Tag: KCMJ

Colorado Playlist – BEST OF 2016 PT2

15823350_10157928607200133_4133524469462401895_n-1I wish I could name everything I get to play on my show as a BEST OF.  I mean that.  In the TEN years now that I’ve been doing this show, I am still blown away by the greatness of the music that comes from our state.

Let me first of all thank Dani Grant and the folks at the Mishawaka Amphitheater, and the folks at Oskar Blues Fooderies for supporting this show in 2016.  I would not be able to do this if not for them and YOUR financial support.

I also want to thank everyone at 105.5FM, KJAC aka 105.5 The Colorado Sound for welcoming me as part of the family, and taking on my old show name.  Host stations now include KJAC (Northern Front Range), KRFC (Northern Colorado), KDNK (Carbondale/Glenwood Springs), KOTO (Telluride), KSUT (Ignacio/Durango/Pagosa Springs), KZYR (Vail), KCMJ (Colorado Springs) and KLZR (Westcliff)

I started this show, and starting booking and promoting bands here, because I got tied of people saying “how come Colorado (Denver) can’t be like ______ (name your favorite ahem – Seattle – etc)”  I mean, really.  And even to this day members of my own family don’t know that certain high profile national level bands are from here.  I have a lot of work to do still … so expect me on the air for another TEN years — AT LEAST!

Picking the BEST OF is not an especially easy task.  I spend several hours a week just listening to music I receive to play on the show.  I scan radio playlists from around the state.  I scan charts including national and instate – like the Roots Music Report Colorado charts.  I look to see who’s doing what, nationally, regionally and locally.  I listen to my colleagues and peers in the “industry” here in Colorado.  And I listen to the fans of the music.

My true hope is that you’ll discover a new band/artist to fall in love with and claim as a favorite yourself.

Here’s what got played in the BEST OF 2016 show.

The Best of 2016 PLAYLIST

HOUR 1

Rob Drabkin “Someday” [single] (2016)
Coral Creek “Way Back” from Coral Creek (2015)
The Drunken Hearts “Want You Back” from Love & Thirst (2016)
SHEL “You Could Be My Baby” from Just Crazy Enough (2016)
Magic Music “Gandy Dancer” from Magic Music (2016)
Elephant Revival “Petals” from Petals (2016)
OneRepublic “Kids” from Oh My My (2016)
SuCh (Su Charles) “You (Icytat Vocal Mix)” [single] (2016)
Bonnie and The Clydes “Shiny and New” from Dear Somebody (2016)
Big Gigantic “The Little things” from Brighter Future (2016)
Space Orphan “Superphonic” from Shut Up About The Sun (2016)

HOUR 2

The Motet “The Truth” from Totem (2016)
Wheelchair Sports Camp “Mary Had a Little Band” from No Big Deal (2013)
The Fray “Singing Low” from Through the Years: The Best of the Fray (2016)
Lumineers “Ophelia” from Cleopatra (2016)
Other Worlds “Sandfly” from Weather Patterns (2016)
Eros and the Eschaton “Rxx” from Weight of Matter (2016)
Grant Farm “Get in Line” from Kiss The Ground (2016)
FaceMan “Father Time” from Wild and Hunting (2016)
Brent Cowles “Cold Times” from Cold Times (2016)
Paper Bird “To the Light” from Paper Bird (2016)
Big Head Blues Club “Hidden Charms” from Way Down Inside (Songs Of Willie Dixon) (2016)
Ryan A. Fourt “Air Gun (Daisy’s Revenge)” from Big Slick (2016)

TRUSTED EAR SCENE REPORT

Thanks to my friend, and former Westword music editor Dave Herrera for launching TheTrustedEar.com and contributing news and information about the scene to us each week.

 

THE TOP 3 BEST OF …

After anguishing over leaving stuff out that I really liked, and thought deserved being noticed, I decided to present the TOP 3 releases in each category.  Enjoy.  Links go to playable media: YouTube in most cases.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE 2016

This one went back and forth feverishly between Bonnie & the Clydes and The Drunken Hearts, and the final tally made it a finish by single digits … so basically, they were pretty nearly tied when I shut down the poll … All in all, thanks to their fans we enjoyed the most robust People’s Choice Poll in years.  Click on links to get to band website.

