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Macky Auditorium, an elegant and intimate concert hall on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, is a fine venue for one of the most influential and angelic voices in American music. Emmylou Harris’ forte—interpreting country, pop, and folk songs with a rustic, heartrending beauty—will guide a set list that spans more than 40 years of recording.
Pixies, The Fillmore Auditorium
Monday, November 16, and Tuesday, November 17 | Details | Read more | Listen
The Pixies’ late-’80s album, Doolittle, is an underground rock masterpiece, a shimmering opus of jagged punk fury, tasty pop hooks, and weirdo lyrics that laid the foundation for what became mainstream alt-rock. Longtime fans and giddy neophytes will be floored when the reunited group plays the entire album (plus B-sides) for the LP’s 20th anniversary.
Afro-Punk—a Web site, documentary, and now, a concert tour—asserts that a burgeoning community of African-Americans love and play punk rock, a musical form mainly credited to Caucasian musicians. Slam poet/musician Saul Williams headlines the show, which includes a host of other acts that dig upending expectations of race and genre.
The multi-talented comedian/actor/author/musician put his supercharged banjo chops to good use in his stand-up act back in the day. Now, he’s touring in support of a serious banjo record called The Crow, performing onstage with a traditional bluegrass group, the Steep Canyon Rangers.
The ’90s, alt-radio darlings bring their minimalist lounge rock and speak-sung, deadpan humor to eTown for the first time. This live taping of the Boulder-based, music-and-interview show from National Public Radio also features rock ‘n’ roller Chuck Prophet.
Gil Scott-Heron, The Soiled Dove Underground
Thursday, October 8 | Details | Listen and Watch
One of the godfathers of hip-hop, R&B spoken-wordsmith Gil Scott-Heron’s consciousness-raising street poetry has inspired politically charged M.C.s like Chuck D and Mos Def. Heron, backed by his band, the Amnesia Express, will give an intimate performance at the cozy Soiled Dove Underground.
Monolith Festival, Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13 | Details | Read more
Now in its third year, the Monolith Festival is on its way to establishing Denver as a music fest destination, a la Southern California/Coachella and Chicago/Lollapalooza. This year, the cultivated two-day lineup features headliners The Mars Volta and Yeah Yeah Yeahs along with Colorado indie bands Boulder Acoustic Society and Danielle Ate The Sandwich.
Folks Festival, Planet Bluegrass Ranch Friday, August 14 to Sunday, August 16 | Details | Read more
Planet Bluegrass Ranch’s rocky, picturesque scenery is just right for the acoustic guitars and beautiful vocals of the Folks Fest. This year’s bill spotlights Americana stalwarts like Gillian Welch and jazzy crooners like Rufus Wainwright and Madeleine Peyroux.
Looking for an alternative to the typical First Friday art gathering? Tonight, hometown chamber-pop songsmith Ian Cooke is playing his low-key and infectious tunes at the six-month-old One Eyed Jacks (self-advertised as the “world’s best dive bar”), in a show that is part music, part First Friday art-and-fashion show. The captivating Cooke is a classically trained musician who accompanies his mellifluous, emotive voice with a cello.
The brilliant colors and soulful beats of southern Africa will take over Boulder this weekend, when the touring music gathering known as ZimFest holds its annual party. The three-night Boulder Theater stop features performers like liquid-smooth guitarist Zivanai Masango and Zimbabwean-influenced, American band Panjea (featuring The String Cheese Incident’s Michael Kang). As they tap the mbira (a thumb piano) and stomp their feet, Zimbabwe will feel nearby.
David Byrne has always walked an impressive line between avant-garde and popular appeal. There’s just enough artsy weirdness in his unique meld of gospel, rock, electronic, and world music to make his songs compelling. In his current tour, “David Byrne, Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno,” Byrne taps into that eclectic style as well as his work with experimental musician and producer Eno. Hometown heroes Devotchka (Eastern European music merged with romantic pop balladry) open.
Bonus: To get a feel for Byrne’s tour (and for a laugh), watch him here on the “Colbert Report.”
Tonight, members of New York City dance-punk group The Rapture are laying down a dance mix at Denver’s holy night club, The Church. Which means that the group’s indie fans, renowned for standing mostly still during live shows, will likely be dancing.
