THE COLORADO PLAYLIST 2006-2026 – MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS

Roadtrippin through Utah … March 2026

20 SEASONS is a long time to do something. The Colorado Playlist got its start in April 2006 at 88.9 KRFC in Fort Collins. Since then it has been broadcast by over a dozen community based radio stations in our state, covering over 30 FM frequencies in Colorado and Taos, New Mexico.

This week’s show is just some of the musical highlights over the past 20 seasons. I’m sure we can all point to what I didn’t fit in …but there’s only room for about twelve tracks an hour and there have been thousands of releases.

I hope you enjoy this week’s show.

AND WE’RE OFF AGAIN!! – NO POST APRIL 13 and likely not APRIL 20 either, since Claire and I are heading south for a couple of weeks on a nighttime photo expedition (yeah, she’s still filtering through shots from our Bryce trip, LOL).

I’m happy to say that I added spins from the Jazz Oasis in the City, KUVO, this week. It means a lot to see some of our great jazz artists getting some love in the city.

This show has been my passion for 20 years. I am retired now and there are monthly costs associated with the show that honestly stretch my insanely limited retirement income.

The Colorado Playlist is the only program showcasing Colorado music statewide, broadcast by 12 stations covering 30 FM/LPFM frequencies. I make this show available at NO COST to community radio stations in our state. I’d like to keep it going for another couple of years.

Your support is sincerely appreciated.

Please make donations via Venmo at chrisk-2 (preferred) or use the form below (they take a cut). Thank you, sincerely – chrisk

To learn about getting your business heard across thirty FM frequencies and on the Colorado Playlist other assets, please email chriskmusic@gmail.com
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Every week I hope to bring you some of the best of Colorado music from across the decades, and around the state. I also usually share a new landscape photograph by my life-partner, Claire/Clear Vistas Photography.

There is no current website for Claire’s work. If you see a photo you like and would like to have printed, let me know. Email chriskmusic@gmail.com
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The Monday Morning Music Meeting happens courtesy of Starr’s Guitars in Cedaredge, serving the western slope music community since 1998.

Every year I debut approximately two hundred new current-year songs. Every week I have to make decisions about what to keep to play again and what to archive. This is where you come in.

Should I KEEP IT or CUT IT?

Results enter into determining which cuts stay in the library and which cuts might eventually make it to the annual Colorado Playlist Fan & Listener Poll and the “some of the best of the year” show.
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DeVotchKa I Cried Like a Silly Boy – Curse Your Little Heart (2006)
Born In The FloodIf this thing should spill – If this thing should spill (2007)
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Wheel Whimper and Wail – Desire and Dissolving Men (2007)
OneRepublic Apologize – Dreaming Out Loud (2007)
Flobots Handlebars – Fight With Tools (2008)
Lynn Patrick When You Find What You’re Looking For (excerpt)
Chris DanielsBetter Days – Better Days (2012)
ChurchillThe War Within – The War Within EP (2013)
Pretty LightsYellow Bird – A Color Map of the Sun (2013) (radio edit)
The LumineersHo Hey – The Lumineers (2012)
Justin LansingGhost Town (excerpt)
The VelveteersCharmer And The Snake – Nightmare Daydream (2021)
Jobi Riccio Sweet (radio edit) – Whiplash (2023)
Marfa Daisy (2025)
Euforquestra Instant Coffee – Fire (2014)

Rose Hill Drive Cool Cody – Rose Hill Drive (2006)
Gregory Alan Isakov Big Black Car – This Empty Northern Hemisphere (2009)
The Apples In StereoDance Floor – Travellers In Space And Time (2010)
Five Iron FrenzyIt Was a Dark & Stormy Night – Engine of a Million Plots (2013)
Sunsquabi Pangolin (excerpt)
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night SweatsS.O.B. – Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats (2015)
Big GiganticBrighter Future – Brighter Future (2016)
The Motet So High – Totem (2016)
Cary Morin Nobody Gotta Know – Dockside Saints (2020)
Ben Parrish Crankbait (excerpt)
WildermissSupermagical (2020)
Big Head Todd and The Monsters Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl) (2020)
Leftover Salmon Let’s Party About It – Let’s Party About It (2025)
Ron MilesBinder – Rainbow Sign (2020)

