Among the new attendees were many who behaved badly, starting fights and causing damage; in response, the Town decided to call off the celebration for 1973.

According to the Library of Congress, the 1980 performance was filmed by Boulder public television and two CDs were made available.

There was no festival in 2020. Notable performers have included Tenacious D, Greensky Bluegrass, Tyler Childers, Kacey Musgraves, Johnny Cash, Sam Bush,[3] Elvis Costello, David Byrne, John Fogerty, Bruce Cockburn, Joan Armatrading, Jackson Browne, Jesse Winchester, Levon Helm, Russell Smith, Shawn Colvin, Steve Earle, Darrell Scott, David Crosby/CPR, Linda Ronstadt, Steve Winwood, Chris Daniels & The Kings, Bill Monroe, Nanci Griffith, Mark O'Conner, Dixie Chicks, String Cheese Incident, New Monsoon, Sharon Gilchrist, Railroad Earth, New Grass Revival, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Willie Nelson, Robert Plant, John Prine, Nickel Creek, Yonder Mountain String Band, Mumford & Sons, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, Peter Rowan, Leftover Salmon, Béla Fleck,[7] Chris Thile, Sara Watkins, Noam Pikelny, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Tim O'Brien, Counting Crows, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Hot Rize, the Del McCoury Band, Brandi Carlile, Powder Ridge, Janelle Monae, Dierks Bentley, Norah Jones, Parker Millsap, and Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, to name a few.

The Telluride house band consists of Sam Bush on mandolin, Béla Fleck on banjo, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Jerry Douglas on Dobro, Edgar Meyer on upright Bass, and Bryan Sutton on guitar.

Past winners include: Dan Sadowsky, Telluride's Emcee for twenty nine years as "Pastor Mustard", has written a book about the festival.