When Matthew Mirro received an electronic drum set for Christmas in 1985, he had visions of creating a song for a movie in the vein of Axl F. from Beverly Hills cop.  When the instrument proved to not be his thing, it was no surprise when his younger brother picked up the sticks and ran with them.  “Mikey was just born with it inside him”, Matt says.  “He was a natural.”

This past week, singer, songwriter and multi-faceted bass wizard Andrew Altman of Railroad Earth sat down with the Grateful Web to discuss the debut of his self-titled solo album, produced by JRAD’s Tom Hamilton. The animated conversation also veered into discussion about some of the similarities and differences between upright and electric bass, Railroad Earth’s electrifying performance at Red Rocks this past summer, and Altman’s major musical influences including Phil Lesh and Mike Gordon among many others.

Multifaceted instrumentalist and vocalist Nick Dunbar of Boulder County’s Mountain Standard Time lives and breathes the band on the run mentality. Knowing full well how the music industry is experiencing Kickstarter campaigns and grueling tours to make up for a lack of album sales, Dunbar and the band is striving to stay afloat and find that working balance. Fresh off of a fan-funded studio in which to record, Mountain Standard Time is hitting the Colorado Front Range this weekend with shows in Ft.

GW: This is Dylan Muhlberg of Grateful Web here with Richard Loren. I am thrilled to have the company of one of the rock era’s most pivotal music agents. His new memoir High Notes, recounts his monumental career. His early days in the corporate music world representing such legendary acts as The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and The Chambers Brothers gained him recognition and success in the music business.

GW: How does it feel to be highlighted by such a well-established presence in the music world like NPR?

CB: It's honestly...really crazy. People are always saying "the internet is so powerful," and you know that, but, when we hit NPR, we got easily 30,000 music video views, it just happened, we got 200 likes on Facebook in like an hour. It's just crazy!

GW: You're one of 10 people in the whole year of 2015 that we're gonna be telling our friends about... I mean, does it feel like a dream?

When it comes to modern-day interpretations of the American Songbook that is Grateful Dead, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead is causally setting the bar. With an illustrious thirty years of Dead tunes to choose from, former Furthur drummer Joe Russo and his grateful gang of East Coast friends are reinvigorating songs and arrangements that have been played to a pulp.