35th Telluride Bluegrass Festival Lineup Announced

Lyons, CO (OPENPRESS) December 5, 2007 -- Planet Bluegrass proudly announces the preliminary lineups for the 2008 summer festivals, including the historic 35th Anniversary of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. All 2008 festival tickets go on sale on Wednesday, December 5 at 8am MST, including a limited number of holiday-priced passes for each festival, discounted $30 from the regular price. Tickets will be available online at bluegrass.com or at 800-624-2422. 35th Telluride Bluegrass Festival - June 19-22, 2008 – Telluride, CO http://www.bluegrass.com/telluride * Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby with Kentucky Thunder * Sam Bush Band * Ani DiFranco * Yonder Mountain String Band * John Cowan & Darrell Scott Band * Tim O'Brien * Bela Fleck * Peter Rowan * Jerry Douglas * Edgar Meyer * Brett Dennen * Spring Creek Bluegrass Band * And many more... 36th RockyGrass - July 25-27, 2008 - Lyons, CO http://www.bluegrass.com/rockygrass * Dan Tyminski Band * Natalie MacMaster * Sam Bush Bluegrass Band * Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck with Casey Driessen & Ben Sollee * Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas & Edgar Meyer * JD Crowe & The New South * Psychograss * John Cowan Band * Russ Barenberg & Bryan Sutton * Peter Rowan * Infamous Stringdusters * Chatham County Line * Bearfoot * The Steeldrivers * Spring Creek Bluegrass Band * And many more... 18th Rocky Mountain Folks Festival - August 15-17, 2008 – Lyons, CO http://www.bluegrass.com/folks Greg Brown * The Waifs * Tim O’Brien * Todd Snider * Sarah Sample * And many more... Tickets for the most coveted camping spots at Telluride Bluegrass (Town Park Campground) and RockyGrass (On-site campground) both sold-out in November through an online lottery. Planet Bluegrass received a record number of entries for each of these lotteries. Entries for Telluride Town Park increased over 50% from last year, with entries coming from 47 different US states as well as New Zealand, Norway, Germany, and other countries.

Question: Have you ever go to this festival and if you did was it fun?

Mark Holt - Country Bluegrass

"...you can't peg Mark Holt into a neat little musical category...Mark Holt is a genre unto himself." Autumn Sakai (Talent Buyer, Seattle, Washington)

Mark Holt has been performing acoustic music in a variety of genre's for thirty years. To watch him in cowboy boots, jeans, a mock turtle neck and dress coat, he looks as eclectic as the mix of music he plays.

Mark was enticed to the stage at the age of 12, the Yakima, Washington native joined a music school shortly after. The school put him in a band formed to showcase students and sell lessons to others. The school went under, but the band stayed together. When Holt was a teenager, a talent scout took him under his wing. The man took him backstage at Marty Robbins, Merle Haggard and Ernest Tubb concerts and gave him a bit of advice he would never forget. "He told me you have to be something different' you want people to know it is you when they hear you, you need to sound like yourself, and not like anybody else."

Mark fell in love with Folk & Bluegrass Music, performing at his first festival in 1980. Mark Holt was selected in 1989 as a "Showcase Artist" for the International Bluegrass Music Association's Trade Show & Fan Fest. Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine w/ freelance writer Joe Ross featured Mark in its September 1996 Issue. In January 2007 Mark performed at the prestigious RiverCity Bluegrass Music Festival in Portland, Oregon. " Just to be in the same building with Emmylou Harris was worth the trip to Portland, performng in the Festival lineup was a Bonus".

Mark was asked to perform as a "Showcase Artist" at the 2003 Academy of Western Artist's Expo & Awards Show, which led to being featured in the July 2004 Issue of "American Cowboy" one of largest western lifestyle magazine's in the World. Mark got the opportunity to perform in Las Vegas in 2002 & 2004 for the National Western Art Show & Sale, held during the Wrangler PRCA National Finals Rodeo, "being in Vegas during the NFR is always a thrill, but seeing your name in Marquee Lights over the Las Vegas Strip, that is a professional milestone"

Mark got the chance to show his versatility yet again in July 2007 when asked to participate in an Acoustic Blues/Roots Music Showcase at Seattle's waterfront Highway 99 Blues Club. Inspired by the juke joints of the south, Seattle's Highway 99 Blues Club is an institution on the Northwest Blues Scene.

"I've spent my musical life keeping my feet in multiple genre's of music, partly out of necessity, and partly out of my love and respect of all music's". "I've performed all over the country, and road dogged the rest of it, I hope I can bring my experience's of being a touring artist and knowledge of working in multiple genre's to the RMA." "I would like to thank the Roots Music Association for the opportunity to serve on it's founding board."
www.cdbaby.com/mhkht
www.soundclick.com/markholt