On December 11, 2025, ticket sales opened for the 53rd annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival. The little mountain town of Telluride opens its streets annually for one of the biggest and most famous bluegrass festivals. This sleepy little town, with a population of around 2,500, balloons to 10,000 during the week of the festival, which runs from June 18 to 21, 2026. Every year, some of the best musicians join newcomers reaching for their dreams.
In the past year, musicians like Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, the Infamous Stringdusters, and the Sam Bush Band have performed. In the early years, artists such as Vassar Clements and Easy Pickins helped define the festival. These legends cut their teeth at festivals like these for years. If you want to experience this amazing weekend, buy your tickets now, as they will go fast.
Between the legions of household-name musicians, tens of thousands of lifetime Festivarians, and those being introduced to the bluegrass family for the first time, the sentiment remains largely unchanged. “Telluride Bluegrass is pure magic!” says the recently four-time GRAMMY-nominated Sierra Hull, who first played on the Telluride Bluegrass stage in 2016. “It’s like a big ole beautiful homecoming for all of my favorite musicians.”
For 53 years, music fans have made their way to Telluride, entering as travelers and adventurers and heading home as dyed-in-the-wool Festivarians, part of a community that stretches well beyond the time and place of the festival itself—a community that knows.
“Now let me see, is it turn left at Mexican Hat?” muses Telluride Bluegrass veteran and absolute legend of the genre, Peter Rowan. “Or turn right from Aztec? I’ve been there before, up from Chaco Canyon? I guess I can find my way from almost anywhere! Telluride is where it all began for me.”
Bluegrass music originated in the Appalachian Mountains around 1940. European immigrants started blending their home countries’ music styles together, creating a unique blend of high-energy, fast-tempo sound that was easy to dance to, allowing people to feel connected to their home countries while also forming a new sound that represented a fresh beginning to life in the Americas. Bluegrass continues to thrive, reflecting a rich cultural quilt of music while also adapting to changing musical styles, with the genre appearing today in classical, funk, and indie music.
If you want to know more about this rich, homegrown music genre, make plans to go to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in June. You will be welcomed with open arms. Check out the following links as well for more history on bluegrass music and the legends that made it so popular, along with a link to the festival itself.
https://bluegrass.com/telluride
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