STATIONS TRACKED: KAFM (Grand Junction), KBUT (Crested Butte), KDNK (Carbondale), KDUR (Durango), KFFR (Winter Park), KLZR (Westcliff), KOTO (Telluride), KRFC (Fort Collins), KRZA (Alamosa), KSJD (Cortez), KSUT (Ignacio), KUVO (Denver), KVCU (Boulder), KVNF (Paonia), 105.5 The Colorado Sound (Greeley), Indie1023 (Denver)

Spins tracked on Spinitron (except 102.3 and 105.5), designed to benefit community and college radio, and offering search functions to track airplay on over 300 stations around the count.

(D) = debut HOT SPINS
(R) = re-enter HOT SPINS

𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 + 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐎 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 – 60 TITLES TRACKED
(𝐑) 1. Emily Scott RobinsonAppalachia LP Oct-25 (americana)
(D) 2. Jesus Christ Taxi DriverTax the Rich LP Jan-26 (rock, alternative)
(2) 3. MagooWhat A Life LP Oct-25 (jamband)
(𝐃) 4. Bobby Wiens Focus LP Mar-26 (jazz)
(𝐑) 4. The Tammy ShineOk Shine Ok LP Dec-25 (rock, pop, indie)

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News Notes and Spins – November 1, 2011

Sorry this is late this month… I’ve been working hard to complete a home remodeling project I promised Mrs. Goat I’d get done before she returns from a trip Nov 8th (her b-day is Nov 7). I’ll get it done dear, I promise. 😉

Colorado Public Radio’s newest endeavor, OpenAir1340, has launched. It’s not what it was advertised to be, sorry to report. It’s good… it’s just not what any of us may have been expecting when reading all the advance press releases, in which former Radio 1190 general manager/current OpenAir1340 program director Mike Flanagan has said; “…in a given hour you might hear a mixture of rock, country, soul, folk, world, roots, and blues. It’ll be a fun and educational destination, complete with interviews, performances from Open Air’s studio, vinyl classics and much more.” Mike has also stated, “Open Air will provide a comprehensive music experience focusing on new and recent music of the past 15 years with a Colorado perspective.”

Okay, it’s early in the game … perhaps the “rock, country, folk, world, roots, and blues” with “a Colorado perspective” will evolve into the mix. Now, however, what we get is a solid dose of a more polished and sophisticated sounding(i.e. professional/safe) Radio 1190 – complete with all the requisite new indie pop/rock hits… and a smattering of Colorado artists (looks like 2 an hour based on a day’s worth of data, which supports what Mike told me a few weeks ago in an interview).

So far, the crew at OpenAir 1340 has invited in Paper Bird, The Dont’s and Be Carefuls, Candy Claws, Port au Prince, Danielle Ate the Sandwich, and Safe Boating is No Accident. I asked Mike in an email exchange, “anything a bit more mainstream and less “indie” than these?” “Not chet,” he responded.

Mike has smartly assembled a young, good looking team of 20 and 30-somethings from his last days at Radio 1190 (KVCU Boulder). Most notable is morning personality and assistant music director Alisha Sweeney. Alisha is a seasoned on-air personality with 12 years of experience working for stations in Denver, Boulder, Jersey City, N.J. and London, England. She’s also won several awards, including a nod from Westword in 2001 for best radio DJ.

I look forward to receiving the station’s spin charts, hopefully in time for the December News Notes and Spins column. Anyone looking to submit, the music director is Jessi Whitten who served as music director for Radio 1190 for two years, planning daytime music programming, producing content for the web, and screening and reviewing CDs. It’ll be fun to see their spins every month.

