For musicians, there's always been something magical about Nederland.

It could be the spectacular views and rarified mountain air, which have provided inspiration to everyone from Stephen Stills to the String Cheese Incident. It could be that the musical energy that was once concentrated in the nearby Caribou Ranch recording studio — which hosted artists such as Elton John, Billy Joel and Michael Jackson — has spread over the town like a magical fog.

Whatever the cause, there's no denying that the past two decades have seen the growth of a tremendous music scene in Nederland. Inspired by forefathers Hot Rize and Leftover Salmon, the town has birthed a new genre: a fresh fusion of traditional bluegrass, jazz and post-Grateful Dead jam music. Groups like Yonder Mountain String Band, Runaway Truck Ramp and the Tony Furtado Band all live near the area, and Nederland promoter "Michigan Mike" Torpie has turned the Wolf Tongue Brewery into one of Colorado's best jam spots with his weekly Nederland Acid Jazz series.

All of the town's creativity and musical talent reach a pinnacle on Saturday and Aug. 6, with the Nederland Music and Arts Festival (aka NedFest), a two-day event featuring 10 musical acts and two all-star jam sessions, as well as food vendors, beer stands and a variety of artists selling everything from pottery and jewelry to batik and tie-dye. Most of the groups are bluegrass or bluegrass-inspired, though there are jazz and world-beat artists on the bill as well. The idea, Torpie says, is to show how much the scene has grown.

"When I moved to Nederland in 1995, there wasn't too much of a music scene. You had Double Stop, which evolved into Runaway Truck Ramp, you had a few other things, but the scene wasn't really cranking," Torpie says. "The scene was dormant. According to people who have been there a long time, in the '70s there was good energy, good music, people having fun. When I showed up, it had been gone. It's good to see it on the rise again. There's something about the latitude, longitude, altitude and attitude that make it work."

Torpie staged the first NedFest in 1995; the second in 1999. Around 600 music fans showed up each day; this year Torpie expects that number to double. For last year's event, he brought in jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan, but this year's event is largely a local affair. Jordan will return to NedFest, but not as a headliner. He's sitting in with the Nederland Acid Jazz jam on Saturday night. Of the festival's 12 acts, only three — the New Country Kitchen, Ryan Shupe & the Rubberband and ThaMuseMeant — are from outside Colorado.

"People say, 'Who's the headliner?'" Torpie says. "You know what? Everybody at NedFest is a headliner. All these people headline the Fox or the Boulder Theater and bring in big crowds."

Among those headliners is the Yonder Mountain String Band, a 2-year-old quartet specializing in a modern, danceable bluegrass sound fueled by mandolin, banjo, string bass and acoustic guitar. It's a sound the group calls "drive without the drums," and it's taken them from playing for dozens of people in free shows at the Mountain Sun to selling out headlining gigs at the Fox.

"I moved to Nederland because of the music scene," says mandolin player Jeff Austin. "I lived in Illinois, and I couldn't find guys who would commit to playing full time. I helped a friend move to the Boulder area, checked out Nederland and I just freaked. I visited three more times and moved."

Austin, who played NedFest last year with Yonder Mountain, says he can't believe it took this long for Nederland to get an event of this size.

"It sounds weird to say, 'It's about time,' because I've only lived here 2½ years," he says. "But this is a way for all the musicians to get together and celebrate what we do, to celebrate the community of Nederland and Boulder and get everybody psyched about the whole music scene going on. This is local folks showing what it's all about — that we love the scene very much and don't want it to end."

Nor does anyone want NedFest to end. Soon to have two consecutive years as organizer under his belt, Torpie says the future of NedFest is looking good. If things go well, he says, Colorado may have another summer bluegrass festival to look forward to.

"I get on my knees and bow down to Telluride," he says. "The people at Planet Bluegrass are an inspiration to me. I don't want to be like them; I want to do my own thing. But they're the ideal model, the Big Daddy. Telluride Bluegrass Festival has a certain sound, but Nedfest targets a similar but different sound. That's the whole thing about Nedfest, is the bluegrass/jazz blend I love so much. If it got as big as Telluride I'd lose my mind, but I'd welcome it."

WHAT Nederland Music and Arts Festival WHEN: 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Saturday and Aug. 6 (see schedule below) WHERE: Jeff Guerico Memorial Baseball Park, Nederland TICKETS: $20-$25 per day; $35-$45 for a two-day pass CALL: (303) 786-7030

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