TELLURIDE, July 19, 4:42 p.m. - The stellar lineup of great musicians who pass through Telluride never ceases to amaze even the most savvy music aficionados, with the past month a pleasant blur of mind-blowing performances, everything from Telluride Bluegrass to last weekend’s Cajun Festival.

The thing is, the fun just never stops in this town during the summer, and this weekend finds the legendary Bob Dylan blowing in for the KOTO Doo-Dah, with local venues stepping up their music schedules big time, so we can hear everything from folk to funk, jazz and trip-hop.

Dylan of course needs little introduction, having become the unofficial spokesperson for an entire generation in the 1960s. The prolific troubadour penned classics like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” which became anthems of the era, and firmly cemented Dylan as one of the most influential songwriters of the century. 

Through the years, Dylan has pumped out more tunes than just about anyone on the planet, and garnered every accolade a musician can achieve, including Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy awards. He’s been inducted into the Rock and Roll, Songwriters and Nashville halls of fame, and has been nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature, among the many feathers in his fedora.

So what does a guy do after all of that? Apparently, if you’re Bob Dylan, you do what you love, and head out on the road for the “Never-Ending Tour,” which sees the legend performing more than one-hundred dates a year.

Dylan is known for never doing the same set twice, but rather cherry-picking from his vast repertoire, constantly exploring new arrangements and adding new material.

The icon has played with everybody who’s anybody in the biz, and his ever-evolving band keeps the sound fresh, anchored by his longtime bass player Tony Garnier. The bassist is Dylan’s longest-running sideman, and has a huge list of credits of his own, going back to his days with Asleep at the Wheel in the 70s. 

Dylan usually packs a bunch of heavy-hitting guitar players along for the ride as well, and those who caught Dylan’s Telluride shows at the Doo-Dah in 2001 will remember the sizzling guitar work of Charlie Sexton.

These days, the current roster includes monster guitar players Stu Kimball and Denny Freeman; you may know the latter as a member of the Phantom Blues Band with Taj Mahal. Freeman is also an original member of the Austin Mafia, and has worked with both Stevie Ray and Jimmy Vaughan. Look for BR549’s Donnie Herron to add terrific textures with his banjo, fiddle and pedal-steel work. The phenomenal multi-instrumentalist George Recile rounds out the band on drums, for what will surely create “Thunder on the Mountain” Saturday night. 

With the new Dylan – His Greatest Songs due for release in October, the superstar’s current tour takes him all over the globe, including tonight’s encore performance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Dylan hits Telluride Town Park tomorrow, then he’s off to Albuquerque, Tucson and California before heading “down under” to New Zealand and Australia.

Dylan has often mentored up-and-coming bands through his lengthy career by taking them with him out on the road, and this section of the tour finds My Morning Jacket in the coveted opening act slot.

My Morning Jacket hails from Louisville, Ky., and cites the unusual mix of that town’s industry, thoroughbreds and rock and roll as the inspiration for their unique brand of Americana. 

The band released their critically acclaimed It Still Moves in 2003, prior to the departure of Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash. The band might have floundered, but instead, remaining members Jim James, Two-Tone Tommy and drummer Patrick Hallahand found some gems in keyboardist Bo Koster and guitarist Carl Broemel, and the result was a new fresh force that infuses their rootsy sound with soul and hip-hop. 

Whoa, these boys can groove, as their fourth album Z proved in 2005. Their live album Okonokos shows the strength of the band’s live shows, which spontaneously combust. The five-piece is more than solid, and rocks with psychedelic cowboy style.   

The KOTO Doo-Dah is one of the primary fundraisers for Telluride’s beloved public radio station, and with 7,000 tickets offered for this year’s event, Town Park will take on a festival atmosphere.

“It’s huge,” says KOTO Special Events Coordinator Janice Zink. “We’re so excited to have Bob coming back, and I expect it will sell out.”

Saturday night’s KOTO Doo-Dah kicks off at 7 p.m. at Town Park, and you’ll want to be there for every note. It’s Dylan, dude, all day!

While the Dylan concert highlights the busy weekend, there are loads of other great shows taking place, including the extraordinary Kevin Welch, who is the first performer in the inaugural Telluride Americana Music Series tonight at the Telluride Conference Center.

“There’s kind of a niche here, between Bluegrass and Labor Day, where we wanted to do something a little different. We’ll be bringing in a bunch of great singer-songwriters over the next month, and all different kinds of music,” explains organizer Steve Stagner.

