Every April in Durango, as town trails start drying out, the Bluegrass Meltdown brings the community out of their ski boots and into Spring. This shoulder-season celebration kicks off the festival season with Chaco-stomping, string-plucking goodness that is not to be missed.
Starting in 1995, the volunteer-run Durango Bluegrass Meltdown was dreamed up to bolster Durango’s off-season economy before rafts take over the Animas River. “Michael Burke and a few other folks who are big into the Bluegrass scene wanted to put together a festival during one of the lowest tourism times of the year,” Meltdown Executive Director Jenny Hirt said.
Considering Colorado’s unpredictable spring weather, the Bluegrass Meltdown ensures a comfortable, good time with five indoor venues, including the Animas City Theater, Durango Arts Center, Wildhorse Saloon, Elks Lodge, and Strater Hotel. The indoor venues give audiences a more intimate experience with up-close access to 20 bands. “You can walk to each venue, and these people are invested in what you’re doing onstage because you’re right in front of them,” Hirt said.
The festival gleams with a robust variety of local bands and national artists. Over the past few years, Hirt said, “We’ve had artists contacting us, wanting to play in the festival. Every fall, we go to the International Bluegrass Music Association in Raleigh, North Carolina, where we recruit bands.”
This year, thanks to IBMA, Damn Tall Buildings from Brooklyn showed up for their first Durango show. After their performance at the Animas City Theater, the DTB guitarist said, “I feel like there’s a Bluegrass repertoire that so many people know. We always play traditional Bluegrass tunes that people know. So it’s this familiar sort of feeling that everyone has. It’s easier to get the crowd and us working together.”
Offering an array of bands allows the audience to discover new artists while enjoying local favorites and being swept away by the enchantment of Bluegrass. Local legends like the Six Dollar String Band emphasize the uniqueness of the Meltdown: “The cool thing about Bluegrass is that everybody jams together. And so with this festival and the weekly jams, it’s different than any other music genre because it brings all the pickers together.”
In the Bluegrass community, every strummer, picker, and vocalist is given the space to meld their styles together in a relaxed setting. After a full day of performing, most musicians head to the Strater Hotel, where all kinds of musicians playing all sorts of stringed instruments jam together in a coat closet or a crowded hotel room. These late-night jam sessions welcome foot-tappers and musicians to enjoy and contribute to the Bluegrass story, differentiating Bluegrass from other genres. After Alex Graf’s Bluegrass Super PAC exited the stage, Graf commented, “There’s pickers in the audience… You’re playing for people who are collectively passionate about it. There’s no other genre where you play a whole day at the festival, and everyone there, including the professional musicians, hangs out and jams together [afterward].”
According to Hirt, Bluegrass is all about storytelling. “If you care to listen to the lyrics of the Bluegrass genre, a lot speaks to different kinds of people. The songwriting is a storytelling.”
Like the songs, the Bluegrass Meltdown tells its own story every year, inspiring volunteers to come back for more. Many of them are musicians who support the fluidity of Bluegrass and enjoy the diversity of its style. Longtime volunteer Robert Ludwig said, “There have been classical elements or other years where we see some traditional and contemporary Bluegrass bands.”
This impressive mix of contemporary and classical Bluegrass shines during the band contest. Since 2020, this competition has created an opportunity for the community to catch a free show as various bands play their hearts out to earn a $500 cash prize, eight hours of recording time from Eagle Sound in Durango, and a spot on next year’s Main Stage. “The younger generations come into the fold and bring in more contemporary acts that go beyond Bluegrass music,” stated a Six Dollar String Band member.
Nothing unites a community like music, and Bluegrass expands the fold even further. This genre draws its audience from all walks of life and is recognizable to any ear. That melding of people is what makes the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown so special. It’s a time to support local bands and discover new favorites. This festival reminds the community why live music picks at all of our heartstrings.