Here’s hoping that a public radio outfit the size and scope of Colorado Public Radio, and a group of young indie music hipsters, can create that station that no one else has really dared try yet .. at least not since the old days of KFML (originally on 1390 AM).

Here are the Colorado titles aired (to the best of my ability to sift thru the online playlist generator) on Nov 2.

11:06 PM Don’ts and Be Carefuls – The New World
10:25 PM The Don’ts and Be Carefuls – Old Heart/Young Heart
10:20 PM Paper Bird – By the Wind, Sailor
9:28 PM Wentworth Kersey – Wealth
8:30 PM Bad Weather California – I Don’t Know
7:50 PM Devotchka – Undone
6:47 PM ManCub – Summer Rain
3:27 PM Hot IQs – Firecracker
2:51 PM Devotchka – We’re Leaving
2:21 PM Paper Bird – Windchimes
12:41 PM The Knew – Just Enough
10:52 AM Tennis – Take Me Somewhere
10:23 AM Air Dubai – Soul & Body
9:20 AM Devotchka – Contrabanda
9:17 AM Rose Hill Drive – Baby Doncha Know Your Man
8:15 AM Nathaniel Rateliff – Early Spring Till
7:32 AM Flashbulb Fires – Serious Way
6:29 AM Kal Cahoone – Built the Fire
4:04 AM Porlolo – Rattle, Roam
3:43 AM Nathaniel Rateliff and the Wheel – My Hanging Surrender
2:30 AM Rose Hill Drive – Telepathic
2:01 AM The Knew – Gretna
1:21 AM Hello Kavita – Sunday (It’s A Chrome Tide)
12:52 AM Devotchka – Such a Lovely Thing

KBUT (Crested Butte) checked in this month with this: KBUT is honored and excited to be hosting this year’s Rocky Mountain Community Radio (RMCR) conference on November 8th, 9th & 10th. Radio stations from across Colorado and surrounding states will descend upon Crested Butte for 3 days of seminars, meetings, hobnobbing and one session of KBUT’s infamous BINGO night. Discussions will address opportunities, challenges, fund raising, new technologies, programming ideas and more.  In other news, KBUT was nominated as “Most Adventurous” at this year’s CMJ awards.

TOP 40 ALBUM SPINS – October 2011
(177 titles reported played / 353 titles tracked)
(LM) TM / [date added]
(D) = debut, first time on chart)
(R) = re-entered chart)

