The Mountain-Ear Podcast

At around the age of eight years old, Will Whalen started playing around on his grandma’s upright organ and found that he really enjoyed it. Eventually, his family got him a plastic keyboard, which he would play on for hours. He learned how to play some of his favorite songs by ear, including music from video game soundtracks and contemporary radio-play songs. Whalen moved to Grand Junction in 200...

Today, we talk with Kelsey Simpkins of the Regional Air Quality Council about how you can help moderate ground-level ozone levels and improve the air quality in your community! For more information, text “BetterAirCO” to 21000 to sign up for ozone alerts and be sure to head to SimpleStepsBetterAir.org. Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record  Better off D...

Guitarist and songwriter Noah Gose started playing piano with his siblings at a young age, and he was the only sibling who gravitated toward music. He taught himself how to play guitar after finding his father’s guitar under a bed. He has a wide-ranging musical taste, listening to artists from John Prine to Radiohead and Weezer. Violin player Chloe Gose grew up with a musical mother and brother, t...

James Moors and Kort McCumber first met each other in Lyons, Colorado, at the Rocky Mountain Folk Fest in 2005. Both of them were touring solo at the time, but as their friendship developed, so did their camaraderie as a duo. When McCumber didn’t have any gigs, he would play mandolin and sing harmony with Moors, and the duo grew organically from there. Their first self-titled album came out in 200...

As described on KGNU: The 4th of July Barn dance is "7 hours of music including Rapidgrass; a special ensemble with Dango Rose and Bridget Law of Elephant Revival with Silas Herman and Marty O’Reilly; The Sweet Lillies; NoGo Gilbillies; Windy Pines, [and] Finn O’Sullivan. Plus artist booths, food trucks, and kids’ activities." Be sure to stop by when doors open at 1:30 on Thursday, July...

 From an early age, Harry Tuft was involved in piano and clarinet lessons. Through a summer camp counselor, he learned about the ukulele and became interested in playing that instrument. From there, he moved to a baritone ukulele, and then a six-string guitar. His father loved classical music and opera and would often play traditional classical during dinner. After dinner, Tuft would listen to the...

Ella Wren Running-rabbit grew up in a musical household. Coming from a Native American background, her mother played the piano and her father played the bass, and she had a little wind-up radio through which she would listen to any local artists she could. She started playing piano herself, with her mom beginning to teach her and her neighbor teaching her how to build a chord from three separate n...

 On Saturday, June 15, 2024, The Very Nice Brewing Company opened their second location in the Peak to Peak region. The new brewery is located at 180 Jankowski Drive, in mid-Gilpin County. Jeff and Susan Green are excited about the new location and spent the weekend meeting new beer enthusiasts. Jeff said, “Although exhausted from the undertaking, it is the best kind of exhausted. Also, the smiles...

Mathew “Matty” Graziano has been slowly building a band for a long time, with a consistent lineup cementing around 2017/2018. Currently, the band consists of Graziano as the lead singer and songwriter, Josh Wexler as the flute player, Pat Keenan on the acoustic guitar, DJ Jenkins on the bass, and Roots Music Project General Manager Matt Cottle on the drums. Anywhere from one to five members of the...

Dwayne Haggins primarily plays in Massachusetts and across the East Coast. However, he is coming to Colorado during the month of June 2024 for not one, but two shows! He first became inspired to play the guitar in 2016 after watching Sturgill Simpson appear on Conan O’Brien’s talk show, teaching himself to play and eventually mustering the courage to go to an open mic. After performing at the open...

This week, we bring on Patrice Leblanc to talk about the new Restaurant Passport Program brought to the Peak to Peak by the Chamber of Commerce, as well as Kurt Dargan to talk about the Jamestown Mercantile open mic nights and movie nights! Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record  Better off Dead  here. Support the show Thank you for listening to The Moun...

