Tag: Colorado Music Hall of Fame

Financial Assistance Available for Mental Health and Addiction Counseling for Colorado Musicians and Music Industry Professionals

August 29, 2024

To ensure a vibrant and healthy Colorado music community for generations to come, Colorado Music Hall of Fame (“The Hall”) has added a financial assistance program to its Keep The Beat mental wellness initiative. The Hall has designated $25,000 this year to a mini-grant fund to provide up to $1,000 per person for licensed counseling sessions for eligible Colorado musicians, industry professionals and gig workers.

To help make this program possible, Colorado Music Hall of Fame board co-chair Scott Tobias and his wife, Jane Tobias, made a major gift to the organization. “During the pandemic, it became clear that stakeholders in the music industry needed help beyond jobs during lockdown. They needed access to resources that could provide support for their mental health,” says Tobias. “The pandemic may have ended, but the stress that musicians and others in the industry face have not. These grants are designed to help provide some relief.”

In 2022, Colorado was ranked last of all U.S. states for access to care for adults suffering from mental health, substance abuse and suicidal ideation (State of Mental Health in America, 2022). Although that ranking improved to #38 last year, this statistic means that 55.5% of Colorado’s residents who report having mental illness remain unable to access treatment—most frequently due to lack of insurance coverage or the ability to pay.

With average hourly wages of Colorado musicians and singers ranging from as low as $13.71 to $34.69 (U.S. Bureau of Labor & Statistics, May 2023), many of these professionals are also gig workers—independent contractors who don’t receive employer benefits such as medical insurance.

Keep The Beat, The Hall’s mental wellness initiative, was developed to put renewed focus on today’s music community. By supporting the Colorado music industry with financial assistance and sharing other free and low-cost mental health and recovery resources, The Hall aims to de-stigmatize the issues of mental health and addiction within the music industry and ensure that this state continues to have a thriving music scene well into the future.

To be eligible for the Keep The Beat financial assistance program, you must be a Colorado resident who is a musician, music industry professional and/or gig worker, and have worked in the Colorado music industry for at least five years; are 21 years of age or older; uninsured or under-insured; and having difficulty paying for mental health and/or addiction counseling.

Applications can be found on The Hall’s website at www.cmhof.org/keep-the-beat/financial_assistance/ and will remain open until grant funds are depleted.

Awarded applicants will be referred to a case manager through The Hall’s nonprofit partner, Backline. Case managers will refer individuals to a licensed therapist within Backline’s national network that includes over 120 professionals in Colorado. Backline’s network consists primarily of mental health professionals who have experience with or connection to the music industry, as well as a deep understanding of the unique lifestyle of music touring. Nonprofit partner Sweet Relief Musicians Fund will manage the disbursements from The Hall’s mini-grant fund to the referred therapists as awarded applicants receive treatment.

About Colorado Music Hall of Fame (“The Hall”) www.cmhof.org: Founded in 2011, The Hall is a nonprofit with a mission to celebrate, promote and support Colorado’s music community:

  • Celebrating Colorado music by inducting our state’s music heroes (over 50 to date), hosting music events, sharing music history and, coming soon, unveiling new Hall of Fame exhibits at a central location in downtown Denver;
  • Promoting Colorado as a music destination; and
  • Supporting local musicians and industry professionals with financial assistance and resources for mental health and addiction through its Keep The Beat mental wellness initiative.

About Backline backline.care: Backline is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that connects music industry professionals and their families with mental health and wellness resources. They understand the unique challenges that come with working in this industry, and offer referrals to quality care, providers, financial aid, and wellness services so music industry families can access the help they need to keep making the music happen. On September 13 & 14, 2024 in Denver at the Infinity Park Event Center, Backline will be hosting their 2nd annual clinical workshop, Harmony In Practice. This workshop is specifically designed for mental health and wellness providers, social workers and counselors at all levels of experience and licensure to gain a better working knowledge of how to clinically treat individuals within the music industry.

About Sweet Relief Musicians Fund www.sweetrelief.org: Sweet Relief provides assistance to all types of career musicians & music industry workers who are struggling to make ends meet while facing illness, disability, or age-related problems. Music’s most precious resource — the artist — sometimes needs protection.

CHRIS DANIELS & THE KINGS WITH FREDDI GOWDY “40: BLUES WITH HORNS VOLUME II” A REVIEW

Next to Firefall (1976), Chris Daniels and the Kings (1984) is the longest running band in Colorado with a founding original member.  40 years. Chris’s 20th album. Two Colorado Music Hall of Fame singers, entertainers and songwriters teaming up for their fourth album of funky mayhem since 2010. Freddi Gowdy, one-half of Colorado Music Hall of Fame inductees the Freddi-Henchi Band and the legendary hall of fame musician, music educator and former executive director of Swallow Hill, Chris Daniels.  

The story of the band is best told by Chris in the 24-page booklet that accompanies this 40th year celebration of joy, love for each other and danceable funk and rhythm and blues grooves due for release on August 9th.   

