00pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
DELLA MAE SATURDAY 5:30 - 6:45pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
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“If Earl Scruggs, Dolly Parton, and Spinal Tap spawned a litter of puppies, it would be the Cleverlys” (New York Times). From a remote thicket of Stone County, AR, comes Digger Cleverly and his family band: a distilled group of rode-hard musicians known as Sock Cleverly (fiddle), Cub Cleverly (mandolin), DVD Cleverly (banjo), and Ricky Lloyd Cleverly (bass). Raised on Lester Flatt and AC/DC, these days the boys focus their bluegrass chops on the purveyors of classic
American music: Justin Bieber, Psy, Flo Rida. Sure, Digger’s banter is comedy club worthy (recounting his recent alpaca mauling: “Their hooves felt like angry little pillows being thrust upon my body”), but the band steals the show with their sharp pop adaptations and genuine reverence for Bill Monroe (hats respectfully removed, angelic falsettos soaring to heaven). Hang onto your hats, friends, you ain’t never heard a RockyGrass set like this.
When Balsam Range’s 4 singers slide into a high harmony you can’t help but stop, tilt your head back, and gaze up in grateful wonder. Ah, RockyGrass! In just over a decade, the North Carolina quintet, named for the majestic mountains where the Great Smoky meet the Blue Ridge, have earned a remarkable 10 IBMA Awards (including Entertainer, Song, Album, and Vocal Group of the Year trophies) for their 6 critically acclaimed albums. But beyond the IBMA stage, their
emotionally-rich catalog of story songs (and an occasional Allman Brothers cover) make them the band most likely to finally win over your bluegrassambivalent neighbor. Returning for just their 2nd RockyGrass, the 5 long-time friends—Buddy Melton (fiddle), Darren Nicholson (mandolin), Dr. Marc Pruett (banjo), Tim Surrett (bass & dobro), and Caleb Smith (guitar)—remind us of the pure bliss of bluegrass music, from North Carolina to the Colorado foothills.
Versatile instrumentalists and vocalists, Della Mae are sensitive yet assertive, intense yet playful, steeped in tradition yet undeniably current. But after nearly a decade together, the women of Della Mae are about to embark on a new chapter. They’ve been IBMA’s Emerging Artist of the Year (2013), Grammy nominees (2014), Rolling Stone’s “10 bands to watch” (2015), twice on the RockyGrass stage (2011 and 2015), and musical emissaries of the US
State Department to over 18 countries spreading peace and understanding through music. But today, the quartet of Celia Woodsmith (guitar), Kimber Ludiker (fiddle), Jenni Lyn Gardner (mandolin), and Zoe Guigueno (bass) are reaching for a sound even more musically expansive. Joined by special guests Alison Brown, Avril Smith, and Bonnie Paine, let us open our hearts to the magic of Della Mae, as they begin their process of reflection and discovery on the RockyGrass stage.
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summer series
AUG 10 + 11
AUG 7
AUG 6 THE WEEPIES with Mipso
T IC KE T S : chautauqua.com
BRUCE HORNSBY & THE NOISEMAKERS
ANDREW BIRD with Neyla Pekarek of The Lumineers
AUG 14
AUG 22
THE GIPSY KINGS featuring Nicolas Reyes and Tonino Baliardo with Vilray
ZIGGY MARLEY Rebellion Rises 2018 tour ©Denali’s Raven
SEP 7 AUG 26 MANDOLIN ORANGE with Daniel Rodriguez of Elephant Revival
SEP 1 BOZ SCAGGS
Boulder
SEP 13 SEP 8 ANDREA GIBSON
SYMBOLS OF RESISTANCE A tribute to the martyrs of the Chican@ movement
MOUNTAINFILM ON TOUR Captivating films handpicked from the Mountainfilm festival in Telluride, CO
SEP 23
SEP 20 IGNITE BOULDER 36
An intimate evening of songs and stories with GRAHAM NASH
SE NI OR L I V I N G
CRIST MORTUARY
MOUNTAIN VIEW MEMORIAL PARK
900 BASELINE ROAD • BOULDER CO | 303.440.7666
coloradochautauqua
colochautauqua
colorado_chautauqua
R O C K Y G R A S S A RTI STS ARTISTWORKS BLUEGRASS ALL-STARS
BRYAN, DAROL, MICHAEL, MIKE, MISSY & TONY
Friday SATURDAY 11:00 - Noon
7:15 - 8:30pm
DAVID GRISMAN & PETER ROWAN PLAY “OLD & IN THE WAY” WITH SAM BUSH, KEITH LITTLE & SAMSON GRISMAN
Friday SATURDAY 11:00 - Noon
9:00 - 10:30pm
THE LYONS BLUEGRASS COLLECTIVE SUNDAY Friday 11:00 - NOON
11:00 - Noon
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For 24 years, our RockyGrass Academy has set the tone for the Festival weekend—community, oral tradition, jamming. All your core bluegrass values. Over the years we’ve learned the best teachers excel at musical empathy. They listen, they anticipate, they support, they inspire. Tonight, we take a lesson from the masters on the main stage, as six of bluegrass music’s most respected musicians create the “dream jam”: Tony Trischka (banjo), Darol Anger
(fiddle), Mike Marshall (mandolin), Bryan Sutton (guitar), Missy Raines (bass), and Michael Daves (guitar/ vocals). These are the heroes that taught our next-generation heroes— voracious collectors of IBMA awards and endlessly scrolling discographies. After years of video exchanges with students, on the RockyGrass stage these ArtistWorks professors exchange musical ideas with each other in real-time. Grab your highlighter and notebook, your study begins now.
