Planetary phenomena

Planet Bluegrass, presenter of the Telluride Bluegrass and Rocky Grass festivals, is nearly done booking this summer's programs, but continues to parcel out fresh news. On the booking front, the sensational contemporary bluegrass combo The Greencards, has been added to the Telluride lineup. The trio, comprised of two Australians and Brit, has wowwed festival audiences around the country for the past two seasons, and should do the same appearing for the first time at Telluride. Festival watchers are still standing by to see if a new headliner will be named to replace the cancelled Emmylou Harris.

Telluride continues its preview podcast series with this interview with Steven Kellogg.

There are no new bookings for Rocky Grass since the stage schedule was announced two weeks ago (see earlier blog item). However, a fascinating tidbit is that the Jerry Douglas Band set will consist of a song-for-song replay of the groundbreaking Manzanita CD released in 1978 by the Tony Rice Unit. Douglas will perform the set with Tony Rice, Alison Krauss & Union Station vocalist Dan Tyminski, Gabe Witcher, and others. The original recording included Rice, Douglas, Sam Bush and Ricky Scaggs. This will definitely be one for the highlight reel. If you want to do your homework before the festival, here is the iTunes link to the original.