Sage Cook and Aera Fox have been together for eleven years. Currently, the two have chosen to settle down and farm over touring frequently, with Cook estimating that music takes up only 20% of their average time budget now. Relatively soon after meeting, though, the band WE DREAM DAWN came together purely by chance. When a friend of Cook’s booked him and other friends for a benefit, Cook asked Fox...

The business of Nederland Defensive Arts (NDA) was only founded a few years ago on November 10, 2020. However, its owner, Karl Zaunbrecher, has been interested in martial arts for decades. He has 45 years of training in the arts, including 20 years as an instructor, and teaches a core curriculum of Chon Tu Kwan Hapkido at NDA. Zaunbrecher has “a 5th degree black in Chon Tu Kwan,” is “an ICHF certi...

In 2001, Chris Elliott signed up for a banjo class at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, which happened to be taught by legendary banjo player Alan Munde, and he hasn’t looked back since. After playing in various string bands over the years, such as Spring Creek, Chain Station, and Ragged Union, he had an idea to put the banjo in a specific configuration – a trio that included banjo, percus...

 Over 20 years ago, Dustin Arbuckle and Tom Page met through mutual friends in the Kansas music scene. Around 2005, they started performing bluegrass music as a duo. Page was well-versed in that music, but Arbuckle had grown up in a blues-oriented environment, so the bluegrass style was new to him. The two played together on and off for several years, primarily in Kansas, but around 2012, they wan...

Around 2014 and 2015, Tom Diaz, otherwise known as “Lazer,” auditioned for a few bands and felt that none of them seemed like a good fit for him. He ended up placing an ad publicly and his neighbor, Nick Anthony, also known as “Busker,” responded – neither knew the other played music. They have stuck together since then, becoming the two primary members of Iron Roots. Our theme song is courtesy of...

The 18th annual Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T for short) is making its way around the world. With over 300 shows planned in 14 different countries, the tour features nine films selected for the national tour and six additional Official Tour Selections “available for our independent show hosts to screen in local communities,” adding up to fifteen films. Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter...

Brad Fitch Both of Brad Fitch’s parents were musicians as he grew up. His mom would sit him down and let him listen to kids’ records, and he adored them. He loved analyzing what instruments made which sounds on the records, and he realized early on he had a knack for memorizing lyrics. At the age of six, he was introduced to the treble and bass clefs for the first time during piano lessons. In fif...

Alyssa Medina and Ben Rafferty have been playing together for years now, but it was only about a year ago that they decided to come together and form the duo Violet Breeze. They wanted to be able to play whatever they decided, along with travel to various venues across Colorado and beyond, so they formed a duo. Their name started as an inside joke – after trying to get away with a name that incorp...

Megan (guitar, mandolin, and vocals) and Maddie Cody (guitar, clawhammer banjo, vocals, and primary songwriting) have been joined at the hip as siblings for their entire lives. They started playing guitar together when their dad introduced them to the instrument when Maddie was six and Megan was eight. Soon after, they performed their first show at a local coffee shop, and they’ve been playing eve...

Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record  Better off Dead  here. Support the show Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below. If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact: Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at info@themountainear.com Tyler Hickman, mul...

Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record  Better off Dead  here. Support the show Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below. If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact: Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at info@themountainear.com Tyler Hickman, mul...

Enjoy a story about springtime in the Peak to Peak as told by Maryann Rosen.  Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record  Better off Dead  here. Support the show Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below. If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact: Bar...

 Nederland Middle-Senior High School (NMSHS) has raised the bar of awareness for LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and more) youth by holding the opportunity for students to participate in the National Day of Silence, held on August 12, 2024, organized by Diversity and Spanish Teacher Lori Kinczel. Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. St...

According to many experts, chocolate has a variety of health benefits. Depending on the chocolate, these benefits range from lowering blood pressure to decreasing heart disease and enhancing mood. Chocolate began as a frothy drink and its beans were used as currency in Central America. Thanks to European explorers’ world travels, chocolate became a popular delicacy at court and a staple at various...