“I do sit down to work on songs,” notes slide guitarist Ben Harper, “but really, songs sit me down and say, `It’s time to write.’ When I see something that needs to be written about, I write about it. When I feel something I need to express, music is the…
Since 1986, Niwot-based banjoist and bandleader Pete Wernick has been president of the International Bluegrass Association, located in scenic Owensboro, Kentucky. He’s eminently qualified for the post: He’s been a professional bluegrass musician for more than a quarter-century, and because of his membership in Hot Rize, a Colorado quartet that…
La Musgana, 8 p.m. Friday, February 2, at Cameron Church, is a quartet from Leon, Spain, that specializes in European folk sounds rarely heard in these parts–Castilian, Andalusian, Galician and Murcian styles that are rooted in music brought to Spain by gypsies, Celts, Moors and Basques. That description aside, the…
Colcannon, Sunday, February 4, at the Left Hand Grange Hall in Niwot, makes Celtic folk music of an especially passionate and moving stripe, and this quality has been captured beautifully on the act’s latest recording, The Life of Riley’s Brother. Produced by Tim O’Brien, the disc finds the group (Mick…
Gladhand, Saturday, January 27, at the Mercury Cafe, is made up of five rather modest folks: The closest thing to a boast bassist Mike Brown can come up with after being asked about new and exciting happenings involving the band is, “Well, we’re going to have T-shirts soon.” So you’ll…
Every Wednesday night, Tulagi, one of Boulder’s most venerable rock clubs, gets a new look. Seventies-era furniture supplements its usual decor, as do tapestries and murals enhanced by black lights. The audience is different, too: A visitor might see anyone from Shaggy-bearded hippies to the latest fashion victims of gangsta…
In last year’s made-for-cable movie Tad, Kris Kristofferson portrayed Abraham Lincoln. Given his strong, rough-hewn features, stern mannerisms and deep, raspy voice, the casting was perfect–too perfect, perhaps. After a quarter-century spent on screens big and small, Kristofferson is so readily identifiable as an often-stone-faced actor that a sizable percentage…
Tom Russell, with Nancy Cook, Saturday, January 27, at Swallow Hill Music Hall, is another of those artists who’s discovered that the gap between folk and country is, commercially speaking, a chasm. While Russell’s songs have been successfully covered by artists such as Joe Ely and Nanci Griffith, his own…
Sherri Jackson, with Sweet Water Well, Thursday, January 18, at the Bluebird Theater, doesn’t need much to make her music: a guitar and a couple of backing musicians–plus the occasional throat lozenge–and she’s set. That’s because she’s an incisive lyricist, a dynamic performer (deceptively offhand, thoroughly engaging) and a rapidly…
The annual announcement of nominees for the Grammy awards is usually as lovingly anticipated by people who know and love music as their next proctological examination. Why? Because the performers acknowledged often warrant several years in time-out more than they do statuettes symbolizing their artistic excellence. But this year is…
Several years ago a friend of mine set out to assemble a tape of Elvis Presley songs under the title “Good Elvis/Bad Elvis.” The idea seemed simple: For side A, he planned to compile the finest pieces of Presley; for side B, the worst of the worst–ditties guaranteed to clear…
Upon moving to the Denver area from Washington, D.C., two years ago, vocalist/ composer/keyboardist Rekha Ohal suffered the usual setbacks while establishing herself on the local music scene. But rather than sitting home and feeling sorry for herself, Ohal found another way to exercise her voice: She began teaching a…
Tim O’Brien, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Friday, January 19, at Swallow Hill Music Hall, is a local boy who continues to make his mark beyond this locality: His current press material includes heartfelt testimonials about his abilities by Mary Chapin Carpenter and Lyle Lovett, among other rich and/or famous…
Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks Orange Crate Art (Warner Bros.) Part two of Brian Wilson’s latest comeback can’t help but fall short of the expectations it raises. That’s no surprise: The surviving fragments of Smile, the unreleased 1967 Beach Boys album that marked Wilson’s first collaboration with Parks, don’t…
According to lead singer J.R. Richards, Santa Barbara-based Dishwalla wouldn’t be where it is today without the inspiration of a certain poofy-haired pianist and his dead sister–otherwise known as Richard and Karen Carpenter. “I’m honest to God a real Carpenters fan,” Richards vows. “I grew up listening to my parents’…
On a late December night at the Mercury Cafe, a dozen or so people wander on and off the stage. Some fiddle with various instruments–guitars, horns, hand drums, keyboards. Some chat with those doing the fiddling. And others don’t do much of anything other than soak up the atmosphere or…
Spencer Bohren, Saturday, January 13, at Swallow Hill Music Hall, is a former Fort Collins resident (he now lives in Casper, Wyoming) whose latest album, Present Tense, finds him doing what he’s done for the past quarter-century: paying tribute to American folk music and blues through his intriguing original compositions…
As a result of his late-Sixties recordings and collaborations with onetime Charles Mingus sideman John Handy and vibraphonist Gary Burton, guitarist Jerry Hahn is seen as a springboard for an entire crop of jazz strummers–Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, John Scofield and Bill Frisell among them. But until the release of…
Warren Zevon, Monday, January 15, at the Bluebird Theater, has a sense of humor twisted enough to appreciate the downturn in his commercial fortunes. Appearing on the scene with a self-titled album in 1976, Zevon burned brighter than almost any of his fellow Southern California songwriters: His first four or…
“Everybody in the band has different tastes,” confides Tim Cloherty, singer and chief songwriter for SoHo pop group the Rake’s Progress. “So when we write songs, we just sort of throw all the ingredients together into a big Rake’s Progress casserole and hope for the best.” The final concoction produced…
In the pop-music universe, three years is a long time–but not that long. A megahit album can keep spewing singles for much of that span, and even groups who have achieved more moderate success with their debuts can put off their sophomore efforts for 36 months or so and still…
Bleecker Street, Friday, January 5, at Cheers, is one of those bands that’s easy to overlook; its predominant qualities (reliability, good fellowship, fine musicianship) don’t always grab listeners the way they should. But Ben Stevens, Washboard Chaz and Steve “Porkchop” Sheldon are solid performers, their new CD, Tumblin’ Down (featuring…