(D) 1. Great American Taxi – Paradise Lost (self) Rock [Oct-11]
(1) 2. Spring Creek – Hold On Me (self) Bluegrass [Jul-11]
(2) 3. Finnders & Youngberg – FY5 (self) Bluegrass [Apr-11]
(17) 4. SHEL – When the Dragon Came Down (Moraine Music Group) Folk [Sep-11]
(5) 5. Bare Bones – Bare Bones (self) Americana [Sep-11]
(R) 6. John-Alex Mason – Jook Joint Thunderclap (Naked Jaybird) Blues [Jan-11]
(18) 7. Devotchka – 100 Lovers (Anti) Adult Alternative [Dec-10]
(17) 7. Wendy Woo Band – Austerity (Woomusic) Pop/rock [Jun-11]
(R) 8. The Quiet American – Vol. II (self) Folk [May-11]
(8) 9. Cassie Taylor – Blue (Hypertension) Blues [Aug-11]
(24) 10. Lionel Young Band – On Our Way to Memphis (self) Blues [Aug-11]
(R) 11. Rose Hill Drive – Americana (Slowly and Shirley) Rock [Jul-11]
(D) 11. Stephanie Pauline & Joe Uvegas – When the Smoke Clears (self) Country [Sep-11]
(8) 12. Jim Stranahan – Free For All (Capri Records) Jazz [Apr-11]
(R) 12. The Broken Everlys – Stoned In Juarez (self) Rock [Feb-11]
(15) 13. John Common and Blinding Flashes of Light – Beautiful Empty (Free School) Adult Alternative [re-enter Apr-11]
(7) 14. The Patti Fiasco – The Patti Fiasco (self) Alternative Country Rock [Jul-11]
(D) 15. Ian Cooke – Fortitude (Pop Shop Music) Indie/alternative [Oct-11]
(3) 16. Driftwood Fire – How To Untangle A Heartache (self) Folk [Aug-11]
(R) 17. H2 Big Band – You’re It! (Jazzed Media) Jazz [Jul-11]
(R) 18. Andrew Vogt – Cats Afoot (Drew’s Blues Records) Jazz [Jun-10]
(R) 19. Grant Sabin – The Homesick EP (self) Blues [Jul-11]
(17) 20. Andy Palmer – Sometime Around (self) Adult alternative [Sep-11]
(9) 21. El Toro De La Muerte – Dancer These Days (self) Rock [Aug-11]
(D) 21. Fierce Bad Rabbit – Live and Learn (self) Indie/alternative [Oct-11]
(15) 21. Fierce Bad Rabbit – Spools of Thread (self) Indie/alternative [Sep-10]
(D) 21. Grass It Up – Grass It Up Live (self) Bluegrass [Oct-11]
(D) 21. Mosey West – Vaca Money (self) Rock [Sep-11]
(D) 21. Papa Juke – Out Of The Blues (self) Blues [Oct-11]
(17) 21. Zach Heckendorf – The Cool Down (self) Pop/rock [Jul-11]
(R) 22. Adam Stern – High Country Gentleman (self) Various [Jun-11]
(19) 22. Whiskey Blanket – No Object (self) Hip-Hop/Rap [Dec-10]
(8) 23. Brad Goode – Tight Like This (Delmark) Jazz [Sep-10]
(D) 23. Dubskin – Release From Fear (self) Reggae [Sep-11]
(6) 23. Halden Wofford & the Hi Beams – Sinners & Saints (self) Americana/country [Aug-10]
(R) 23. Slim Cessna’s Auto Club – Unentitled (Alternative Tentacles) Adult alternative [Mar-11]
(D) 24. Andy Monley & the High Horses – Pull (Socket) Rock [Oct-11]
(R) 24. Beats Noir! – 13 Tracks From The Dark Side Of The Beat (self) Hip-Hop [Aug-11]
(R) 24. Bop Skizzum – Beauty Queen (self) Funk/R&B/Soul [Nov-10]
(D) 24. Kathryn Mostow – Rich Girl (self) Folk [Oct-11]
(16) 24. The Hickman-Dalton Gang – Vol II (self) Americana [Jun-11]

Fell Out of Top 40 – October
(4) The Haunted Windchimes – Live at the Western Jubilee
(6) Cary Morin – Sing It Louder
(8) Jami Lunde – Big Black Birds
(8) The Raven and the Writing Desk – Bonedale
(8) The Whiskey Bottles – Ain’t No Crime
(12) 3 Twins Broadband – 3 Twins Broadband
(13) Adam Bodine Trio – Up ‘N Hear
(16) Musketeer Gripweed – Dyin’ Day
(18) Katey Laurel – From Here
(18) My Body Sings Electric – Step Into the Light
(18) Petals of Spain – Lady Luck (single)
(19) Snake Rattle Rattle Snake – Sineater
(20) Jeff Brinkman – To the Bones
(20) Jim McTurnan & The Kids That Killed The Man – Joie De Vivre
(20) Paper Bird – Carry On
(20) Roniit – Roniit
(20) The Dirty Lookers – Audio Voyeur
(21) Kevin Dooley – Moonlight Highway