Bonnie & the Clydes – Dear Somebody

The Drunken Hearts – Love & Thirst

Faceman – Wild and Hunting 

ALBUM/EP OF THE YEAR

 The Lumineers – Cleopatra  I didn’t like The Lumineers’ Cleopatra when it dropped. In fact, it took me several months of listening to it, and playing it on my show and at 105.5, before I “got it.”  It is a stunning album of really well written folk-rock songs, that stands up well to anything from any prior era.  It went #1 on the Billboard charts.

OneRepublic – Oh My My  Call me a pop music junkie, but when it’s a good as OneRepublic’s Oh My My, I can never overdose.  Easily one of the best collections of addicting pop/rock in recent memory. (edit jan 4) In particular I can’t seem to get enough of A.I. with Peter Gabriel.

Big Head Blues Club – Way Down Inside  Todd Park Mohr and company, appearing as Big Head Blues Club, rip up the music of Willie Dixon, preserving not only the legacy of the original, but imbuing it with solid craftsmanship from some of our best in the Centennial state.  (edit jan 4) Along the way they enlist the aid of Denver’s Erica Brown and a handful of blues legends.

SONG OF THE YEAR

SuCh (Su Charles) – You (Icytat Vocal Mix):  No song this year has had as much of an impact on me as “You.”  SuCh and Icytat won the 2016 All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) for this version of the song.  If you want to catch her live, she’ll be appearing at Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox in Denver on Fri Feb 3.  She is also getting ready to go into the studio to record a new album in 2017.

The Lumineers – Ophelia:  When I first heard this song last winter I thought I was hearing a dropped track from the band’s debut.  It grew on me.  It’s also one of Colorado’s highest charting songs historically, peaking at #1.

Rob Drabkin – Someday:  I’ve been a fan of Rob’s since meeting him at open stages in Denver over a decade ago.  “Someday” is the song we’ve all been waiting for.  It also appears to be his most popular single so far, reaching over 500,000 plays on Spotify.

BLUES ALBUM/EP

Big Head Blues Club – Way Down Inside

Cary Morin – Together

Johnny Johnston – Colorado Blue

COUNTRY ALBUM/EP

David Starr – Love and Sabotage

Bonnie & the Clydes – Dear Somebody

Angie Stevens & the Beautiful Wreck – Beautiful & True

FOLK ALBUM/EP 

The Lumineers – Cleopatra

Elephant Revival – Petals

Gabrielle Louise – If The Static Clears

FUNK/SOUL ALBUM/EP

The Motet – Totem

piKziL – Songs From My Third Life

Hello Dollface – Warrior of Light

JAZZ ALBUM/EP

Space Orphan – Shut Up About the Sun

Ryan A Fourt – Big Slick

Terri Jenkins – From This Moment

ADULT POP/ROCK ABLUM/EP

OneRepublic – Oh My My

Paper Bird – S/T

SHEL – Just Crazy Enough

ROCK/ALTERNATIVE ALBUM/EP

Plum – Light Years Dark Years

Eros and the Eschaton – Weight of Matter

The Blue Rider – Year of the Horse

ROCK/AMERICAN TRAD ALBUM/EP

Faceman – Wild and Hunting

The Drunken Hearts – Love & Thirst

Coral Creek – S/T

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

SuCh (Su Charles) – You

OneRepublic – Wherever I Go

Wheelchair Sports Camp – Mary Had a Little Band

 

 

COLORADO PLAYLIST – BEST OF 2016 PT1

Defining “best of” is not easy.  What makes something the “best of?”

Charles Dickens wrote in A Tale of Two Cities,

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”

It was the worst of times for me this year.  All the good of 2016 is overshadowed by my friend and my wife Pattie passing away on Feb 2.  We knew each other for 18 years, and the people who knew her best, her daughters, insist that she was never happier than the years she spent with me in Colorado.  And of unbelievably far less significance, this blog site took a massive hit in visitors and page views as I took time off and changed the name and url …

It was the best of times for me this year.  I adopted my oldest daughter Shannon, Pattie’s biological daughter, as an adult child, and it was completed four days before my wife, and our daughter’s mom passed away.

