The Collegiate Peaks will come alive with the sound of roots music this summer.
Country star Dierks Bentley, in partnership with Live Nation, will kick off the inaugural Seven Peaks Music Festival, a multi-stage country and bluegrass extravaganza set for Labor Day weekend (Aug. 31-Sept. 2) at the edge of Buena Vista.
Not only will Bentley will play each night of the festival, and make some special guest appearances, but the artist helped curate the three-day lineup. It includes Miranda Lambert, Brothers Osborne, Elle King, Lanco, Del McCoury, Sam Bush and The Cadillac Three, with more artists to be announced in the coming weeks. Bentley hinted that Hot Country Knights, his ’90s-inspired country act, might even make an appearance.
Three-day passes start at $215 and go on sale at 10 a.m. on April 20 at sevenpeaksfestival.com.
Buena Vista is a drive from just about anywhere, which is why Seven Peaks will be a camping and RV-friendly festival. Find info on that here.
Bentley is from Arizona, but his festival’s Colorado locale fits in the context of “The Mountain,” his upcoming studio album, which was inspired by — and written in — the state. When we spoke on the phone in late March, he had just finished a hike in Telluride.
“I love it here,” said Bentley, who spent holidays in Durango when he was growing up. “It’s my favorite state. I always wanted to do something here. If there were anywhere in the world I could launch a festival, it would be Colorado.”
Bentley has visited Buena Vista three times in the last four months, including a trip to shoot the music video for his new single “Woman, Amen.”
For his new album, his ninth, he brought six Nashville songwriters to Studio in the Clouds, a 90-acre recording studio and retreat in Telluride. “I wanted to take this vibe back to Nashville.”
The Seven Peaks Music Festival will be held on Jed Selby’s 240-acre ranch, the same property that hosted Madison House’s Vertex music festival in 2016. Headlined by the Alabama Shakes, ODESZA and the Trey Anastasio Band, the three-day event was tabled after its first yearwhen negotiations with Chaffee County commissioners, who proposed an earlier curfew and tighter sound restrictions in response to resident complaints, cut into the festival’s planning timetable.
In contrast to the debate that dogged Vertex’s permitting process, Seven Peaks’ approval was quiet enough to keep it a surprise until the official announcement April 5.