Added – October
Air Dubai – Day Escape
Andy Monley & the High Horses – Pull
Ashley Raines & the New West Revue – One Trick Mule
Ben Lewis – Blackbeard’s Dream
Big Jim Adam / John Stilwagen – Tippy’s Barn
Colin Stranahan – Anticipation
Common Anomaly – Iridium
Constitution – Wrestling with the Daylight
Fierce Bad Rabbit – Live and Learn
Grass It Up – Grass It Up Live
Great American Taxi – Paradise Lost
Ian Cooke – Fortitude
Inca – Eye of the Storm / Don’t Look Away [single]
Joe Mondragon – “20”
Jon Ridnell – Music Saved My Soul
Jonah Wisneski – Lights
Juno What?! – Late Night Live
Kathryn Mostow – Rich Girl
Lara Ruggles – Out of an Eggshell
Neil Haverstick – Hide and Seek
Papa Juke – Out Of The Blues
Paul Russell – Back at the Scene of Our Beautiful Crime
Read You and Me – Pt. II
Reckless Red – Reckless Red
Seven On Seven – Back When It Was Fun
Sun Red – Breathes Ages
The Anteaters – If the Tele Took Teardrops
The Bimarinal – The Bimarinal
The Fray – Heartbeat [single]

REPORTING STATIONS
No Report this month = KGNU (Boulder), KCSU (Fort Collins), KDNK (Carbondale)

KAFM (Grand Junction)
1. Driftwood Fire – How To Untangle A Heartache
2. Boulder Acoustic Society – Champion of Disaster
3. Big Head Todd & the Monsters – Big Head Blues Club: 100 Years of Robert Johnson
3. Dotsero – Storyhouse
3. Finders and Youngberg – FY5

KBUT (Crested Butte)
1. Spring Creek – Hold On Me
2. Finnders & Youngberg – FY5
2. Grass It Up – Grass It Up – Live
2. Great American Taxi – Paradise Lost
3. Adam Stern – High Country Gentleman

KRCC (Colorado Springs)
1. El Toro De La Muerte – Dancer These Days
2. Ashley Raines & the New West Revue – One Trick Mule
2. Big Head Todd and the Monsters – Big Head Blues Club: 100 Years of Robert Johnson
2. Finnders & Youngberg – FY5
2. Grant Sabin – The Homesick EP

KRFC (Fort Collins)
1. Great American Taxi – Paradise Lost
2. Lionel Young Band – On Our Way to Memphis
3. Fierce Bad Rabbit – Live and Learn
4. Patti Fiasco – Patti Fiasco
5. John-Alex Mason – Jook Joint Thunderclap

KUNC (Greeley)
1. SHEL – When the Dragon Came Down
2. Driftwood Fire – How To Untangle A Heartache
2. Kathryn Mostow – Rich Girl
3. Zach Heckendorf – The Cool Down
4. Justin Roth – Now You Know

KUVO (Denver)
1. Brad Goode – Tight Like This
2. Colin Stranahan – Anticipation
3. Andrew Vogt – Cats Afoot
3. H2 Big Band – You’re It!
3. Hazel Miller Band – Coming to You Live… From KUVO

KVNF (Paonia)
1. Great American Taxi – Paradise Lost
2. Paper Bird – Carry On
2. Spring Creek – Hold On Me
3. Finnders & Youngberg – FY5
3. Halden Wofford & the Hi Beams – Sinners & Saints

The Colorado Sound
1. Andy Palmer – Sometime Around
1. Bare Bones – Bare Bones
1. Great American Taxi – Paradise Lost
2. Andy Monley & the High Horses – Pull
2. Beats Noir! – 13 Tracks From The Dark Side Of The Beat

MISC (inc. specialty shows on KTCL, Radio 1190, KQMT)
1. John Common and Blinding Flashes of Light – Beautiful Empty
1. Take to the Oars – American Volume
2. Air Dubai – Wonder Age
2. Churchill – Happy/Sad
2. Common Anomaly – Iridium