2004-06-23 - 12:12 p.m.
Hey folks. If you haven’t noticed the little note at the bottom of the entries, you can sign up on the notify list and I’ll send you an e-mail each time an entry has been posted. Check it out at the end of each installment.
Click here to go to go to my website
We drove the 6 hours or so from Golden to Telluride and got to town around 4:30 pm. On the way in we were listening to the festival on the radio. Jorma was on and sounding good. If you’ve never been to Telluride, words hardly do it justice. It’s on the short list of most beautiful places on Earth. It’s an old mining town now owned by the rich. They have done a decent job in preserving the original old west character of the town which lies in a box canyon at over 9,000 feet. There’s one road in (as you would assume in a box canyon) with canyon walls encircling the town many hundreds of feet above. At the far end of the canyon is a 1200 ft. waterfall that is visible from most of the town. Farther out and higher still are beautiful snow capped mountains. It’s an absolutely stunning sight that I don’t think I’d ever tire from. We are waved through the checkpoint at the town entrance and pull into the Telluride Hotel and load in and get organized. As we pull up, Natalie MacMasters is playing. As quickly as possible, I check into my room and breeze over to the concert site to catch the end of her set. Natalie is a Cape Breton fiddler who got her start as the dancing fiddler on the original Riverdance. She’s an amazing fiddler and she can really dance. I sat myself right in front of her and learned as much as I could by watching her technique. She has a very loose right wrist that enables her to do those fantastic triplet patterns. The audience is totally enthralled. I only get to see a few songs and the encore but it was great. I run into my old friend Skip Kent backstage. I haven’t seen him since the last time we were in Telluride in 2002. Skip’s a great flat-picking guitar player from New Jersey but he has a most important role here at the festival. He’s been the stage manager here for many years and he is extraordinary at what he does. The backstage area of Telluride is a sight to behold. Here roam giants. As I glance around I see Bela Fleck talking to John Hiatt. In the courtesy tent Natalie MacMaster’s is talking to Mark O’Connor. Look over there; it’s Emmylou talking to Guy Clark. It’s amazing! The Seldom Scene are absolutely ripping it up on the main stage but I’m hanging backstage talking to Bo and Phil from New Monsoon. These guys are some of the nicest guys out here. We missed their set but I heard they rocked the house. They’re playing a late night show in town tonight and they invite me down to sit in. Just then I spy Mark O’Connor leaving the courtesy tent. I decide to go up and introduce myself. I’ve recently had an amazing listening experience. When I was on my way home from our CD release party in New York City with my good friend Len Mooney I tuned in to my favorite classical music station, WNYC. They were playing an amazing piece of music. When I heard the violin soloist I knew immediately that it was Mark. I had to pull over because I couldn’t concentrate; I was so moved. The piece was called American Seasons and it should firmly place its composer in the pantheon of great American composers such as Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Edgar Meyers and John Adams. I told Mark the story I just shared with you. He’s a very gracious person and I hope I didn’t embarrass him too much with my gushing.
Next up was the singer songwriter in the round with Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett. I’m not one to keep set lists and such so I couldn’t tell you who played what but when you have all of these great songwriters on stage at the same time it can’t be bad. Guy’s songs are mostly in the first person or are true story songs. I’ve seen Joe Ely with his band back in the 80’s just destroy the Bottom Line in NYC. He had an amazing guitar player named David Grisom that just shredded. They rocked the place to exhaustion. He’s more subdued as an acoustic soloist but you could feel the “rocker” lurking just beneath the surface. John Hiatt was the most politically outspoken of them. He did perform “Have A Little Faith In Me” from his album “Bring The Family”. I consider that record an essential to any collection. It’s his “Sgt. Peppers”. Lyle Lovett exhibited the most grace and humility of them all. Emmylou Harris joined them and did two of her own songs and also sang harmony. They were all great despite some questionable soloing by Mr. Hiatt. Steve Earle joined them for the encore of “This Land Is Your Land” with John adding a biting indictment of G.W. This was met by cheers from the audience. Probably preaching to the choir but I guess the choir needs a good song. The Subdudes were up next and I was starting to freeze my ass off. I met Skehan and Andy backstage sporting new wool sweaters they bought from a vender real cheep so off I go to buy one and some food. I grabbed some gear from the truck and my fiddle and decided to head back to the hotel and then head over to sit in with New Monsoon. Andy grabs his sax and away we go. The place is packed; too packed. We make it to the dressing room just in time to hear them finish up there last song of the first set. There’s some confusion as to who will sit in on what and things get a bit more nutty when we’re informed the P.A. has ceased to function. After a half hour of first finding the house engineer and then tracking the problem down the show goes on. I sit in on the first number, the title of which I have forgotten. It was a nice number with a melodic figure that Phil tried to teach me backstage. I finally gave up on the melody and just improvised a harmony. I traded solos with the banjo then the piano and then finally dueled it out with the lead guitar. It was great fun! These guys are great and real gentlemen. Andy sat in on the last song (strange that…. I go first; he goes last) and rips. We say our goodbyes and off we go to bed. Tomorrow’s a big day and should have been in bed already!
