The “newgrass” genre was created by Sam Bush, dubbed “the mayor of Telluride,” and a generation of young musicians—John Hartford, Peter Rowan, Tim O’Brien, etc.—who loved both traditional bluegrass and the rock music of their peers. In the 1970s, they came together in the beauty of the Colorado mountains for a party and a legendary musical ferment—the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, a seminal precursor to the modern Americana movement. Bush, the founder and leader of the genre-bending New Grass Revival, visited Telluride for the first time in 1975, and he has guested at every festival since, playing with his heroes (Bill Monroe, Doc Watson and Earl Scruggs) and everyone from Emmylou Harris and Bela Fleck to Lyle Lovett and Alison Krauss.
Sam Bush
