2014 Round One Lineup Announcement

Today, the 21st annual Telluride Blues & Brews Festival released its first round of artists for the festival's eagerly awaited return to the legendary Town Park stage in Telluride, Colorado on September 12-14, 2014. Blues & Brews is excited to announce two out of three festival headliners, the Violent Femmes and George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. Blues & Brews is also thrilled to welcome back festival favorites Anders Osborne, The Robert Cray Band, The Lee Boys, Black Joe Lewis, and Ryan McGarvey. Additional artists include the renowned Lee Fields & the Expressions, Shakey Graves, Dumpstaphunk, and Kipori Woods. Many more artists will be announced soon.

"We are excited with the direction the festival is going this year," said Steve Gumble, Festival Director. "With many added amenities, including a second state-of-the-art stage featuring more bands, as well as a more diverse mix of music and entertainment - the 2014 festival could be our best yet!"

The Violent Femmes, one of the most successful alternative rock bands of the 1980s, influenced by the disparate sounds of Velvet Underground, Sun Ra, Johnny Cash and Devo, offered the world a style of music that was at once obvious and obtuse, incredibly danceable and lyrically layered with innuendo and wry humor. Their first self-titled album, has sold millions of copies, reaching platinum status only eight years after its release. As the Femmes' only Colorado performance in 2014, their unprecedented appearance in Telluride is not to be missed!

Break out your funkiest costume and get ready to get your freak on for headliner George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. Booty-rockin', soul-funk tricksters, Parliament Funkadelic, and Supreme Executive of Funk, George Clinton will be bringing their glittery mayhem to Telluride. Known for memorable live performances and uniquely energized music, George Clinton's Parliament Funkadelic has created a genre of its own renowned as - P-Funk.

Never straying too far from its blues roots, this year Telluride Blues & Brews will welcome The Robert Cray Band, with his straight-up house-rocking blues guitar mastery, for his third appearance on the lineup. Cray's modern counterpart, Austin-based blues-rock-soul guitarist Black Joe Lewis will also flex his prodigious and progressive blues guitar chops on the Main Stage. New Mexico's hottest blues guitarist, Ryan McGarvey, will be making his second appearance at the festival on the new, second stage, and New Orleans blues guitarist Kipori Woods will make a debut performance.

Blues & Brews is going deep into the cast of funk and soul players this year with Lee Fields & the Expressions, who have a catalogue ranging from James Brown-style funk to lo-fi blues to contemporary Southern soul to collaborations with French house DJ/producer Martin Solveig. Lee Fields has done it all. Dumpstaphunk will offer fans an unforgettable live experience steeped in the Big Easy tradition of a good time. The quintet will feature Ivan Neville on vocals, B3 and Clav, the double bass and soulful voices of Tony Hall and Nick Daniels III, Ian Neville on guitar, and the monster addition of Nikki Glaspie on drums and vocals.

Representing the modern rock landscape, find Austin's multi-instrumental retro-rocker one-man-band Shakey Graves. Funk and gospel band The Lee Boys and Telluride favorite Anders Osborne will also layer the lineup.

The Telluride Blues & Brews festival is revered as one of the most scenic and intimate music festivals in the country, tucked in the heart of the San Juan Mountains in the historic mining town of Telluride, Colorado. The three-day Blues & Brews celebration offers an eclectic mix of live blues, funk, jam bands, rock, gospel and soul performances - accompanied by some of the best microbreweries in the country. The newly added second stage will host diverse events including musicians, comedians, films, and Q&A artist discussions. Food and craft vendors, children's activities, on-site camping, and late night juke joint shows will also be featured.

Tickets for Three-Day passes, Juke Joint (late night shows) passes, and Camping passes are on sale now. Single day tickets will go on Sale June 15th.

For festival information or to purchase tickets visit TellurideBlues.com. To purchase tickets by phone, call toll-free at (866) 515-6166. Tickets are available locally at Telluride Music, located at 123 E. Colorado Ave, and at Wizard Entertainment, located at 126 East Colorado Avenue.

About

Telluride Blues and Brews is one of the most scenic and intimate music festivals in the country, a three day celebration of music and microbrews held every September in the world-famous resort town of Telluride, Colorado, in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The 21st Annual Telluride Blues & Brews Festival takes place September 12-14, 2014.