Big Richard - Playing on the main stage at the 52nd Annual RockyGrass Festival

Greetings fellow bluegrassers!

This and that — just a few things going on in our bluegrass community:

  • Festival season is still underway — go to our “festivals” page to see which ones you want to attend! Colorado Festivals — Colorado Bluegrass Music Society

  • Our beginner jam in Denver is doing GREAT! We usually have 15-20 people each time. It happens on the 2nd Tuesday each month at the American Music School.

  • We added some new jams this week happening in Durango, CO! CBMS really wants to represent the entire state of Colorado so if you know of a jam or happening anywhere in the state, let us know!

  • Board member Kevin Slick had several articles and photos featured in Bluegrass Today recently - it’s a great publication and is on my weekly list of “things to read”.

    John Pierce - President, Colorado Bluegrass Music Society

The 51st Annual Rockygrass Bluegrass Festival

by John Pierce

Rockygrass 2023! So many things happened in that short weekend. I’ll try and relate some of it here, but it’s most of it is just a stream of images and music from a fantastic weekend.

Onsite jams:

Starting on Thursday night after “Land Rush”, the onsite campground is full of people pickin’ and grinning everywhere! Best collection of jamming at any festival I’ve ever attended. Walking around the campground at 3 am it is as if the entire place is not only awake but is thriving with music from every campsite. Many of the camps have been around for many years and have a huge following like Camp Whiskey, Coleman Camp, Camp Howdy and many others.


The Instrument Competitions:

Friday morning comes pretty early for those folks who have been jamming all night, but nonetheless there was a full slate of folks ready to compete in the instrument competitions. Congratulations to the winners!


Banjo – prize Deering John Hartford model banjo

  1. Luciya Sullivan

  2. Corey Clark

  3. Elijah Donovan

Guitar – prize Preston Thompson D-MA guitar

  1. Michael Furry

  2. Philipp Keck

  3. Soraya Sullivan

Mandolin – prize Collings MT-2 mandolin

  1. Ethan Batan

  2. Luke Lovejoy

  3. Jack Dunlevie

Fiddle – prize Thomas Verdot Paragon fiddle

  1. Celeste Johnson

  2. Mei Lin Heirendt

  3. Jackson Earles

Dobro – prize $1,000 cash

  1. Summers Baker

  2. Brian Eyster

  3. Dan Buller

The Band Competitions:

Tightly fought this year, the Fretliners emerged victorious to be only the third band in history to win both the Rockygrass and Telluride band competitions in the same year. Congratulations guys! And thanks to the 2nd and 3rd place bands Pretend Friend and ALBAND.

Meyer, Meyer, Bush and Marshall:

Yes, it rained. Yes, it hailed. That’s just the way Colorado is sometimes. But this was a stellar set put on by instrumental virtuosos George Meyer, Edgar Meyer, Sam bush and Mike Marshall. Totally worth getting wet to see this show!

Pick and Howl:

Local band Pick & Howl won the band competition last year and as is Rockygrass tradition, they played on the main stage this year. They transitioned to the big stage with no problem and put on a fantastic performance letting us know that winning the competition was not just a fluke!

AJ Lee and Blue Summit:
This band keeps coming back to Colorado and we LOVE it! They are one of the best touring bands in the United States today and showed off their instrumental prowess, excellent harmonies and diversity of song selection. They’ll be back in October and I can’t wait to see them again!

Mighty Poplar:
This new band made up of members from Punch Brothers, Watchhouse and Leftover Salmon has been to Denver a couple of times and I’m happy to finally have caught them live. They put together a super-tight set with blazing instrumentals and soaring vocals. If you get a chance to see them, don’t miss it! I bought their new album after this performance…

Big Richard:

This band just gets better and better. I think I’ve seen them 5 times in the past two years and they are still blazing trails and coming up with new material at each performance. Their performance of Greasy Coat has sort of become their anthem and resulted in bluegrass-style conga line replete with rubber ducks on all the fans heads! These ladies are the rockstars of bluegrass and selling out venues all over the United States.

Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway:

I kept “missing” Molly and Golden Highway for one reason or another for the past year and FINALLY got to see their set. They might be the best bluegrass band touring right now. Incendiary is a great way to describe their shows. They are tight, the songwriting is fantastic and they put on a great show! The sky is the limit for these folks.

