The Telluride Acoustic Blues Competition takes place at the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival every September. The competition is seeking the most talented musicians who excel in the blues genre and is open to solo acoustic performers who are not signed to a record label or publishing deal.
The top six entries will be invited to play off at the festival's Blues for Breakfast, held at the Elks Lodge. The winner of the competition will perform on the main stage later that afternoon.>...
The Telluride Acoustic Blues Competition takes place at the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival every September. The competition is seeking the most talented musicians who excel in the blues genre and is open to solo acoustic performers who are not signed to a record label or publishing deal.
The top six entries will be invited to play off at the festival's Blues for Breakfast, held at the Elks Lodge. The winner of the competition will perform on the main stage later that afternoon.
If Chosen As A Finalist, artists:
- Will receive one (1) three-day admission pass to the festival to be picked up at will-call under your name. Sorry, no 'significant other' discounts or extra tickets are given.
- Will receive one (1) Telluride Competition t-shirt and a $25 gift certificate to the Telluride Music Company.
- Must find their own accommodations in Telluride and make travel arrangements to be at the competition on Saturday, at 9 am. Please check the tellurideblues.com website for a list of lodging and camping facilities.
Telluride Acoustic Blues Competition Guidelines:
- On the Saturday of the Blues Festival in Telluride, each finalist will be required to be present to perform 3 songs at Elk's Lodge.
- Two (2) of the songs must be either original blues or blues standards (your choice). And the third (3rd) song will be a blues standard, to be determined by the judges. In the recent years, they have chosen standards such as; Sweet Home Chicago, Thrill is Gone, Crossroads, and Born Under a Bad Sign.
- If an artist is chosen to be a finalist, he or she will be notified of the standard blues selection the same day they are notified of becoming a finalist. Artists will have 2-3 weeks to learn the required song.
- Recommended time limit for each song: 5 minutes.
- Acoustic guitars or instruments with pickups ARE permitted, only for amplification.
- No loop machines allowed.
- No electric guitars allowed. If an artist needs electricity beyond microphones and amplification for the crowd, yhe or she is not an acoustic act.
- No back-up musicians allowed.
- All finalists must be of amateur level, with no recording contracts, publishing contracts, or endorsements.
- All entries must be received or postmarked by August 10.
- This competition accepts blues guitarists and/or vocalists, and any other acoustic blues instrumentalists.
- Artists should not submit band demos, as the judges do not know who to listen for, or how a artists' song will sound as a solo competitor.
- Artists must submit clean simple recordings of one person playing 1 or 2 songs.