Raise your reusable cup high if you’ve worn through multiple copies of Old & In The Way... Formed in 1973 as an outlet for Jerry Garcia to revisit his banjo pickin’ bluegrass roots, the quintet of Peter Rowan (guitar), David Grisman (mandolin), Vassar Clements (fiddle), and John Kahn (bass) played only a few gigs during their short-lived (less than a year!) history. But their self-titled album, recorded live at the Boarding House in San Francisco, remains one of
the best selling bluegrass albums of all time, introducing countless Deadheads to bluegrass music. Fortyfive years on, a RockyGrass pickin’ circle isn’t complete without at least one song from the Olden songbook. Tonight we delve into this classic repertoire with Sam Bush (honoring one of his fiddle heroes), banjo player Keith Little, and bassist Samson Grisman, for the first RockyGrass tribute to this legendary band since 2003’s Old & in the Gray.
On this wondrous RockyGrass Gospel morning, we open our hearts to the sacredness of this place: the healing waters of the St. Vrain, a community gathered in song, our bountiful little banjo town. Led by some of Lyons’ most dedicated bluegrass disciples— KC Groves (guitar), Natalie Padilla (fiddle), Sarah Cole (bass), Dylan McCarthy (mandolin), Eric Yates (banjo), and some very special guests—we celebrate our common human spirit through uplifting songs
and old hymns. With the endlessly stacking vocals of 5 gifted singers, we’re all invited into the Collective. Rise up and find your place within the harmony of strings and voices. River sculptors and sun shaders, we welcome you into the sanctuary! Hula hoopers, we command you to respectfully betray Monroe’s dictum of “don’t dance to the gospel!” This Sunday morning, we’re all members of the church of RockyGrass—in all its local Lyons glory.
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R O C K Y G R A S S A RTI STS JEFF SCROGGINS & COLORADO SUNDAY 12:15 - 1:30pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
I DRAW SLOW SUNDAY 1:45 - 3:00pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
JEFF AUSTIN BAND SUNDAY 3:15 - 4:30pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
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Growing up in rural Oklahoma, Jeff Scroggins was 19 when a $60 garage sale banjo finally lured him away from the electric guitar riffing of Jimmy Page. But there was no turning back: Jeff was soon dissecting the style of Don Reno, taking lessons with Alan Munde, and winning the 1989 National Bluegrass Banjo Championship. Over the years, Jeff toured with bands— Andy Owens Project, Big Twang, Blue Canyon Boys—but it was his son, the brilliant young mandolinist Tristan
Scroggins (a 2017 IBMA Momentum Winner), that inspired 2011’s forming of Colorado. With 5-time SPBGMA Bluegrass Guitar Performer of the Year (and twice nominee for Traditional Male Vocalist of the Year) Greg Blake, Portland-born fiddler Ellie Hakanson, bassist Max Johnson, and the highwire instrumental acrobatics of Jeff and Tristan, the quintet delivers a high energy, high mountain “bluegrass explosion.” Hold on to your tarp!
After two and a half days of graciously extroverted American virtuosity, we invite you to draw yourself inward, slow down, and lean-in to the subtle songwriting of Ireland’s I Draw Slow. For more than a decade the Dublin-based quintet has explored the common ground between Ireland and Appalachia: their musical roots and their shared stories of love and loss. Siblings Dave and Louise Holden swap lead vocals, jumping between
expressive characters and close harmony choruses, while Adrian Hart (fiddle), Colin Derham (banjo) and Konrad Liddy (bass) provide deeply musical arrangements, from lilting banjo frails to rousing hoedowns. Featuring songs from their exquisite 2017 release Turn Your Face to the Sun (#1 on the Irish Independent Album Charts!) this is a set to be cherished from that comfy spot on your tarp. Make room for friends: intimacy and connection awaits.
