- Travis McNamara is best known as the banjo player in the band Trout Steak Revival. But the pandemic pushed him into an experimental space -- anything but bluegrass. The result of virtual connections he made with other Colorado artists is "Moon Calendar," an album that's both highly listenable and full of surprises.
- ule recently had something of a musical homecoming. The Denver-born, LA-based singer-songwriter made her first big splash with audiences in 1995 with the queer-themed single "I Kissed a Girl." The last weekend of February, Sobule returned to Denver for a pair of sold-out shows that made her feel right at home, literally! She performed in the house she grew up in. And It all started with a visit to the old Hilltop neighborhood.
- The return of live music is a long time coming for artists like Cousin Curtiss of Montrose. The singer-songwriter just released a new album that was recorded live at the Sherbino Courtyard in Ridgway, Colorado. As always, Curtiss delivers a high energy performance in his signature "root-stomp" style.
- Telluride singer-songwriter Emily Scott Robinson mixes folk and country as she reflects on faith, loss, hope and regret. She just released her third album American Siren. The North Carolina native moved to Colorado for social work, but found her calling as a music artist. “They’re both healing professions,” Robinson said.
- The pandemic took banjo player Chris Pandolfi off the road -- no touring with his bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters. So, holed up in his Denver home studio, Pandolfi managed to pluck a more ambient sound from his rootsy instrument. Pandolfi calls this solo project "Trad Plus Presents Trance Bajo," which plays on a term coined by the late mountain music pioneer, Doc Watson.
- Denver bassist Charlie Burrell celebrated his 101st birthday with a visit to the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2017. Check out Denverite's story on that trip and listen to an excerpt of our Colorado Matters interview with Burrell from 2006 along with Burrell and the Ralph Sharon Trio playing at the Lakeside Amusement Park Jazz Club.
- We remember a celebrated figure in folk and country-music. Nanci Griffith, the Texas-born singer-songwriter known for her crystalline voice and storytelling chops, died in August. She was 68. Griffith's star rose in the late 1980s, including here in Colorado at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Author and historian G. Brown of the Colorado Music Experience, reflects.