It was the best of times for me this year.  “Chris K’s Colorado Playlist” (originally The Colorado Sound) celebrated it’s 10th Anniversary on the air.  Thank you to KRFC (88.9 FM Fort Collins) – that was where the show started in April 2006.

Today the show is on statewide… including Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Durango, Pagosa, Steamboat Springs, Colorado Springs, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, the Wet Mountain Valley and of course along the I25 corridor from Denver to Cheyenne.

It was the best of times for me this year.  A radio station, KJAC, not only adopted my old show name, The Colorado Sound, but hired me on as the Saturday morning 6A-noon on air host, and de factor Colorado music “consultant.”   That station is known as 105.5 The Colorado Sound, and it’s having a big impact on the Northern Front Range music and radio scene.

I can’t thank my friends at 105.5 The Colorado Sound enough for their support in 2016.  They’ve been there through everything I’ve gone through this year.  This year would be much different without their support.

It was the best of times for me this year.  KZYR, The Zephyr in Vail and KCMJ in Colorado Springs joined the Rocky Mountain Music Network LLC network airing both hours of the Colorado Playlist in “prime” times .. The Zephyr on Sunday evenings at 6PM and KCMJ on Saturday afternoons at 3PM.  105.5 The Colorado Sound added the show on Sundays at 10AM (hour 1) and at 10PM (hours 1+2).

It was the best of times for me this year.  Thanks to incredible friends and fans along with Mishawaka Amphitheatre and Oskar Blues Fooderies, I was able to devote myself to promoting Colorado music full time.

It was the best of times for me this year.  I relaunched GOATZ! following my wife’s deathbed wish to both me and our wonderful friend and guitarist Chris Jackowski that we keep playing …and for me to never ever ever put down my guitar again.  That done, we played some incredible shows over the summer…

…including a repeat of our 2015 debut gig at the Mishawaka Amphitheatre and our debut at Bohemian Nights at New West Fest … the first such appearance in my 12 years of being involved with the event.

And, I finally made my way into the studio behind the gentle insistence of my friend Colin Bricker at Mighty Fine Productions in Denver. “Sweet Inspiration” due out in March (?)

Deciding what was the “Best of” as far as recordings are concerned is much more challenging, since beauty or the lack thereof is so personally subjective.  How do we decide?  That coming up in PT2 of the Best of 2016.

… and of far less significance, December’s visitors and page views are the second best in the history of this blog site.

But at least as far as PT 1 goes, it was a pretty bittersweet year.

 

Colorado Playlist S10 EP47 DEC 2017

This is the last post of 2016.  I will not post next Monday, the day after Christmas.  If you haven’t done so yet, pls vote for your favorite albums and eps of 2016 at AND THE NOMINEES ARE! and the TOP 25 Videos of 2016.  

mr-and-mrs-goat-2015Thank you for an incredible 2016.  As you may know, this has been a very bittersweet year in the “house of goat.”  Mrs Goat passed away on Feb 2, just as I sold the name “The Colorado Sound” to 105.5FM KJAC… and subsequently at the same time I was invited to go back on the air as a part time air talent at one of the best “rock” stations I’ve ever had the pleasure of jocking for, 105.5 The Colorado Sound.  I cannot thank my friends at KJAC enough for this incredible opportunity.

I, and some of my closest friends, made a promise to our friend Pattie that the music would not stop… that I would continue to produce this show, and I would continue to play our songs out live… both activities that Pattie helped to forge and support throughout the past seventeen years.  Neither this show nor the band GOATZ! would exist without her involvement and support.  Pattie suffered a massive brain seizure on Dec 23 last year, due to melanoma cancer that metastasized in her brain, stomach and lungs.

The first song I played this week is one she wrote the lyrics for, Once Upon A Snowflake.  She and our grand daughter used to tell the story to each other, and it turned into a song five years ago.   Thanks to our friend John McVey at Coupe Studios (Boulder) for producing it. 

