Chris K's Colorado Playlist

THE SYMBOLS – CATCHING FIRE

“Catching Fire” is the new 2019 Americana soul, blues, jazz, funk inflected release from Northern Colorado trio The Symbols, with husband and wife duo Jasco (guitar and producer) and Mer Sal (bass and lead vocals) standing front and center. I’ve been waiting for this record since I first privately suggested to Mer Sal some seven or eight years ago that she hadn’t quite found the music that fit her then unaccomplished voice. She has now. “Catching Fire” is the record that sets Mer Sal up among the premier female blue-eyed soul singers in Colorado today.

Jasco and I have known each other since the early 90s when he was in Blind Dog Smokin’ and we played shows together. I’ve always been impressed with Jason’s highly unique voicings and guitar tones. On this album, Jasco’s sparse and inventive lead lines and personally unique guitar tones perfectly complement Mer Sal’s brightly sparkling vocals.

There is exceptional stylistic diversity on this album. “Let’s Be Love” immediately sets the tone with Mer Sal singing “leave your judgement at the door … let’s be love,” hinting at her blues and soul influences. “Shake It,” featuring Alvino Bennett (Stevie Wonder, Kenny Loggins, Robin Trower) as producer and drummer, is an insanely sparse pocket dance floor party with Mer Sal flashing her skills as bassist and singing simply about shaking butt on the dance floor. “Walk Beside Me” lays out a beautiful southern blues-jazz groove that slides into the scat filled mid-century “Soon,” both of which give up ghosts of the great Satchmo (check out the intro guitar line in “Walk Beside Me” that damned near sounds like a muted trumpet).

Produced and recorded by Jasco at his Fort Collins studio The Recordium,”Catching Fire” sets the standard against which all other female fronted Americana blues oriented recordings will be measured in the coming year in Colorado.

CP S12 EP43 2018

Monday Nov 12, 2018

HAPPY VETERANS DAY
NEVER FORGET

As we approach the midway point of November, it seems that site traffic has hit a hard roadblock of sorts. I hope you’ll remember to stop by and check out the new music in the MMMM and vote to KEEP or DELETE.

As this is the time of the year to give thanks – I cannot give enough to the stations and listeners who make this show possible. I would love to meet you … and with that I’ll be appearing with my long time musical partner Chris Jackowski and local teenage fiddle phenom Jackson Earles at Red Truck Beer Company in Fort Collins on NOV 17, and with my full electric band lineup at Oskar Blues Homemade Liquids and Solids in Longmont on NOV 24. I hope you can come by so I can thank you in person for your support.

NEW this week YouTube Colorado Playlist of all the tracks from this week’s episode .. which includes new MMMM tracks from Foxfeather, AMZY, King Eddie, AMZY, Kid Reverie, Joe Johnson, and Tnertle.

Make sure you follow me on Spotify to find out what new artists I might be checking out. This week’s Spotify playlist is short some fine tracks from SUCH, Angie Stevens & the Beautiful Wreck, Zephyr and Alpha Centauri

I found all of this week’s tracks on YouTube – the first CP YouTube weekly playlists. Pls let me know what you think.

At Bohemian Foundation, our focus is on building community …by coming together to create and enjoy music.

VIDEO PICK OF THE WEEK

Speaking of Zephyr — very very happy that they along with original lead guitarist Tommy Bolin will be inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame in 2019.

Also being inducted is the truly legendary Freddie-Henchi Band. Both Zephyr and the Freddi-Henchi Band were signed early on their careers in the late 60s, but wound up being more regionally famous as time went on; Zephyr until Candy’s death in 1984, and the FHB until the mid to late 80s when various life issues (drugs, booze, etc) decimated the band.

FHB would re-emerge in the mid 90s for a brief run. Freddi “Love” Gowdy appears with Chris Daniels & the Kings featuring Freddi Gowdy today.

105.5 The Colorado Sound & the Colorado Playlist Present:

Brent Cowles w/ special guests Strange Americans at the Bluebird Theater (Denver) Fri, Dec 14

Gasoline Lollipops with The Grant Farm at The Fox Theatre (Boulder) New Years Eve, Monday, Dec 31

Slim Cessna’s Auto Club – 3 nights! – Dec 28, 29, 31 – Globe Hall

Trout Steak Revival 2 shows…
Fri, Nov 30 at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom (Denver)
Sat, Dec 1 at the Aggie Theatre (Fort Collins)

The Railbenders at The Bluebird Theater (Denver), Friday, Dec 21

MONDAY MORNING MUSIC MEETING

What you’ll find below are new songs on the show this week … listen and let me know which ones you think I should keep in the Colorado Playlist, and which I should delete.

NOTE: In order to be included in the MMMM poll, the band/artist must have an embeddable file on Soundcloud, BandCamp, Reverbnation, Spotify or YouTube.

PLAYLIST S12 EP43

(D) = debut of lp, ep or single
(N) = new cut from previously debuted lp or ep

HOUR 1

Dan Fogelberg “As the Raven Flies” from Souvenirs (1974)
(D) Foxfeather “Come and Get Me” (2019)

Pint & A Half “Drive Drive Drive” from Boomtown Ghosts (2017)
Otis Taylor “Huckleberry Blues” from My World Is Gone (2013)
(D) King Eddie “Enter the Man” from Holographic Universe (2018)

Drunken Hearts “Broken Things” from The Prize (2018)
Big Head Todd & The Monsters “Imaginary Ships” from Crimes of Passion (2004)
Mollie O’Brien & Rich Moore “Losers” from Saints & Sinners (2010)
(D) Tempa & Naor Project “Let Go” from Embers (2019)
Arthur Lee Land “Cracked Open” from Cracked Open (2013)
Pandas & People “Find you” from Out to Sea (2017)
Fred Hess “Norman’s Gold” from Single Moment (2008)

HOUR 2

Alpha Centauri “One Night at a Time” from Alpha Centauri (1977)
(D) AMZY “Feet On the Ground” (2018)

Brent Cowles “Lift Me Up (Leave Me Here)” from Cold Times (2017)
Such “You (Icytat Vocal Mix)” from You (2016)
(N) Kid Reverie “News” from Kid Reverie (2018)

Wood Brothers “Laughin’ or Cryin’” from One Drop of Truth (2018)
Angie Stevens & the Beautiful Wreck “Queen of This Mess” from Queen of This Mess (2009)
Subdudes “Morning Glory” from Miracle Mule (2007)
Oxeye Daisy “Where Your Mind Goes” from Oxeye Daisy (2018)
(N) Joe Johnson “Interstate Lovesick Song” from Morgantown (2018)

Andy Palmer “The Switch” from The Switch (2017)
My Body Sings Electric “Oceancrest” from Part 1: the Night Ends (2014)
(D) Tnertle “Apollo’s Outpost” from Burning Down the Sun (2019)

CP S12 EP42 2018

Monday Nov 5, 2018 – It’s pretty rare that jazz gets featured in the MMMM (Monday Morning Music Meeting) – but this week there are two cuts – one from Jason Klobnak and one from Keith Oxman, who shockingly in this era has no social media or web presence but whose new album is on Spotify.

There were a few cuts not available for this week’s Spotify playlist – so this one runs 1 hour 19 mins. Enjoy

COMING SOON! New Brent Loveday & the Dirty Dollars will show up in EP44 of the show. If you don’t know who Brent Loveday is – look up Reno Divorce. The new album took several years for Brent to put together, and is one that dives into his alt-country-rock voice.