KSUT – Page 72 – Chris K's Colorado Playlist

Colorado Playlist – S10 EP14 2016

As I sit here thinking about this radio show, I am blown away by the overwhelming opportunity we in Colorado music have to amplify our voices and declare the brilliance of what we have for talent, skill and accomplishment in our state.

This week’s show focused on part of that sense of accomplishment. Ten Colorado bands are headlining Red Rocks this year — something I believe is a first in Red Rocks and Colorado music history. That also does not include the number of Colorado acts, or acts who are part of our history, who are playing in support or are playing on Film On the Rocks (FotR).

FotR, historically, has been the one event on the “rocks” where local bands have played. I got to most of the headliners, and a couple of those who are there in support (Joe Walsh), or at FotR (Megan Burtt).

Last weekend I performed for the first time as a musician at the 8th Annual Fort Collins Music Experiment (FOCOMX8) with my band GOATZ! There were over 250 acts from the region playing in over 25 rooms around the city, and by 1030, when I left on Saturday night, they nearly all had lines outside their doors.

For seven of the past eight years, I’ve seen the “show” from one room – as one of the festival soundguys. To witness the event as another musician, and as a fan, was really special. Thanks to Greta Cornett and Peggy Lyle and their incredible team of volunteers. I see now why so many of my musician friends rave about this event.

Last night I attended the Fort Collins Musician Association Peer Awards. Based on what I heard walking around the room it was the most well attended awards ceremony of the past few years. It was the first one I’d been to in maybe six years.

I have to give it up to new Aggie owner Scott Morrill and his crew – the Aggie felt like a brand new room, and the new sound system is KILLER… excellent sound from FOCOMA soundman of the year – Dean Curtis. Even old owner Scoo Leary who was a presenter mentioned the new sound from stage – class act brother.

Heard around the room – Shaley Scott is working on a new album with a possible September release date. Cary Morin is “feelin’ a whole better” to steal a phrase from a classic Byrds tune, after being laid up recently with major health issues.

The Colorado Blues Society held their IBC (International Blues Challenge) finals at the Buffalo Rose on Sunday. The John Weeks Band won the band competition with A.J. Fullerton taking the solo/duo category. Both will take the trip to Memphis next January. Congrats to everyone – and a shout out to Kyle Deibler for his incredible efforts in keeping all of this going.

SPOKESBUZZ announced its new lineup of incubator bands. Congratulations to Altas, Holly Lovell, Last Call Romance, Moon Frog, One Flew West and Silver & Gold … follow band links to learn more.

REVIEW – TOGETHER – CARY MORIN

Cary Morin is by far one one of the most awarded and celebrated solo artists on the Front Range – winning two CBS solo/blues awards and a FOCOMA Peer Award. His new album “Together” is currently the #1 most played at KRFC Fort Collins.

“Together” shows Cary spinning off some of the blues he’s shown the past couple of solo releases, as well the more Americana influenced work with Young Ancients, and reaching into his singer-songwriter roots; displaying yet one more facet of his skill at storytelling, and creating meaningful emotion. In a brief conversation, Cary expressed his desire to get back to some of his roots musically – but for as long as I’ve known him, his roots are far deeper than anything most of us can imagine.

There’s more country-folk here than we’ve heard in previous releases. Far more folk, both musically and lyrically .. and that’s not to say there isn’t any blues on this disc … “Prisoner” is the prime example – leading off with the line “I had to leave the place where I was born. I had to to travel, I didn’t know where I was going.”

I can’t imagine not liking something Cary puts out — this time there’s just more of Cary to like. A superior finger picking guitarist, with stories to tell, just doesn’t need a band to make it work. The rest of us who try can only drool in envy.

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 AUG 7 @4PM w/ GOATZ!, the Liz Barnez Band and more.

VIDEO PICK OF THE WEEK

MONDAY MORNING MUSIC MEETING

I conceived of this idea a way for you to discover some of the new music I played on the show, and to give you the chance to let me know which of the tracks you like, and think I should keep in rotation.

If artists/bands rally their troops to vote for them, it undermines the intent of what I had hoped to achieve. I appreciate the site traffic but not at the expense of hearing what the show listeners really do like – or not. So while I encourage sharing, please remember the intent of this poll.

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.

HOUR 1

Reed Foehl “When It Comes Around” from Spark (2004)
(D) Darryl Purpose “Hours in a Day” from Still The Birds (2016)
Jeff Finlin “American Dream #109” from Epinonymous (2004)
Dressy Bessy “Anyone can see” from Holler and Stomp (2008)
(D) Whippoorwill “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” from Good to Be Around (2016)
Mollie O’Brien “When I’m gone” from Things I Gave Away (2000)
Instant Empire “Dead Air” from Lamplight Lost (2015)
Yo, Flaco! “Rent (f. Ron Miles)” from The Skinny (2004)
(D) James and The Devil “Flight of the Moth” from Show Me Everything (2016)

Railsplitters “Tilt-a-whirl” from The Faster It Goes (2015)
No Fences “Big & Rich” from No Fences (2015)
County Road X “The Milk Princess” from From Seed to Stem (2004)

HOUR 2 – BANDS PLAYING RED ROCKS 2016

Joe Walsh “Rocky Mountain Way” from The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get (1973)
The Lumineers “Cleopatra” from Cleopatra (2016)
Elephant Revival “Peace Tonight” from Petals (2016)
Devotchka “100 Lovers” from 100 Lovers (2011)
Big Head Todd & The Monsters “Josephina” from Live at Red Rocks 2015 (2015)
Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats “S.O.B” from Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats (2015)
Big Gigantic “The Little Things (feat. Angela McCluskey)” [single] (2016)
String Cheese Incident “Outside and Inside” from Outside Inside (2001)
The Motet “Like We Own It” from The Motet (2014)
Megan Burtt “Fast as I Go” from The Bargain (2015)
Ben Haugland “Birds of a Feather” from A Million Dreams (2015)

Colorado Playlist S10 EP13 2016

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.