Hailing from North Lake Tahoe, Calif., Americana band DEAD WINTER CARPENTERS has built a reputation for pouring their heart and soul into each performance.

It was a double whammy of new record releases at the Great American Music Hall for the Dead Winter Carpenters and The Sam Chase and the Untraditional. Both bands dropped highly anticipated new albums, but welcomed Marty O’Reilly and the Old Soul Orchestra to get the night going.

Hailing from North Lake Tahoe, Calif., Americana band Dead Winter Carpenters has built a reputation for pouring their heart and soul into each performance. In just a few years, they have arrived, wrote Portland Metronome, “at the forefront of a youthful generation trying to redefine what string music is and what it can do.” 

Today’s Rhythms on the Rio opened up with heavy cloud cover, promising rain. That’s not a good sign with an outdoor festival, but these Coloradoans are a hardy lot and will dance to music no matter the condition. For Blake Himert and his sound crew, though, it’s a lot of extra tarping and strategic towel placement, which they already did a bit Friday night. Luckily, what rain we did have was light that came mid-afternoon.

Nestled in the Sierras at the base of Squaw Valley Lodge, Winter Wonder Grass opened its door for the first time on the West Coast to deliver a top notch line up of Bluegrass music. The previously only located in Colorado festival spread its wings to expand to another Grass loving area in Tahoe. Billed as a Beer and Music festival the bill, did not lie. Every major brewer on the West Coast was in attendance from Lagunitas, Tahoe Favorite 50/50, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Green Flash and many, many more!

Summer is coming to a simmer while plans at Hangtown Halloween Ball are just heating up.

If summertime is the only time you make it to a killer music festival, you must not be from Colorado. Us cold-blooded mountain people could care less about below freezing temperatures and blustering blizzards. Live music is the lifeblood of Colorado’s thriving entertainment industry and the people want it all year round. Maybe one year somebody would be brave enough to host a winter camping festival, but for now, we have a few awesome concepts that are making the dead of winter a time to party at desirable festival grounds and see our favorite bands throw down a hootenanny.

While continuing to build upon the buzz from their most recent release, Ain’t It Strange, Dead Winter Carpenters decided to treat fans to a new six-song EP titled, Dirt Nap, available for immediate download without charge.  Eight intensive days of recording sessions pushed Dead Winter Carpenters to new heights, highlighting each band member’s contribution on a wider scale.  The EP is available for free until January 7, 2014 under the ‘Pay What You Want’ model at