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.

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.

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.

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.

The Milk Carton Kids’ most recent release is titled “Prologue,” and it is aptly named given that with this recently formed collaboration of Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale, the main event that fans should be waiting for is their vibrant and unexpectedly stirring live show.

The crowd gathers in front of the Wow Hall, a towering white brick building both foreboding, and enticing as it waits to swallow its next victims of pleasure. Inside, the stage stands wait, the instruments poised for the return of their faithful muses.  The door to the Wow Hall opens, and eager fans begin to disperse into the quite building.

How lucky the creators of Aqualung; Ian Anderson, and Martin Barre; came halfway across the world to a 65 Million year old red stone amphitheater in Colorado under a cool early June evening sky, to recreate one of the seminal rock albums in history.