My personal favorites are, in no particular order, the Freddi-Henchi classics I Like Funky Music and I Like Your Shoes, the Sonny Landreth classic Congo Square and the still wonderful duet Stealin’ Candy with fellow Colorado Music Hall of Fame artist, Hazel Miller.  Two other tracks that warrant serious consideration are I Need Some Good Luck Bad on the blues side and Everybody’s a Millionaire on the horn-drenched Cory Wong side of things. 

I guess you could say I’m a bit biased in my praise.  I’ve been a fan of Chris Daniels and the Kings, the Freddi-Henchi Band and Hazel Miller since the 80s.  Chris, Freddi and Hazel have each become great friends in my life over the past twenty plus years now. 

Over the years, Chris and I have done business together with me booking his band and helping him promote every album since “The Spark” and I became a guest lecturer and eventually adjunct faculty at CU Denver thanks to Chris.  I’ve also had the tremendous pleasure of appearing with my band, Goatz!, along with the Kings and Hazel at the legendary Mishawaka Amphitheatre in the Poudre Canyon, outside of Fort Collins, CO.

The music on “40” brought me to tears of joyous memories of dancing to some of the greatest and most loved musical legends our state has ever produced.  Congratulations Chris … what a marvelous and wonderful experience you’ve brought us all. Happy “40.”

Chris “K” Kresge / Rocky Mountain Music Network / The Colorado Playlist 

Join Chris Daniels & the Kings with Freddi Gowdy appearing with the War & Treaty at the 16th Dacono Music and Spirits Festival on AUG 3.
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Colorado Music Hall of Fame Announces 2021 Induction Class

Colorado Music Hall of Fame Announces 2021 Induction Class: The Flatirons Sessions honoring The String Cheese Incident, Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band, Hot Rize and the Fox Theatre  

DENVER, CO (October 21, 2021)— Colorado Music Hall of Fame is pleased to announce its 2021 induction class: The Flatirons Sessions honoring The String Cheese Incident, Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band, Hot Rize and the Fox Theatre.

In an abundance of caution for the bands, crews and concertgoers regarding Covid-19, the Hall is postponing the induction concert and ceremony, originally scheduled for December 6 at the Mission Ballroom, until Spring 2022. The rescheduled date will be announced after the new year.

The members of our 2021 class join almost fifty musicians, bands, music industry professionals, venues and organizations that have been inducted into Colorado Music Hall of Fame since its inception ten years ago.

The Inductees

The String Cheese Incident: Over the past decade, The String Cheese Incident has emerged as one of America’s most significant independent bands. Born in 1993 in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, The String Cheese Incident has since released ten albums, six DVDs and countless live recordings from its relentless tour schedule. The act’s twenty-year history is packed full of surreal experiences, epic moments, groundbreaking involvement and huge accomplishments. Its members have been recognized for their commitment to musical creativity and integrity, their community spirit, their philanthropic endeavors and their innovative approach to the business of music.

Leftover Salmon: For three decades, Leftover Salmon has built an audience through exhilarating live shows, musicianship and an eclectic blend of musical genres. Providing a template for a new generation of string bands, such as fellow inductee Yonder Mountain String Band, Leftover Salmon has been one of Colorado’s most beloved musical exports with its own potent brew of bluegrass, rock and roll, folk, Cajun, soul, zydeco and jazz and blues. Leftover Salmon’s acclaimed new album, Brand New Good Old Days, marks its return to Nashville label Compass Records.

Yonder Mountain String Band: Looking at the scene now, it’s hard to imagine a time when it was unheard-of for bands armed only with acoustic instruments to play sold-out shows at iconic rock clubs and esteemed festivals. Yonder Mountain String Band cultivated a rock-and-roll-inspired bluegrass that would prove to be both inspirational and durable, with 22 appearances in 23 years at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, 18 New Year’s runs, 16 Red Rocks performances and too many shows to count across the state. Credited with inspiring the likes of Billy Strings, Greensky Bluegrass and The Infamous Stringdusters, Yonder Mountain is still as Colorado as it gets.

Hot Rize: Bursting onto the scene in 1978, Hot Rize quickly became the “godfathers” of Colorado’s modern progressive bluegrass movement, inspiring younger bands – including fellow inductees – along the way. The band played at most of the major festivals, produced eight studio albums and three live albums, did countless tours across four continents, and appeared many times on television and radio. Accolades include the International Bluegrass Music Association’s very first Entertainers of the Year award, a Grammy nomination and a four-star album review in Rolling Stone. Hot Rize was also known for incorporating its Western swing alter-ego band, Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers, into performances.   

Fox Theatre: The Fox Theatre, an iconic music venue located on The Hill in Boulder, opened in March 1992 and quickly became a “must-play” venue for some of the best artists of our time. The Fox regularly showcased its fellow inductees early in their careers and still does today. Named by Rolling Stone as one of the top live music clubs in the nation. The Fox has hosted a broad spectrum of world-class artists such as Dave Matthews Band, Willie Nelson, Chance The Rapper, Tyler, The Creator plus Radiohead, Ween, Billy Strings, Phil Lesh Bonnie Raitt, Widespread Panic and Griz.