These are just a few of the things I saw and heard at Rockygrass, but there is just too much to do in that 3 day weekend - there’s always some epic band or jam I missed, but there is always next year. I can’t wait until the 52nd Rockygrass in 2024!

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High Mountain Hayfever

Review by Kevin Slick

High Mountain Hay Fever celebrated its 20th year in 2023. As some folks know, this festival is a fund-raising effort to provide healthcare for children in the Westcliffe area, and the festival has raised over $800,000. They are now expanding their support to provide dental and mental health services as well.

Those who have been there know the view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains behind the stage is one of the highlights of the festival with many in the audience sitting outside the tent gazing at the mountains. I had my own special bluegrass moment listening to The Clinch Mountain Boys singing “Rank Stranger” while watching the sun set against those mountains.

Host band Dry Branch Fire Squad always provides a solid traditional feel alongside Ron Thomason’s humorous monologues which, this year, included The Baptism of Little Roy along with his traditional pitch for the “Thought Repellent Hats”.

This year bands included Ralph Stanley II, The Baker Family, Uncle Shuffleo and his Haint Hollow Hootenanny, DAYTON, Southwest Bluegrass All Stars, Long Road Home, Higher Ground Bluegrass, Blue Canyon Boys, Hillbilly Fever and The Red Mountain Boys. Heidi Clare also shows off her amazing fiddling and dancing skills with partner Ron Thomason and organizes the children’s program which is always a highlight of the weekend.

In the past, I have helped Heidi lead the kids in a few songs on stage to close out the festival (no one wants to go on after the kids) but this year we also included instruction on mandolin, fiddle and ukulele. The small-town setting of the festival gives it a laid back, easy going feel and the fact that Westcliffe is a “dark sky community” which means that when fans leave after the last band they’re often treated to a view of the Milky Way that few ever see.

Ron always programs a diverse festival and bands play several sets so it’s easy to fit in plenty of jamming and still see everyone. Each band also does a set on the workshop stage where they might answer questions, demonstrate songwriting or arranging or just hang out and answer questions.

If you’re looking for a festival that brings in a diverse selection to top talent that is much less crowded and much more affordable than many others, check out High Mountain Hay Fever. https://highmountainhayfever.org/

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The Colorado Estro Jam Raises Women’s Voices at Academy and Beyond

by Brandy Ray

There’s something magic, maybe even sacred, that happens when the harmonies of nearly forty women bounce softly off the cliffs overlooking the St. Vrain river. It can give you chills both from the beauty of the tone and because you know when you feel the sound resonate inside you’re hearing something special.

That’s exactly what happened when the Colorado Estro Jam brought their monthly women’s pick to Rockygrass Academy this year. 

The Colorado Estro Jam is a group run by Colleen Murphy (Bottlerocket Hurricane), Brandy Ray (Brandywine & the Mighty Fines), and Lauren Harris (Elle Michelle’s Grateful Holler.) The group hosts monthly all levels picks to empower and educate female-identifying players with a space where they can learn jam etiquette and practice being part of a picking circle. The hope is to provide connection amongst the women in the music community and also to help build participant’s skills so they will feel more confident joining in their local jams and being active members of the rich, Front Range music scene. 

While the group’s organizers have had many positive experiences in the local jam scene, they’ve also recognized that it can be intimidating to try to join in an established jam, especially when you’re a newer player, or jammer. Most jams are very welcoming to new and female-identifying players, but unfortunately, some women have also had experiences where they’ve been skipped over, disregarded, or even just come to jams having to contend with the reality that they might be the only female there. The group loves that recently so many jams are reflecting a more diverse gender distribution and that more and more female-identifying players are showing up to add their voices and instrumentation to the experience.  

Over the past couple of years, many of the participants have shared what a powerful experience being part of the Estro Jam has been for them too. For example, after the Academy jam, some of the participants commented that it was the first time they’ve ever played in a group or led a song. Several children also joined in the fun giving rise to the next generation of female players. Additionally, the group has been able to connect women from a wide range of musical backgrounds including players from established bands to absolute beginners at many of their monthly picks. This diversity of experience has helped create a thriving monthly turnout for their jams and has served to solidify the ways the Estro Jam group is partnering with musicians and spaces to draw more and more female-identifying musicians into the bluegrass community.