Fresh off an appearance at Beta in February, The Rapture’s DJ set at the Church should be hit with rock obsessives who live for obscure cuts as well as fans of hip-hop, house, and other electronic genres. To get a feel for The Rapture’s free-wheelin’ eclecticism, check out its latest release, Tapes, a mix album that features cuts from ’60s soul group The Bar-Kays, rapper Ghostface Killah, techno-jazz collective Galaxy 2 Galaxy, and folkie Richie Havens.
Thu, Jun 11. 9 p.m.
The Church, 1160 Lincoln St., Denver, 303-832-3528
In just a few short years, Lyons-based Spring Creek Bluegrass Band has become one of the most popular traditional bluegrass groups in Colorado. While the pairing of the words “popular” and “traditional” may seem at odds–especially considering the success of New Grass bands that incorporate elements of rock, jazz, and electronic music–Spring Creek conveys infectious, youthful exuberance without straying from bluegrass’ roots. And it plays those roots without coming across like a historical reenactment.
Banjoist Chris Elliott, bassist and fiddler Jessica Smith, guitarist Taylor Sims, and mandolin player Alex Johnstone share vocal duties, pick their instruments with impressive skill, and sing with a whole lot of soul. When the group plays Swallow Hill tonight, it’ll perform tracks from its new album, Way Up on a Mountain.
Spring Creek’s minty fresh LP was released by Rebel Records, a long-standing, Virginia-based bluegrass label that delivers the music of legends like Ralph Stanley. This is a major accomplishment for a Colorado bluegrass band. As the Rebel website points out, Spring Creek is the first band “west of the Mississippi” to be on the storied label.
The Blue Maddies, a five-piece Longmont group featuring KC Groves (founding member of the all-female string band Uncle Earl), will open the show.
Besides Bob Dylan, no popular songwriter can compete with Leonard Cohen’s body of work. Though Dylan has recorded three times as much music as Cohen (33 studio albums to Cohen’s 11), Cohen’s creed is quality over quantity. His somber baritone, literary-bohemian air, and reverence for language have spurred a die-hard following since the late ’60s.
Despite his notoriety, several fans know Cohen best through the covers of his songs. The late Jeff Buckley sang his piece “Hallelujah,” in the ’90s, and Rufus Wainwright performed it for the soundtrack of the blockbuster Shrek in 2001. In I’m Your Man, a 2005 documentary on the songwriter, Wainwright, Nick Cave, Beth Orton, U2 and others also tackled Cohen covers, and in doing so, articulated the singer’s legacy to a new crowd.
Now, at 74, Cohen is re-staking his claim to his work with a world tour (and his first U.S. concerts in 15 years). When he stops at Red Rocks tonight, expect a 3-hour, career-spanning set list. There will be beautiful backing vocals from Sharon Robinson and the Webb sisters, elegant Spanish guitar from Javier Mas, and a graceful and grateful Cohen, who is finally receiving the large-scale recognition he deserves.
Bonus: Cohen’s voice has aged nicely with his songs, and you can get a feel for his band’s sound in these videos.
To some blues listeners, Boulder-based Otis Taylor is considered a jazz legend. And yet his name isn’t always recognizable, despite featured appearances on NPR and the cover of Blues Revue Magazine, as well as regular local performances along the Front Range. But Taylor isn’t a predictable blues guy. He doesn’t participate in the good-time, bar-band blues that have become ubiquitous across the country.
Taylor calls his music “trance blues,” referring to the drone-like quality he yanks from several instruments, including the guitar, banjo, mandolin, and harmonica. His songs are thought-provoking, unearthing the pain and struggle in American life. He’s known for adding unique instrumentation (like the cello) to his blues songs and challenging contemporary conceptions of the genre.
That knack for unpredictability will be on display at Dazzle this week. For a string of four shows over two nights, Taylor will be joined by Denver-based jazz trumpeter Ron Miles and pianist Jason Moran. It should be a compelling collage of American roots from a true home-state hero.
For all the slack today’s hip-hop catches for being lost in a wilderness of commercialism, bad taste, and dried-up ideas, one crucial component is lost: This is supposed to be fun. Really, we’re talking about spinning the best parts of our favorite records and rhyming emphatically over a microphone. Smiling is allowed. Thankfully, Del tha Funkee Homosapien is still around to remind us of that.
