Full Show Audio: Ryan Adams Plays Telluride With Nicki Bluhm & Infamous Stringdusters

Listen to an upgraded recording of Ryan’s Telluride set with Nicki and the ‘Dusters taped by David:

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Singer-songwriter Ryan Adams had a special treat in store for his Saturday afternoon performance at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado back on June 18 as he was joined by jamgrass act The Infamous Stringdusters and vocalist Nicki Bluhm. Three weeks later the first audience recording of the set has surfaced on Archive.org. Ryan focused on material that lent itself best to the acoustic string band format in a preview of his set with the ‘Dusters and Nicki at this year’s Newport Folk Festival.

Adams and his guests opened with “To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)” from Ryan’s 2000 solo debut Heartbreaker. One of the set’s big surprises came soon after when the guitarist dusted off “Pearls On A String” from 2007’s Easy Tiger for the first time since 2008. However there were plenty of other bust outs in store including “Tears Of Gold” (last played in 2007), “Trains” (last played in 2006), “Bartering Lines” (last played in 2011) and “Chin Up, Cheer Up” (last played in 2011). Ryan also worked in a pair of improvised songs, one about blisters and another about holding the peppers as well as rare cover of Dio’s “Holy Diver.”

As mentioned, there’s finally full show audio of the set available on Archive.org thanks to taper KatjaS. Unfortunately plenty of talkers (who would chat during a set like this?) can be heard, but it’s worth bearing through the rude chatters to hear the beautiful music the ensemble made.

In other Ryan Adams news, the singer-songwriter kicked off summer tour on Friday night in Winnipeg. Ryan Adams & The Shining not only debuted a new song titled “Outbound Train,” but the band busted out Cardinals era gem “Halloweenhead” for the first time since January 31, 2008. Here’s the setlists from the first two shows of tour including last night’s gig in Minneapolis: