(Denver, Colorado) My name is Jim Stick and I will be writing on this informative American Blues News website about all of the goings on in the growing Colorado Blues scene.
If you ask any blues fan in Colorado about the blues scene out here, the first thing you will hear mentioned are the many wonderful blues festivals in the state. With the beauty of the Rocky Mountains and the 300 days of sunshine we get in the dry and crisp Colorado air, it is hard to beat some of the magnificent settings we have for blues festivals.
(Left) Tab Benoit at the Blues From The Top Festival, Winter Park, CO
A lot of the small ski resort towns have learned that blues fans love the outdoors in the summer in Colorado. These are ideal festival settings. There are plenty of hotels and condos in the towns from the ski industry being there. The towns are small and everything is within walking distance. Park the car on Friday afternoon and don't get back into it until Monday morning. No worries about DUI's if you care to indulge in some of Colorado's many outstanding fresh microbrew beers.
Telluride 
(Right) Telluride, CO--One of the most beautiful settings for a blues festival in the world. The park the festival is held in is at the end of the Main St.
(Left) Shot taken from the festival grounds towards the mountains.
I asked Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin his thoughts on the Colorado blues festivals and he related an experience to me that he had: "The Grand County Blues Society's Blues From The Top Festival (Winter Park), which I played in 2008 left a smile on my face for a long time after. Other folks I know who were there felt it too. I think the combination of soulful music, hospitality, and people enjoying themselves was real vacation for the spirit"
While the mountain towns of Telluride, Winter Park, Beaver Creek, and Keystone host blues festivals in and amongst stunning mountain scenery, there are also several blues festivals along the front range of Colorado at the beginning of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Denver, Greeley, Arvada, and Trinidad all host fine blues festivals. Most are all VERY affordable festivals to attend. All blues fans should experience the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival once in their lives.
Blues in CO
(Right) Ronnie Baker Brooks and funky bass player extraordinaire Carlton Armstrong at the Greeley Blues Jam in Greeley, CO.
(Left) L'il Ed Williams tears it up at the Trinidaddio Blues Festival in Trinidad, CO
I'll leave the final word on the many fine blues festivals in Colorado to Jimmy Thackery who stated to me: "Colorado seems to have more of this kind of stuff going on than most other states and I hope it continues to grow in the future. The ones I know about from personal experience have all been what they were cracked up to be and then some."
For a detailed look at each blues festival in Colorado you can go to the Festivals page of my website:
There you find the dates, line-ups, ticket and hotel pricing, and info on where to stay. You can contact me from the website and I can help you with any questions you might have on traveling to Colorado this summer for your blues fix. I hope you will discover what I have, that while winters are for blues cruises, summers are for blues festivals in beautiful Colorado.
©Jim Stick, 2010
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