Stagner noted that Welch is a fantastic Nashville singer-songwriter and warm entertainer with numerous CDs to his credit, and is part of the Dead Reckoning collective, Nashville’s leading artist-owned label.

“I grew up in Oklahoma, and was a Dylan-head, like everybody else,” says Welch.

“I moved to Nashville as a staff songwriter, mostly as a way to make some dough to raise my kids,” he continued. “I got tired of that, and started making my own records with Warner Brothers in 1990. I quickly realized I didn’t want to be on a major label in Nashville, and started Dead Reckoning.”

The last couple of records Welch has made have been with his pals Kieran Kane and Fat Kaplin, also part of the collective. “The title track to the last CD, ‘Lost John Dean,’ went to number one on the Americana charts, and bumped Springsteen out of that slot. That was pretty cool.”

For this show, Welch says he’ll be on his own. “These days I play a ton of solo shows; it’s a discipline I’ve really gotten into lately.”

Welch adds that he’s been in Telluride before. “I played at the Bluegrass Festival a long time ago, but nobody hipped me to the altitude thing and I made a complete ### out of myself on stage. This time I’m coming up a day early, and I think I can pull it off.”

Welch’s unique mix of folk, blues country and rock is a great way to kick off this new music series and get in the Americana mindset for the weekend, with show time at 8:15 p.m. in Mountain Village.

Downtown, the music scene is about to explode, with local venues stepping up their schedules throughout the big weekend.

Las Montañas is bringing in a couple of great acts, including Boulder’s punchy funk-infusion The Tao Jones tonight. The band features a virtuosic horn section, with the masterful Jake Ball on trumpet and Danny Meyer’s ripping sax work. The horn riffs are complemented by clever guitarist Christian Mockett, plus the powerful rhythm of Zack Scott on drums, who sticks it down hard with the fabulously fat bass grooves of Sean Mahaffey. These guys are making waves along the Front Range and are out on road touring Colorado this summer with their “booty-shaking funk revelation.” Get down and boogie tonight, with the show kicking off at 10 p.m.

Tomorrow night, Las Montañas is pulling in the foot-stomping lead guitarist of Timbuk 3 fame, with Pat MacDonald ready to take the audience on a wild ride following the Dylan show. The songwriter, guitarist and harmonica master mixes up a moody concoction of bluesy swamp boogie with groovy lyrics to take the term “one-man”-band to a whole new level.

“All I use now is my Purgatory Hill Harp and my Cigar Box guitar by John Lowe,” says MacDonald. “It sounds like a guitar, bass and slide all at once. It’s really cool sounding and insanely easy to play… the stomper thing – that’s just a mic on a board, it’s not digital, it’s analog. The way the mic is placed and the kind of board I use makes it a whole percussion thing unto itself.”

MacDonald added that he’s now living in Stugeon Bay, Wisc., “the area where I grew up. Me and my sister organized the Steel Bridge Songfest here, and I spend a lot of my time these days on this thing. It’s now in its third year, and getting bigger, with thousands of people.  It’s a pretty big deal for this small town.”

MacDonald adds that he has a local connection in Telluride, and sometimes it’s a small world. “It’s kind of a long story, but [KOTO stalwarts] Janice [Zink] and Norman [Squier] are longtime friends of mine. They come up to visit Door County every year. They wanted me to do this show, and it kinda worked out that I could come on my way to Austin, where I’m gonna do some recording with James McMurtry.”

MacDonald is a prolific songwriter, having written tunes for such diverse artists as Aerosmith and Cher, and is known for his eclectic work, including the entire acoustic album of Depeche Mode tunes, Strange Love and PM Does DM. His Pat MacDonald Sleeps With His Guitar is a wonderfully gothic compilation, and his new CD, Troubadour of Stomp, finds the amazing player at the top of his form. My guess is that there will be plenty of stomping going on at Las Montañas when the Doo-Dah lets out. The future is looking bright indeed.

Las Montañas also has entertainment during happy hour this weekend, including Telluride’s own Mike Pale doing an acoustic set from 4:30 until 6:30 p.m. this evening. For a great warm-up before the Doo-Dah, check out Eagle and Co. during happy hour Saturday. Chill out on Sunday with The Mike Pale Jazz Trio for brunch at Las Montañas, featuring the “Tres Migueles,” that’s the mah-velous Pale joined by Mike Enriques on bass and Michael Scherr of Fractalia on keys. 