In the early ’90s, Del proved too silly, smart, and irreverent for the gangsta rap of his cousin and debut album producer, Ice Cube. Solo, Del made his name with brainy raps featuring hilarious, futuristic lingo, day-to-day ephemera, and tips on bodily hygiene. (more…)
Singer/songwriter Elvis Perkins and his band (who go by Elvis Perkins in Dearland) should fit nicely into two intimate local venues this weekend: the Hi-Dive, Denver’s cozy, PBR-friendly, hipster enclave, and the more classy, up-close-and-personal backroom of the b. side lounge in Boulder.
Perkins’ literate lyrics, nasally voice, harmonica rack ’round the neck, and acoustic strums recall late-’60s/early ’70s countrified folkies. Romantic, waltzy songs like “While You Were Sleeping” (seen here performed on Letterman) and the new single “Shampoo” are accompanied by rustic instrumentation–trombone, stand-up bass, and hand-held percussion–that’s perfect for close quarters.
Friday, May 8, 8 p.m.
Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway, Denver, 720-570-4500
$10, 21+
Saturday, May 9, 9 p.m.
the b. side lounge, 2017 13th St., Boulder, 303-473-9463
I grew up with a not-uncommon aversion to country music. In my midwestern high school, country meant Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, cowboy hats, chewing tobacco, pick-up trucks with Confederate flags stuck to rusted-out bumpers. For a time, I thought all music that featured a twangy singer was like this.
My associations kept that terminally uncool genre at arm’s length. I listened to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Fugees, OutKast–and overdosed on classic rock.
As college and experience opened my world, however, I realized ignoring everything that features steel guitars, twangy voices, fiddles, and cowboy hats is to ignore a major, fascinating chunk of American music. It turns out that if you follow Garth Brooks back a few steps, you get Johnny Cash. Follow him back and you get the Carter Family.
Next thing you know, you’re reading books about toothless hillbillies in turn-of-the-century Appalachia, hard-living blues men in the South, and how they passed around songs that are now sung by Bob Dylan and the White Stripes. (more…)
You may not recognize his name, but you probably know Yann Tiersen’s music. The French multi-instrumentalist composed the lyrical, Old World score for Amélie. Since then, Tiersen has diverged from violin melodies and waltzes. Now touring with an experimental rock group, his sound mimics the gritty euphoria of alt-rockers, and while this new style may jar some fans of Amélie, the musician isn’t completely changed.
When Tiersen plays the Bluebird tomorrow, he’ll combine the snaking sound of an Ondes Martenot organ with charging guitar and drums, reminding listeners of his knack for melody and his composers’ background.
Sign up for 5280's weekly e-newsletters. Want the latest restaurant scoop? The latest happenings around town? Access to exclusive events and deals just for 5280 readers? 
Looking for an alternative to the typical First Friday art gathering? Tonight, hometown chamber-pop songsmith 
David Byrne has always walked an impressive line between avant-garde and popular appeal. There’s just enough artsy weirdness in his unique meld of gospel, rock, electronic, and world music to make his songs compelling. In his current tour, “David Byrne, Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno,” Byrne taps into that eclectic style as well as his work with experimental musician and producer Eno. Hometown heroes Devotchka (Eastern European music merged with romantic pop balladry) open.
Tonight, members of New York City dance-punk group The Rapture are laying down a dance mix at Denver’s holy night club, The Church. Which means that the group’s indie fans, renowned for standing mostly still during live shows, will likely be dancing.
Besides Bob Dylan, no popular songwriter can compete with Leonard Cohen’s body of work. Though Dylan has recorded three times as much music as Cohen (33 studio albums to Cohen’s 11), Cohen’s creed is quality over quantity. His somber baritone, literary-bohemian air, and reverence for language have spurred a die-hard following since the late ’60s.
To some blues listeners, Boulder-based Otis Taylor is considered a jazz legend. And yet his name isn’t always recognizable, despite featured appearances on NPR and the cover of Blues Revue Magazine, as well as regular local performances along the Front Range. But Taylor isn’t a predictable blues guy. He doesn’t participate in the good-time, bar-band blues that have become ubiquitous across the country.
For all the slack today’s hip-hop catches for being lost in a wilderness of commercialism, bad taste, and dried-up ideas, one crucial component is lost: This is supposed to be fun. Really, we’re talking about spinning the best parts of our favorite records and rhyming emphatically over a microphone. Smiling is allowed. Thankfully, Del tha Funkee Homosapien is still around to remind us of that.
You may not recognize his name, but you probably know 