Welcome to the 13th Annual Colorado Playlist Fan/Listener Best of the Year; the “best” of #COMUSIC / #coloradomusic as voted on by Colorado Playlist followers, fans and listeners, and by independent djs at community/public radio stations in Colorado I pulls spins from weekly.
LISTENER/FAN FAVORITE ALBUM OF 2022
Water From the Stone lands at #11 in the 2022 Colorado Top 50 Airplay chart. Fans voted in the album just under the wire, nudging out close runner up Mike Clark & the Sugar Sounds Moon Rock. Enjoy Erik – your fans love this album, and the other category you earned FAN Favorite in.
LISTENER/FAN FAVORITE SONGS OF 2022
AMERICANA/ALT-COUNTRY – Ryan Chrys & the Rough Cuts – Seein’ You Tonight (feat. Lauren Michaels) – If you’re experiencing a bit of deja vu I don’t blame you. Ryan’s band filled this space last year, with a song that Ryan sang on. This year, it’s a song that Lauren sings on. The album landed at #38 in the 2022 Colorado TOP 50 Airplay chart And of course, their fans are rabid, with a capital “R.”
BLUEGRASS – Yonder Mountain String Band – Into the Fire – One of two Colorado based bluegrass bands up for a Grammy Award this year, but only one can win. Good luck YMSB, and congrats for Fan/Listener Favorite for Bluegrass Song of the Year. Colorado community radio djs loved you too – Get Yourself Outside landed at #7 in the 2022 Colorado Music Airplay chart.
COVER/REMAKE – Big Head Todd & the Monsters – Thumbelina … Their biggest and most popular hits over the past few years have been their covers. Happy Hollydaze – Look for a new studio album early in 2023. In the meantime, covering the Pretenders turned out pretty good -it’s the #1 fan/listener favorite cover.
DEBUT – Violet Pilot – Lazy Lions … Fort Collins’ based singer-songwriter Michael Kirkpatrick is well known for being a traveling troubadour, visiting Alaska regularly, and as a winner of the Telluride Troubadour Award. The band formed during the COVID shutdowns, when they worked to perfect their sound and record their fan favorite debut.
DUO/BAND VOCAL PERFORMANCE – Euforquestra – Show Me the Way – this Papa Wembe song could easily have been in the Cover/Remake category. The instrumental performance features Congolese jazz pianist Tyson Meya. The album took over the #1 spot on the monthly TOP 30 in November, and landed just behind the Lumineers and Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats at #4 on the 2022 TOP 50 Colorado Airplay.
EDM/ELECTRONIC – Big Gigantic x GRiZ – Open Your Mind – Long time collaborators and two of Colorado’s most popular EDM projects reunite for this track from Big Gigantic’s Brighter Future 2, racking up almost three million plays on Spotify.
FOLK/SINGER-SONGWRITER – Erik Lunde – Lonesome Traveler It’s said that everyone has one song in them. Not a prolific recording artist, if this was Erik’s one song, I’d take it. Seems Erik’s fans thought so too, giving this song a 2:1 edge in voting. Erik also got love at radio, with Water From A Stone landing at #11 in the Colorado TOP 50 Airplay chart.
FUNK/SOUL/HIP-HOP – Adiel Mitchell – Focus on Me – He’s a commercial actor, choreographer and singer-songwriter for whom dance was his original passion in life, not music. This is Adiel’s first Colorado Playlist Fan/Listener Favorite pick.
HE/HIS VOCAL PERFORMANCE – 2 way tie! Well, this is a first. Clay Rose (Gasoline Lollipops) and A.J. Fullerton fans raced to outdo each other in the He/His Vocal Performance category for two songs that helped to define the sound of Colorado in 2022. On the strength of the single, Midnight Dance, the Gasoline Lollipops album Nightmares came in at #19 on the Colorado TOP 50 Airplay chart. Two of A.J. Fullerton‘s other releases also charted.
POP SONG – Cody Qualls – Good Vibes … formerly with FACE Vocal Band, Cody opens up his solo career with a straight out of the box feel good summer lovin’ pop anthem about .. well .. good vibes and feelin’ fine. He’s got a mighty fine fanbase that sells out shows and voted this song to the top as the Fan/Listener Favorite Pop Song of 2022.
ROCK SONG – Elektric Animals – Come Clean. The band dropped their debut EP Channels last May and it quickly became a fan/listener favorite with Come Clean leading the way at radio, coming in at #21 in the 2022 Colorado TOP 50 Airplay chart.
SHE/HER VOCAL PERFORMANCE – Mojomama – We Are One .. Longmont’s Jessica Rogalski has become one of the scene’s most popular blues-rock and r&b vocalists. The album, We Are One, has been one of the top releases on Roots Music Report’s TOP 50 Colorado Album Chart in 2022. We Are One landed at #33 on the 2022 Colorado Top 50 Airplay chart.
Chris K's Colorado Playlist 