Down the street, get thy booty to Fly Me to the Moon Saloon this weekend, where a couple of great shows are on tap. Tonight, it’s Durango’s versatile Staboola McPet Quintet taking the stage. Birthed from the music department at Fort Lewis College in Durango, the band formed a couple of years ago and has been on a nonstop ride ever since. The five-piece fuses Latin, Afro-Cuban, funk, and blues and has released their debut CD What Now? showcasing their jazz finesse. The group’s unique instrumentation includes vibes and marimba, sax, keys, bass, and percussion, which combine for a delightfully fresh sound. Get a load of these young guns out of Durango tonight.

Saturday night sees the return of the fabulous Harmonious Junk to the Moon, headed up by Damon Wood, the veteran guitarist from the James Brown Band. Wood played with Brown at Town Park for Blues and Brews in 2001, and wowed the crowd at the Moon this spring with Harmonious Junk. These guys jam hard, with their heavy blend of funk, jazz and R&B. Their debut disc, Space Cadet, is a triumph, where old school rock meets modern funk. The lowdown is that this is gonna be a funk throw-down at the Moon Saturday. Check out Harmonious Junk following the Dylan show for some high-octane, funkadelic fun.

Speaking of rocking, it’s not every night that the Buck has live music, but this weekend finds The Hugs ready to rip it up at the Last Dollar Saloon on Saturday night. Look for the local boys to kick it down hard with their edgy, punk-funk style. 

Tonight: Til Willis, Mystic Roots, DJ Harry

Stop by the Brown Dog Pizza Company tonight for Til Willis. The Mississippi native now calls Ouray home, and the young phenom will knock your socks off with his fiery guitar work and excellent songwriting, which is getting him noticed by some big dogs. 

“I did the CD Cindershine last August that I recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis,” says Willis. “Part of the record is solo, and part I did with the guys from the Subdudes.

“We did a few gigs together, and that was pretty cool,” he adds, quite humbly. Willis is on the move, touring Colorado this summer, so be sure to catch him at the Brown Dog this weekend so you can say you knew him when! 

Bubble up and get on down to the Bubble Lounge, where Mystic Roots Band returns for what is sure to be a jamming show tonight. The group won the Los Angeles Music Award for the best Pop/Reggae Album in 2005, and has been on a roll ever since. “The L.A. awards actually recognize bands from all over the country, so we were pretty excited about that,” says Dane Wyman, whom friends and fans know as “Coot.”  “I’m not sure if you heard, but Mystic Roots is now the full-time back-up band for Pato Banton, so we’re touring a lot, and really haven’t been off the road for awhile,” he adds. The band packed the house Wednesday night, and will be back tonight at the Bubble Lounge. 

Catch them while you can before they head off globetrotting with Banton. “We have a lot of fans here, and we shouldn’t let them down,” says Coot. No doubt about that, as Mystic Roots will move you, with their infectious blend of reggae, hip-hop, funk, rock, and ska. Yeah, mon, MRB is a special treat. While you’re there, be sure to grab some O2 at the Bubble Lounge, you’re gonna need it this weekend!

There’s a rager brewing down on Oak Street, when one of Telluride’s favorite sons returns this weekend for what is sure to be a romp at the Noir Bar, with DJ Harry ready to spin dancers into a frenzy until the wee hours. The party kicks off after the Dylan show at the Noir Bar, uh-huh.

Also, catch DJ Darryl on Sunday for Karaoke Night at Tommy’s, and open mic continues on Wednesday evenings with host Andrew Wynne.

The Musician’s Showcase is back on Sunday night at the Fly Me to the Moon Saloon, if you’re still standing by then. The event kicks off at 8 p.m., and is an open mic format for visiting and local players. Stop by and lounge at the Moon, and support live, local music.

Meantime, it’s Dreamtime in Paonia, with a great lineup of music at the festival this weekend, including Fractalia. Check it out at dreamthefuture.org.

Coming up, Hazel Miller rolls in for the Sunset Concert Series in Mountain Village next Wednesday. Lionvibes will be in Telluride next weekend, too. If you need a bluegrass fix, The Del McCoury Band will be in Durango, and the reunion is official, with Leftover Salmon playing Red Rocks next weekend.

Welcome back, Bob, and have a happy doo-dah day.