On this historic weekend of onlyat-RockyGrass collaborations and reunions, perhaps no set is as personally significant as the Planet Bluegrass return of Jeff Austin. As a founding member of Yonder Mountain String Band, Jeff first played RockyGrass in 1999—within a year of the band’s forming. Playing the biggest stage of his young career set the mandolinist on a path to the jamgrass peaks: Kinfolk Celebrations in Lyons (captured in Mountain Tracks:
Volume 3), sold-out Red Rocks shows, tours, albums, celebrity. Then in 2013, Jeff left Yonder to pursue a solo career. And he hasn’t set foot on a Planet Bluegrass stage since. Until today! Alongside Kyle Tuttle (banjo), Max Johnson (bass), and Mike Robinson (guitar), the firecracker bandleader strums, squints, squirms and screams under the yinjo once again. For an artist who thrives on heart and raw emotion, this Sunday set promises bluegrass ecstasy.
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ELECTRIC HOT TUNA with STEVE KIMOCK
Farm Dinners and Workshops
JULY 27TH THROUGH 29TH •
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R O C K Y G R A S S A RTI STS PETER ROWAN BAND: CARTER STANLEY’S EYES SATURDAY Friday 5:00 - 6:15pm
11:00 - Noon
STEEP CANYON RANGERS SATURDAY 6:45 - 8:00pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
HOT RIZE SATURDAY 8:30 - 10:00pm
Friday 11:00 - Noon
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In 1965, Bill Monroe drove to the Clinch Mountains to introduce his lead singer, Peter Rowan, to a rapidly ailing Carter Stanley. “This here’s Pete Row’ns,” said Monroe, “he thinks he’s a Blue Grass Boy.” For over 5 decades Peter has branched out from his traditional bluegrass roots, exploring folk, rock, Tex-Mex and even a recent album of Hawaiiana. But through it all, the 76-year-old has left his mark on the walls of time, curating his own bluegrass songbook
rich in midnight moonlights, Gypsys and Navajos, and high tenor yodels. On this RockyGrass Sunday, Peter has gathered an epic band of longtime collaborators— Don Rigsby (mandolin), Jack Lawrence (guitar), Chris Henry (mandolin), Patrick Sauber (banjo), Blaine Sprouse (fiddle), Paul Knight (bass), Jamie Oldaker (percussion)—to honor the Stanley whose voice and songs provided the second foundational stone in Peter’s enduring musical life.
“When you start a bluegrass band in college, you don’t think one day you’re going to win a Grammy for what you’re doing,” smiles mandolinist Mike Guggino. Sure, you might think about winning the RockyGrass band contest (2001, check). But touring the world with Steve Martin (2009-present, check!), performing on The Tonight Show (2018, check!), or earning that coveted Grammy statue (2013’s Best Bluegrass Album, check!!)? Over the course of 10 albums, including this
year’s Out in the Open, the North Carolina sextet have been bending and shaping the bluegrass aesthetic, wedding it to pop, country, and folkrock to create something all their own. For when these 6 take the stage— Mike Guggino (mandolin), Woody Platt (guitar), Graham Sharp (banjo), Nicky Sanders (fiddle), Mike Ashworth (percussion), and newest member Barrett Smith (bass)—you’ll think you’ve never experienced a bluegrass band quite like this... Check!
Just 18 months after their first gig, Hot Rize arrived in the heat and dust of the Adams County Fairgrounds to play the 7th Annual Rocky Mountain Bluegrass Festival. The young quartet of Tim O’Brien (mandolin), Pete Wernick (banjo), Nick Forster (bass), and Charles Sawtelle (guitar) represented something refreshingly new: original songs, electric bass, phase-shifted banjo. After touring for 12 years across 4 continents, earning the IBMA’s first-ever Entertainer of
the Year Award, the group disbanded in 1991. But with the 2001 addition of Bryan Sutton (following Charles’ 1999 passing), increasingly frequent reunion shows culminated in last January’s historic Boulder Theater run (documented in the upcoming Hot Rize 40th Anniversary Bash). After 18 RockyGrass sets (19 if you consider their zombie-slaying 2016 encore)—including several as the “host band”—tonight we celebrate 40 years of this essential Colorado band.
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DATES TO REMEMBER rocky mountain
MOUNTAIN SUN 25TH ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND
August 17-19, 2018
September 14-15, 2018
folks festival 3-day passes and single-day tickets still available!
the song school
August 12-16, 2018 Sold-Out!
MABON CELEBRATION September 22, 2018
TELLURIDE BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL June 20-23, 2019
ROCKYGRASS ACADEMY July 21-25, 2019
2019 TICKETS Visit Bluegrass.com in October for details about purchasing tickets through our online lotteries, including RockyGrass Academy and RockyGrass on-site camping. All other 2019 tickets go onsale in early December.
ROCKYGRASS July 26-28, 2019 Printed on FSC-certified 70# Neenah Conservation text - a 100% post-consumer recycled fiber, made with 100% renewable energy
JULY 27TH THROUGH 29TH •
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