Telluride schedule posted

It might not all be bluegrass, or even some of it (according to Dr. Banjo Pete Wernick's classification), but the lineup for the 2007 Telluride Bluegrass Festival will blow the socks off any acoustic music fan. The festival posted its daily schedule yesterday, and it's enough to make me want to reconsider my plans for June.

Most of the big names (Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Chick Corea, Yonder Mountain, Counting Crows, Los Lobos, Rowan-Rice, and all the usual Fleck/Bush/Douglas/Meyer/Angor/Cowan/Sutton newgrassers) had already been announced but seeing them arrayed on a day-by-day schedule gives it a whole new impact. There's a whole new cast of string-band virtuosity with Chris Thile, Infamous Stringdusters, Crooked Still, Mike Marshall & Hamilton de Holanda, Greensky Bluegrass,

But some of the newer names (either just added or previously overlooked by me) should be a lot of fun. Andy Statman is a musician's musician--his combo of klezmer and mando jazz should make the canyon swing. Dougie Maclean is the biggest name in Celtic folk. The New Orleans Social Club add some rollicking gumbo. Jackie Greene is a captivating entertaininer. The Avett Brothers bring a punk sensibility to their off-the-wall bluegrass. I don't know much about Augie March (besides the novel they're named for) or Guster, but the bios make them both sound fun.

Bela Fleck will be the busiest musician in town, playing in four configurations--with The Flecktones, in a duo with Chick Corea, in the Sparrow Quartet with Abigail Washburn, and as part of the trademark Telluride House Band. Chris Thile will be almost as ubiquitous, with his new How to Grow a Band band, in a duet with Edgar Meyer, and in what appears to be a solo set (though I'm thinking that may turn out to be his new Tensions' Mountain Boys).

Tickets, camping and condos are still available from Planet Bluegrass.