Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Chris K's Colorado Playlist

The Colorado Sound S8|EP44 Nov 2014

A great week as this year’s Colorado Music Hall of Fame class was announced by executive director G. Brown. Congrats to Caribou Ranch, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Manassas, Firefall, and Poco. There is a considerable amount of history among those four acts, each of which contributed something significant to Colorado music history. It will be great for folks from around the world to see and hear what these bands brought to Colorado when they visit Red Rocks over the years to come. G has yet to announce the details of the show, scheduled for Jan 9 at the Paramount Theatre in Denver.

When I spoke with Richie Furay for our Offstage Beyond the Music podcast, he said he’d be a part of it. I’m sure Jock Bartley and Rick Roberts from Firefall will be present, and as well, Kenny Passarelli who did some time with Manassas, and who still lives and produces records here regionally. Jimmy Ibbotson from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band still lives here, so I’m sure he’ll be a part of things also. Beyond that, I have to wonder if we’ll get to see Stephen Stills and Chris Hillman from Manassas or John McEuen or some of the other guys from “the Dirt” band. It’d be a hellova show for us baby boomers for sure if as many living members of the bands as possible were able to participate. Most of those guys are mid to late 60s and older now (Richie is 78) now and were instrumental in our lives in the 60s and 70s.

NEWS & NOTES:

EMAIL OR FACEBOOK?

One of my clients emailed me this week and asked my opinion about promoting a show. He asked which is a better method – email or facebook. What do you think? To add to the complication, an article hit just as I was hitting the publish button that underlies the confusion and lack of ease with which musicians and bands and others of us in the music promote our shows etc. According to an article published Nov 17 in Digital Music News, “Facebook will be reducing the amount of “overly promotional” posts from Pages in newsfeeds starting in 2015. Posts that aren’t paid ads will become less visible if they meet the following criteria:

“Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app
Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context
Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads”

To go with that, “…you can no longer offer incentives to get page likes.”

VIDEO PICK OF THE WEEK

Some friends introduced me to this “new” single from OneRepublic, off their Native album. There’s a story here worth our attention.

OFFSTAGE …BEYOND THE MUSIC

The 3rd installment of my conversation with Reed Foehl. If you’d like to download it go to KUNC or Radio 94.9 Colorado pls. I’m only allowing streaming from here.

PLAYLIST S8|EP44

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

HOUR 1

The Czars “What I Can Do For You” from Uncle Charlie and His Dog Teddy (1970)
Space Team Electra “Saints Are Bleeding” from The Vortex Flower (2001)
(D) The Sound and Color “Tug of War” from The Sound and Color (2015) Jeff Brinkman “Ordinary Day” from Strange (2012)
Drew Schofield “Break It Down” from 150 Million (-1) (2014)
(N) OneRepublic “I Lived” from Native (2013)
The Wild After “Meant for You” from Lesson Learned EP (2014)
(N) Silent Bear “Red Colorado Night” from The Green Lion (2014)
Tennis “Tell Her No” from Tell Her No (2011)
Stella Luce “Rain” from Caldera (2014)
Chemistry Club “Miranda” from Miranda (2014)
Tia Fuller “Ralphie’s Groove” from Angelic Warrior (2012)

HOUR 2

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band “Some of Shelly’s Blues” from Greatest Hits (1990)
Manassas “Colorado” from Manassas (1972)
Firefall “Livin’ Ain’t Livin’” from Firefall (1976)
Poco “When It All Began” from Legacy (1989)
(N) Leftover Salmon “High Country” from High Country (2015)
Big Head Todd & The Monsters “I Get Smooth” from Black Beehive (2014)
John Oates “Stone Cold Love” from Good Road to Follow (2014)
Reed Foehl “When It Comes Around” from Spark (2004)
Dianne Reeves “Endangered Species” from The Best of Dianne Reeves (2000)
Hazel Miller Band “Spider Web” from Coming To You Live…From KUVO (2011)
Jon Wirtz “Country” from Tourist (2013)

The Colorado Sound S8|EP43 2014

To Spotify, or not to Spotify – for that is the question of the age: Whether to be popular and bought and paid for – or unpopular and unpaid – whether to suffer from the loneliness of being among the unheard, or the disdain of the few who hate, hate, hate you for who you are and what they perceive you to be. Yeah, okay … so my Shakespeare is shaky; it’s been 40+ years since I’ve read any. But for those who record today the issue is among the most talked about and debated.

Taylor Swift made news recently when her record label deleted her new album “1989” from Spotify – instead forcing the album into the physical and digital marketplaces, primarily Target and iTunes. Whether this was a good long term business strategy, or simply a shrewd way to force Taylor’s fans to buy instead of stream, it at least excited a conversation about how RECORDING ARTISTS are paid for the work they produce for our enjoyment.

Wait! This ain’t about Colorado music! — Yes. It. Is. This continues to be a conversation that dominates the local artist scene. It’s time we at least start to acknowledge that streaming is in – buying is out. NOT SO FAST, you say? Okay. Which is more popular, iTunes download store or Pandora? Pandora or Spotify? And let’s not forget YouTube, the single most dominant music discovery site in the world.

How many actual physical cds did you buy in 2014? Did you buy those physical cds from a store, or from CDBaby, Amazon, or a band website or at a show? Or did you, like most of us today, simply dial up Spotify or YouTube – places where virtually NO MONEY IS MADE (or so little it may as well be none) for our friends who spend upwards of $12,000 or more to produce a full length album at one of our incredible regional recording studios – or who make investments totalling THOUSANDS to produce records in home studios. This is NOT an inexpensive venture we’re talking about here.

For me it’s about fans BUYING from the merch table at the show. It’s about spending not only the $5 cover (are you kidding me?) – or the $15 on three beers (which the band gets nothing of ) – but about spending $5-$15 on an EP or LP cd at a show – the last real place we’re likely to see any measurable sales for most of our friends in scene.

Christmas is coming up — what do you think — BUY LOCAL – SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC. That is all.

Speaking of Christmas – got wonderful news hours after show production deadline this week that Poco (and I believe Richie Furay separately), Firefall, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Manassas will all be inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame at the Paramount Theater on Friday January 9, 2015. Show details to be announced later this month. Congrats to all of the incredible Colorado musicians past and present who will be a part of that incredible gift.