Music Maker at Telluride Blues & Brews

By Cree McCree

Some things are meant to be.

Thirty-one years ago, Steve Gumble founded what became the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival. That very same year, Tim and Denise Duffy established Music Maker Foundation. And though they didn’t actually meet until 2014, when Gumble booked the first Music Maker artist at his festival, they were serendipitously destined to converge. Music Maker is now an integral part of the Telluride festival, and 2025 marks the 11th anniversary of our participation.

“Aaron Greenhood, our program guy, was working on getting our artists booked at the premiere blues and rock festivals around the country,” recalls Tim Duffy. “And when he contacted Steve Gumble, the Telluride festival’s founder, it caught his attention. Then we found out Steve and I were both going to Jazz Fest [in New Orleans] that year. We had a great time at Jazz Fest, where we went to see Little Freddie King, and Steve loved him so much he hired him on the spot. Little Freddie King was the first act they brought to Telluride, and that was so successful they kept booking more of our artists.”

Gumble, for his part, fell in love with Music Maker’s mission during the weekend he and Duffy spent together at Jazz Fest, when serendipity struck again. “We’d just been given an opportunity to take an ice rink and turn it into a stage,” he recalls. “It’s a great venue, and it was a perfect fit for Music Maker.” There’s a lovely foyer with drapes, where Music Maker has a booth and stages pop-up photo shows and other exhibits.

Gumble also created special VIP packages for high-end Music Maker donors. One year, he took them to a fancy studio way up in the mountains where Neil Young makes records. And every year, the festival hosts a private dinner under a big tent at a local’s home for patrons who pay a premium. “They get to hang out with the Music Maker artists and at least one of the artists plays for them,” says Gumble. “It’s a cool event that has really done wonders for helping them raise money. Just the festival itself raises about $15,000 for Music Maker.”

Each year, Music Maker raises $15,000 to $50,000 at Telluride for our programs and artists.

Music Maker brings about four or five acts to the festival every year, including some great but previously unknown gospel artists like the Vines sisters. “When Steve came to visit us, he visited Freeman Vines’ farm to learn about his guitars and also visited his sister Alice Vines,” recalls Duffy. “He went to her humble little church, brought it from the Vines sisters, and donated the money they needed to redo it. They’re rebuilding this church that’s been in their family for more than 100 years, putting in new windows and a new floor. He’s a very socially minded guy, a guy in the music business with a big heart. Which, as you know, is rare.”

Among the artists on the Music Maker roster in 2025 is Leonard “Lowdown” Brown from Houston, Texas, and Trenton Ayers from Holly Springs, Mississippi, whose father was the bass player for Junior Kimbraugh for 35 years. “He’s like the next generation of Hill Country blues,” notes Duffy. “We just did a record with him. It’s like acid rock blues, kind of the blues of the future.”

Also on the roster: Earl Guitar Williams from Bessemer, Alabama, the Black section outside of Birmingham, who’s a lifelong barber. “He used to travel with all the soul groups doing their crazy hair,” Duffy recalls with a laugh. “He’s a one man band act. We’re also bringing Michael Boone from Greenville, North Carolina. He is a gospel artist and a real child prodigy, who’s been singing since he was nine. “He just won Best Gospel Singer of the Year and this is one of his first festivals.”

"Every year we bring artists who have never played there. People who haven't really played outside their communities. The Festival trusts us to bring artists who may have never played at any festival before to share their music with the audience.”

What is it like for Music Maker artists, most of whom have never left the South, to go to Telluride? “One of the most unique things about this festival is the culture clash,” says Jimbo Mathus, whose Creatures of the Southern Wild band has backed up Music Maker artists in Telluride multiple times. “It’s a very wealthy, exclusive ski resort area high up in the Rocky Mountains, and people have to deal with the altitude. Some of the artists are quite elderly and experience health issues up there, so I’m there as an ally for Tim and Denise. I believe in their mission and I’m always at their booth, where wealthy donors can come by to support their mission.”

While it’s an unprecedented experience for most Music Maker artists, Terry “Harmonica” Bean, who played Telluride last year, is the exception that proves the rule.

“I’ve been a world traveler since 2001,” says Bean, a hill country bluesman from a dynastic blues family; his father toured with B.B. King and his grandfather knew the almost-mythic Robert Johnson. “I’ve known Tim and Denise for many years, but I was traveling to Europe before I even started working with them. Most of the people who play Telluride have never been to a place like that before. But it put me in mind of Geneva, Switzerland, when I played there, because of all the mountains and cable cars. I’d rather play the Telluride Blues Festival than in Chicago. Telluride just got more. You can see the city, you can see the country. You can see all these different stages & venues like the juke joints out in the woods.”

Trenton Ayers, for his part, is thrilled to be playing his very first Telluride festival. “I’ve been asking all my friends who have performed there what to expect,” says Ayers, who is still in his 40s and part of the next generation of blues artists. “And they say I’m absolutely going to love it. I’m gonna get to see my homegirl Samantha Fish, and watch Lukas Nelson, so I’m very excited to go.”

In 2025, for the first time ever, the Music Maker stage will also feature some cool new visuals. Beautiful fine art kites commissioned by Terry Zee Lee, president of the National Kite Association, will be installed on each side of the stage.

“I do large art kite displays all over the country to create a lot of publicity for organizations and let people know about all the good work they do,” explains Lee. “The kites on display in Telluride will be Japanese rokkaku kites, and lit from behind with LED lights so they really shine. Tim sent me a list of all the different musicians they support, and I asked the kite makers to select a name and interpret the work of that person.”

For Music Maker, each Telluride Blues Festival gives us the opportunity to spread around the wealth of talent we support. “Every year we bring artists who have never played there,” notes Tim. “People who haven’t really played outside their communities. The Festival trusts us to bring artists who may have never played at any festival before to share their music with the audience.”

Pro tip: If you haven’t yet bought your tickets don’t delay. Passes are still available, including VIP tickets for the Music Maker Fundraiser dinner on Thursday, September 11. This year’s festival promises to be the best yet, not least because it’s Music Maker’s 11th anniversary in Telluride.