My wish for this season is that you will share some of our incredible LOCAL music with your family and friends, and support the Colorado musicians by purchasing hard physical band merch and music and giving it as gifts.  It’s not too late.  For cds, visit Albums on the Hill in Boulder or Twist and Shout in Denver … two great stores owned and operated by a couple of great guys who love our scene.

oskar-blues-no backgroundOskar Blues Fooderies!  I won’t post again until Jan 2, but I hope you’ll come hang out with me at Oskar Blues Homemade Liquids and Solids in Longmont on New Year’s Eve … Kerry Pastine & the Crime Scene is playing… and if you prefer a bit more twang to your rock and country, check out Halden Wofford & the Hi*Beams at the Original Grill and Brew in Lyons.

IN COLORADO MUSIC HISTORY – Billy Joel

VIDEO PICK OF THE WEEK: 

SPONSORSHIP AVAILABLE

The Colorado Playlist is funded by the contributions of individual donations, and business sponsorship.  Occasionally, a sponsorship opportunity comes up.

Now seeking sponsorship of the “In Colorado Music History” segment of the show.  “In Colorado Music History” airs at the top of each hour of the show.  A segment is also featured each week here.

Entering its 11th year, Chris K’s Colorado Playlist is heard on KJAC (Northern Front Range and Steamboat Springs), KRFC (NoCO), KCMJ (Colorado Springs), KDNK (Carbondale, Aspen, Glenwood Springs, Idaho Springs),KZYR (Vail, Edwards), KOTO (Telluride,Hudson), KSUT (Durango, Pagosa Springs) and KLZR (Westcliffe)

For more sponsorship information, contact me at chriskmusic@gmail.com or call me at (720) 381-6455.

PLAYLIST S10 EP47

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

HOUR 1

Goatz! “Once Upon a Snowflake” [single] (2011)
Firefall “Strange Way” from Elan (1978)
Philip Bailey “Love Is Real” from Love Is Real (2010)
Acoustic Junction “Oh Me Oh My” from Strange Days (2000)
The Yawpers “Doing It Right” from American Man (2015)
Railsplitters “My World” from The Railsplitters (2013)
Great American Taxi “Get No Better” from Reckless Habits (2010)
Andy Thomas’ Dust Heart “Reckless Abandonment” from Reckless Abandonment (2015)
Big Head Todd & The Monsters “Josephina” from Black Beehive (2014)
County Road X “The Milk Princess” from From Seed to Stone (2004)

HOUR 2

Jekylls “First Song About Santa” from A Very Jekylls Christmas EP (2013)
Dan Fogelberg “Phoenix” from Phoenix (1980)
String Cheese Incident “Rosie” from Song In My Head (2015)
Richie Furay “We Were The Dreamers” from Hand In Hand (2015)
Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats “I’ve Been Failing” from Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats (2015)
Dianne Reeves “32 Flavors” from Beautiful Life (2014)
Flobots “Handlebars” from Fight With Tools (2008)
The Motet “Like We Own It” from The Motet (2014)
Lumineers “Big Parade” from The Lumineers (2012)
Ben Markley ~ Clint Ashlock Quintet “The Return” from The Return (2014)

oskar-blues-no backgroundOskar Blues Fooderies!  Sponsor of “IN COLORADO MUSIC HISTORY,” the segment that runs at the top of each hour of the show.  Oskar Blues Fooderies includes the Original Brew and Pubin Lyons, and Homemade Liquids and Solids,CHUBurger,andCyclehops Bike Cantina in Longmont, Hotbox Roasters coffee, and coming soon to Denver (under construction in RiNo and LoDo).

mishawakaThe Mishawaka Amphitheatre is celebrating its 100th Anniversary.  Check out there website for specials, shows and more.

CHECK OUT the website for info on the FALL SERIES happening NOW!

NEW YEARS’ EVE SHOW ANNOUNCED = Shakedown Street

Goatz-Vintage-Logo-FinalGOATZ! News and Shows

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T-Shirts are Available – Message me if you want one.  $15 includes shipping.  Please specify size.  I only accept PayPal and personal checks at this time.