The group’s monthly pick is typically held one Sunday afternoon a month at Wibby Brewing in Longmont as part of their Babes, Brews, and Bluegrass series. The next one will take place on August 20th from 1-3pm. You can learn more about the group and find future dates for their upcoming jams on Facebook by joining the Colorado Estro Jam. Later in August, Lauren, Colleen, and Brandy will also be taking the jam back to the festival scene in partnership with the Rail on the River’s Arts and Jam Camp at Parrish Ranch in Berthoud which takes place August 24th-27th.

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Bluegrass in La Roche 2023 - The International Bluegrass Festival

by Elliot Siff

Bluegrass in La Roche takes place in La Roche-sur-Foron, France, a small medieval town in a beautiful setting within the Alps region, not too far from Geneva, Switzerland. When the festival comes to town, the quaint little town comes alive as bluegrass music is celebrated just about everywhere from the town square, cafe corners, brasseries, and the festival site itself, which drew up to 4000 attendees a day. In addition, prior to the festival a bluegrass camp is held each year which had over 125 students this year, with instruction on all bluegrass instruments from banjo to dobro, vocal harmonies, jamming and more from teachers from the United States (Henhouse Prowlers), and from Europe as well. It was also the 2nd year for thor kids bluegrass camp.  Both sets of camps culminated with the students getting the chance to perform on the festival stage opening various days’ festivities.

Bluegrass in La Roche has  been going on for 18 years now and is also Europe’s largest bluegrass festival, with no signs of slowing down and traditions in place with folks returning year after year.  It was amazing to learn that this festival has been free for the first 17 years and this was the first year that the event has charged an entrance fee, a reasonable five euros for the weekend.  Five euros to an event with 35 groups coming in from more than 10 countries, what a deal!  This is possible with major support from the town and sponsoring organizations but even more so because of the hard work of festival director Christopher Howard-Williams, his team and the 200+ volunteers that make the event possible.  Every aspect of the festival from food and beverage cooking and sales, merchandise sales, hospitality, guest services and so much more was flawlessly executed by an enthusiastic volunteer crew. 

It made sense that the president of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), among other distinguished guests, made the trip to La Roche…this is truly an international festival, more than any other bluegrass event I can think of, likely why it is up for the Event of the Year this year at the distinguished IBMA awards.  La Roche hosted 35 bands from more than 10 countries took part in this year's festival from all over Europe (France, Finland, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Czech Republic, Belgium) and also from India, USA and Australia among others.  It was a treat to get away from the American bluegrass scene in America and see what’s going on across the pond, and I must say, it's amazing!  Full of passion, drive, theatrics, tradition and talent.  The festival has its main site for 4 days, but beginning Wednesday there are bands performing outside and inside the town’s cafe’s, pubs and eateries during the day as well, making for a lovely experience wandering around.  Beyond that there was endless jamming day and night in the town square as well as the festival site where anyone from the main stage headliner to a local musician could be found jamming together to the sounds of bluegrass, old-time, gypsy jazz and more.  These were some of the best jam circles I’ve ever seen and seemed to go on til about 5am each morning…I'd make it til about 3.

Have a listen to this playlist featuring artists from the festival I made - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/10b3mcYzIOCA9kVPVKM1lI?si=1d28eebf79d5436a&pt=87ce4d1c2f37048fa626ac9374a85a01 - while you may be familiar with the American acts like Henhouse Prowlers, Tim O'Brien and Special Consensus, I was delighted to discover so many passionate, unique and awesome new bands from other parts of the globe, although quite a few aren’t on spotify yet! I’m more of a photographer than a writer, so please enjoy my photos as well…


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This month for our “Power Pickin’ from the Past” image we have the fourth annual Rocky Mountain Bluegrass festival poster from 1976!

Contributors to this month’s newsletter:

  • John Pierce — President, CBMS

  • Kevin Slick — Past President and current board member, CBMS

  • Brandy Ray - One of the hosts of Estro jam and member of Brandy Ray and the Mighy Fines

  • Elliot Siff - Local photographer extraordinaire