I got into a nostalgia thing last week and wound up picking 8 tracks from the 90s to lead off each hour of the show — and new music showed up from The Lumineers, Sound of Ceres, Slow Caves, The Haunted Windchimes, and A.J. Fullerton. Samples down below with this week’s playlist and Monday Morning Music Meeting.
This was the first year I attended the Fort Collins Music Experiment (FOCOMX 8) as an artist (Goatz!) and not as one of the sound/production team, or as an emcee. It was an entirely different perspective on things as I moved around town on foot, stopping in various music rooms for a few songs, or some cases an entire 45 minute set – more to observe and enjoy than to actually work.
It was a great pleasure for me and my bandmates Chris Jackowski (lead guitar/vocals), Richard Hartrick (mandolin/fiddle/vocals) and Janeen Bogue (stand-up bass/vocals) to make our inaugural appearance. Can’t say I wasn’t nervous. LOL. Truly.
I spent a lot of time driving I25 this weekend .. and my one constant companion was the new release by Darryl Purpose called “Still the Birds.” Expect this to be a featured disc the next few weeks on the show.
A lot of songs we commoners write lack deep color and tend to be packed with countless cliches. Not so from Darryl, who writes songs as would a novelist, filled with graphically well defined images and feelings and who expresses his stories with a clear, smooth and pleasant voice.
His duet with Eliza Gilkyson, “The Meaning of My Love,” that he claims in his notes is “somewhat of a reverse love song, inspired by Randy Newman-like indirection,” shares subtle similarities with the John Prine & Iris Dement duet “In Spite of Ourselves,” more softly played and articulated emotionally by Darryl and Eliza, with a less comedic approach.
In “When Buddha Smiled At the Elephant,” Darryl and his acclaimed co-writer Paul Zollo, wax poetically on the nature of love, war and art. The song concludes with:
Buddha on his daily walk to take alms for the poor
Came to tame an elephant with love instead of war
The miracle of true love like a constellation shown
Such a force of kindness the world had never known.
Not everything on this album is about love. “Baltimore” is about Edgar Alan Poe. “Shiloh” is about the Civil War. “Hours In A Day” comes from the feeling we get when we’re frustrated at all the things in life we just don’t have the time to deal with …and how it leads to “another postal worker with a gun has gone berserk and started shooting everyone he knows.” The song has the feeling of fatality, that “there aren’t enough hours in a day to keep the emptiness at bay.”
Darryl Purpose is not a commonly well known name as a performer in Colorado. The album is certainly not “local,” except for the fact that Darryl lives here, and does make an occasional appearance. Not only does Eliza Gilkyson make an appearance, the band is made up of Roscoe Beck (Leonard Cohen); Eric Darken (Dixie Chicks, Jimmy Buffet), Joel Guzman (Rickie Lee Jones, Tom Waits) and Daran DeShazo.
When you’re on the highway and you want to escape into tales that are full of color, detail and feeling – and doesn’t jar your already jangled nerves, turn this up, settle back, set your ride on cruise and smile. This is a good one.
Support for Chris K’s Colorado Playlist comes courtesy of The Historic Mishawaka Amphitheatre — Celebrating 100 yrs of music and dancing in the Poudre Canyon.
Presenting: The 10th Anniversary Party of the Colorado Playlist DATE TBA.
VIDEO PICK OF THE WEEK
MONDAY MORNING MUSIC MEETING
I did not conceive of this idea so that it becomes a contest to see which bands can rally their troops to vote in a popularity poll, but rather as a new way for you to discover some new music I played on the show, and give you the chance to let me know which of the tracks you as a listener likes.
If bands rally their troops to vote for them, it undermines the intent of what I had hoped to achieve. Please don’t do it. I appreciate the site traffic but not at the expense of hearing what the show listeners really do like – or not.
What you’ll find below are new songs debuted on the show this week … listen to them again (or for the first time) and let me know which ones you think I should keep in the Colorado Playlist.
COLORADO PLAYLIST S10 EP13
HOUR 1
Acoustic Junction “Build a Road” from Love It For What It Is (1991)
The Apples in Stereo “Ruby” from Her Wallpaper Reverie (1999)
The Christines “In Your Space” from Living At the Bottom of the Sea (1996)
Zuba “3 Keys” from Zuba (1993)
(D) A.J. Fullerton “Ain’t Got Nobody But Me” from A.J. Fullerton (2016)
Kerry Pastine & the Crime Scene “The Other Side” from The Other Side (2015)
(N) Jay Stott “The River Don’t Care” from Dirt & Heartache (2016)
Rob Drabkin “Little Steps” from Little Steps EP (2013)
(D) Sound of Ceres “Ember Age” from Nostalgia for Infinity (2016)
Soundrabbit “September” from Dont Forget to Remember (2016)
Whiskey Blanket “Up up Away” from No Object (2010)
Paa Kow “Uncle Leo” from Ask (2014)
HOUR 2
Big Head Todd & The Monsters “Resignation Superman” from Beautiful World (1997)
Rare Silk “Up from the Skies” from American Eyes (1985)
Chris Daniels & the Kings “Roadhouse Music” from Live Wired! (1995)
Hazel Miller & the Caucasians “Home of the Blues” from Live at the Fox (1995)
(D) Slow Caves “Desert Minded” [single] (2016)
AdrienneO “Barcelona” from Elevation (2016)
(N) The Lumineers “Sleep on the Floor” from Cleopatra (2016)
Leftover Salmon “Sing Up to the Moon” from Aquatic Hitchhiker (2012)
(N) The Haunted Windchimes “Everybody’s Talking” from Rattle Your Bones (2016)
Devotchka “The Clockwise Witness” from A Mad & Faithful Telling (2008)
Yonder Mountain String Band “East Nashville Easter” from Yonder Mountain String Band (2006)
Annie Booth “Wanderlust” from Wanderlust (2014)
Chris K's Colorado Playlist 