We have been cruising the downtown streets, looking at the finest dog collection on the planet, and taking in the rest of the scenery as we get ready for tonight's Telluride Americana Weekend Concert with Sam Baker and Joe Ely.

HaaganWe were out strolling earlier (the altitude here is somewhere upwards of 8,700 feet, and so is best done slowly with lots of pit stops) when we saw an intrepid pizza salesman on a pedi-bike with a hot-box storage bin. "Pizza Makes You Stronger" was his slogan. It is obviously working for him. Don't think it is just us that are wusses in the thin air, the artists all talk about having to pace themselves when they sing, and that if there are a lot of words it could be hard to deliver the song without being out of breath, or turning purple while trying to power through it!

There are a lot of words in this one, but Amanda Shires and Rod Picott seem to do just fine with it. From the stage of the Old Sheridan Opera House comes the incandescent pairing; she from the sun-driven plains of West Texas, and he from the northern mill towns of New England. There are more tour dates on tap, so catch them if they are coming your way.

-Jessie Scott