The Front Range in Colorado has had a long lasting love affair with bluegrass. Something speaks so truly to the mountain-base dwellers that it could be the most active genre of music performed in much of the area.

Liam Finn released his second album, FOMO on June 21^st, a full three years after his breakout solo album, I’ll Be Lightning. One thing is for sure – though the album title is less obviously evocative, Liam Finn’s live show, and the new music, continues to electrify.

Pop music since the 2000s has gone through interesting evolutions and continues as a topic of focus. So many styles and genres have been amalgamated and fused together. It seems as if modern pop seeks to embrace non-style or attaining something off-blues. The trend almost seems be a sound that denies roots and style, as if that would make it more interesting inherently through its disobedience of definition. In light of this goofy paradox, artists that reach out to roots seem to captivate my interest more so.

Upon walking into Music Hall of Williamsburg, it was easy to tell what kind of audience this venue attracted. It was a veritable sea of flannel, with thick-rimmed glasses aplenty, and varying amounts of facial hair. These were the hipsters of Brooklyn, all of whom had come flocking, on a Monday night, no less, to see Liam Finn.

Alt-jazz guitar sensation Todd Clouser and his latest ensemble A Love Electric lit up the jazz room at Dazzle in Denver on Wednesday.

Throughout Wilco’s two decades on the scene, the vacillating brain chemistry of frontman Jeff Tweedy has unfailingly fueled the band’s highflying creative trajectory.  Backed by the always vicious electric guitar chops of studio legend Nels Cline, the Chicago band’s 8^th studio LP The Whole Love -self-released on Wilco’s nascent dBpm Records- presents Tweedy at a critical juncture. 

In a classic Zach Deputy move, the one-man-band touring machine played 4 shows in two days at the Rockwood Music Hall September 13^th and 14^th in New York City. The venue was an intimate bar, with only a slightly raised stage for the artists, and a little dancing room for the listeners.

It is such a gem that the large family of bluegrass music still has the likes of Del McCoury around. And simply declaring that Del is “still around” is a gross understatement. More accurately would be acknowledging his linage and persona as being at a career-high peak moment. Not only has classic bluegrass music had resurgence in popularity over the last twenty years, but also many of the oldies of the genre are still hashing out quality work.

This was a night to be excited about. The night was filled with two heavy hitting, classic, amazingly talented bands. I was even thrilled to be going to the Paramount Theater in Denver to see this show because this underrated venue just does not have the caliber shows that it deserves. Every time I go there I am reminded by how magnificent it is. It was the perfect place for these two power houses to take the stage.

The greater Boulder-Denver area is growing as an undeniable mainstay of excellent live music and the culture contained within. We get the likes of the best acts in jazz, rock, jam-band, electronic, and popular music. Something about the devotion and enthusiasm of our crowds keeps bands coming back to this very specific location. Naturally we also have plenty of mainstay bands that grew in popularity out of Boulder-Denver if they weren’t born there to begin with.