Goodbye to old friends, hello to new ones
 

by Chris Aaland

When the Gregg Allman Band finished the final notes of “Southbound” to close out Sunday’s Telluride Blues & Brews, the curtain came down on the Fred Shellman Memorial Stage in Telluride’s Town Park. Masters of Ceremony Ashley Bohling and Jeb Berrier kept telling the crowd that Gregg Allman was the first artist to play the stage and would be the last.

Ashley & Jeb were almost accurate: the Allman Brothers Band first played the Shellman Stage on July 21, 1991, at the Telluride Mid-Summer Music Festival. The promoter of that one-off event was the legendary Bill Graham. Three months later, he died in a helicopter crash and the Telluride Mid-Summer Music Festival was no more.

One month earlier, the 18th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival rolled through Town Park with nearly 16,000 people (it was capped at 10,000 the next year). For the record, 1991’s TBF started at noon on Thurs., June 20, with the previous year’s band contest winners: a little ol’ quartet of young women from the Dallas area led by sisters Martie & Emily Erwin on fiddle and banjo, respectively, plus vocalist/guitarist Robin Macy and bassist Laura Lynch. Their name? The Dixie Chicks.

So, Ashley & Jeb … The Dixie Chicks is the correct answer.

Recent Telluride Bluegrass Band Contest finalist Running Out of Road headlines Saturday’s Meltdown on the Mesa.

My first trek to Telluride was July 20, 1991, for what’s become known as the Bill Graham Fest. I tried to sneak into the festival that first day, but had to listen to Los Lobos and Joe Cocker on the banks of the San Miguel … what would become home base for my Front of the Line gang by the end of the decade. I only had a ticket for that epic Sunday (more on that in the Top Shelf list). Through the years, I’ve spent 92 days in Town Park … 19 straight Telluride Bluegrasses, three Jazz Fests, a pair of Rides and Blues & Brews, a handful of KOTO Doo-Dahs and the 2010 Phish shows. All have been in front of the Shellman Stage. I’ll miss it, but look forward to June 2016 and the unveiling of the new Town Park digs.

Another local venue that shuts its doors this weekend is the Lost Dog. Appropriately, Lawn Chair Kings return Friday to the building that gave them their start in Durango (back then, it was Storyville, but the good times continued during the Lost Dog’s long run). Robby Overfield joins them.

As some stages get torn down, another gets erected. Meltdown on the Mesa takes place all day Saturday on Ewing Mesa, featuring six local bands including Six Dollar String Band, Lost Souls, Mountain Top Pocket Pickers, La La Bones, the Badly Bent and Running Out of Road. Gates open at noon, with music running from 2-8 p.m. Tickets cost $20 and include parking and camping. Rick’s Chix will sell food and feel free to bring your own grub and beverages, avoiding glass containers. Need directions? Visit durangomeltdown.com.

The Hank hosts Carbon Leaf at 7 p.m. tonight (Thurs., Sept. 24). Carbon Leaf is a five-piece band from Richmond, Va., known for its Celtic-, folk- and alt-country-infused indie rock.

As Durango’s craft brewers gear up for this weekend’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Ska is releasing Modus Mandarina IPA. You’ll notice the orange cans on the shelves of your favorite liquor store this week. Mandarina was first brewed three years ago as a special release. The IPA is brewed with orange peels and generously hopped with Mandarina Bavaria hops.

This week’s Top Shelf list recaps my 10 favorite moments at the Fred Shellman Memorial Stage:

1. Day 3 of the Telluride Mid-Summer Music Festival, July 21, 1991: Widespread Panic opened, followed by Taj Mahal, the David Grisman Quintet, Hot Tuna and the Allman Brothers … the greatest day of music I’ve ever seen.

2. Johnny Cash, 24th annual Telluride Bluegrass, June 19, 1997. He was sandwiched between a tweener set by Baby Gramps and a raucous one by Ashley MacIsaac, but who cares? It was my second date with Shelly and we set up camp in time to check out Charles Sawtelle & the Whippets, Tony Furtado, the Lonesome River Band and Patty Griffin before Cash hit the stage.

3. Opening day, 26th annual Telluride Bluegrass, June 17, 1999. The rain fell hard – I remember Shelly and I were underneath our tarp during afternoon sets by Alison Moorer and Leo Kottke – but we persevered. just glad it cleared in time for evening sets by Junior Brown and Willie Nelson.

4. Drive-By Truckers, 33rd annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival, June 16, 2006. With Jason Isbell still in the lineup, they tore through classics like “Aftermath USA,” “Outfit” and “Let There Be Rock” in Town Park’s loudest moment. My eardrums rang the next day.

5. David Byrne, 36th annual Telluride Bluegrass, June 18, 2009. The setlist was filled with 11 of Byrne’s Talking Heads classics! It remains the finest concert I’ve ever seen, at least in visual dynamics. Indeed, they burned down the house.

6. Phish, Aug. 9, 2010. The first of a two-day run in Telluride was the better of the two shows, in my opinion, thanks to a setlist heavy in “A Picture of Nectar” songs (my favorite Phish album) and choice covers by the Beatles, Dylan, Stevie Wonder and Traffic.

7. Robert Plant, 38th annual Telluride Bluegrass, June 19, 2011. I stood front and center in the poser pit for an epic set by the elder statesman of rock gods. It was the only day I attended in 2011, as Gus was born a week earlier. Sadly, Gus would never get to attend a Telluride festival.

8. Sam Bush closing with a cover of Spinal Tap’s “Big Bottom,” 39th annual Telluride Bluegrass, June 23, 2012. No fewer than eight bassists shared the stage – with banjo players Béla Fleck and Scott Vestal and Sam himself thumping out electric bass lines. Even classical Grammy-winner Edgar Meyer bowed out a solo.

9. Day 2 of the 2nd annual The Ride, July 13, 2013. The lineup featured Drive-By Truckers, Son Volt, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale and CAKE, along with festival closing act David Byrne & St. Vincent.

10. 4th annual The Ride, July 11-12, 2015. Two days of Widespread Panic mixed with Gov’t Mule, North Mississippi Allstars, Trigger Hippy, Johnny Lang, Current Swell and others made for a predictably jammy two days.

And tomorrow starts the same old thing again?  Email me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net