2025 RockyGrass competition results
RockyGrass 2025 instrument contest winners Finn McGuiness (fiddle), Dave Pailet (mandolin), Andrew Gordon (reso-guitar), and G Korth-Rockwell (banjo and guitar) Each year at Planet Bluegrass’ RockyGrass festival in Lyons, CO, competitions are held for individual players on the various bluegrass instruments, along with a contest for full bands. Both are held in multiple rounds, and […]
Fretliners win 2023 RockyGrass band contest
Last month’s 51st annual RockyGrass festival in Lyon’s CO included their long-running band and individual instrument competitions, which also started back in 1973. The festival draws a good many entrants as prizes include brand new instruments as well as cash. The Fretliners pulled off an unusual two-fer, having won both this year’s Telluride Bluegrass Festival […]
Photos from RockyGrass 2023
Lindsay Lou and Molly Tuttle with Peter Rowan at RockyGrass 2023 – photo © Kevin Slick These fine photos from RockyGrass 2023 come from Kevin Slick, a Colorado-based bluegrass performer, photographer, graphic designer, and former President of the Colorado Bluegrass Music Society.
Pick and Howl takes first in 2022 RockyGrass band contest
The Colorado festival scene has long been known for its social as well as its musical collaboration. Like most parts of the bluegrass world, festival season means meeting up with friends you only see at Telluride or RockyGrass, and playing some tunes as well as catching up. This very thing is going on now in [...] More photos from RockyGrass 2022
Ashby Frank and Shawn Camp with The Earls of Leicester at RockyGrass 2022 - photo by Kevin Slick This report with photos from the 50th annual RockyGrass Festival is a contribution from Kevin Slick, Colorado bluegrass and visual artist, and President of the Colorado Bluegrass Society. Saturday and Sunday at Planet Bluegrass were full of [...] Liam Purcell pulls a hat trick at RockyGrass!
We have asserted for several years now that Liam Purcell was an exceptional young bluegrass multi-instrumentalist, and now he has papers to prove it! The talented teen founder of North Carolina's Cane Mill Road set a record at this past weekend's RockyGrass festival in Lyons, CO by winning first place in their banjo, guitar, and [...] Photos from Friday at RockyGrass 2022
The Wildmans kick off the 2022 RockyGrass Festival - photo by Maya Benko The 50th annual RockyGrass Festival has begun in Lyons, CO with performers and music lovers traveling from all over the US to be a part of this beloved event. We have a small gallery of photos from the festival so far, and [...] Photos from RockyGrass 2021
The Del McCoury Band at RockyGrass 2021 - photo by Kevin Slick This RockyGrass 2021 report is a contribution from Kevin Slick, President of The Colorado Bluegrass Music Society, and an avid picker and photographer in the region. RockyGrass returned to Lyons, Colorado with an incredible weekend that, while having smaller crowds (by design) featured [...] RockyGrass 2021 to be streamed online via Mandolin Live+
With nearly all live music functions last year cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, we saw many event producers coming up with new ways of presenting their festivals and concerts. Some took to rerunning previous years' stage shows on social media, while others offered new, pre-recorded performances from artists who hd been booked to appear. And [...] 47th Annual RockyGrass report – Lyons, CO
Larry Sparks & The Lonesome Ramblers at RockyGrass 2019 - photo by Kevin Slick One of my favorite historical figures is the legendary designer Charles Eames. He said, "The details are not the details. They make the design." I find this quote both profound and inspirational in countless ways (replace "design with "music"), and it [...] 