The Mountain-Ear Podcast

Yonder Mountain String Band is celebrating the release of their brand new album Nowhere Next, and The Mountain-Ear is promoting that album in this week's Music of the Mountains! Two of the core band members took their time to go into a deep dive into the band's history, and both interviews were so extensive that the host felt they each deserved their own episodes.  Here's the first...

As a kid, Ben Knighten took piano lessons for a few years, which he considers his first true musical experience. In middle school, he started playing drums, and in high school, he got an acoustic guitar, learning songs on it through high school and college. After his first experimentations with songwriting, he put more time and energy into developing his songwriting and performance skills at open...

Veteran's Day is just around the corner, and for an early celebration of our troops, correspondent Maryann Rosen brings us the history, lore, and various events surrounding the national holiday! 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 cult...

Shaun Garin and Sam Goering are the two founding members of The Alcapones. After Garin moved to Boulder, he and Goering became friends, and one day, they played music together on Garin’s couch. Garin had just started learning the accordion and Goering brought his saxophone.  After the two started busking together on Pearl Street, Goering invited Garin to a jam session with members of a previous ba...

The original airing of this episode on April 5, 2024 contained the wrong interview, so for Halloween 2024, we're trying again! From the April 4, 2024 article: Bass player Jordan Kroeger had already been in a band that had dabbled in bluegrass and jam bands, this initial band being Stealin’ Strings. He already had a professional relationship with mandolin player Ryan Ogburn, and they eventuall...

In preparation for this week's Music of the Mountains episode and column (and to make sure we promote this week's movie at the Backdoor Theater), the host reads a previous article from the column featuring one of this week's bands! 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 Th...

Scott Johnson primarily lives in Boulder with his wife and two kids, but the family also owns a house in New Orleans, located on North Rampart Street.  Over a decade ago, he played a gig and mentioned that he would have loved to learn how to play the sousaphone, as at the time he played upright and electric bass. A trumpet player and friend playing the gig with him said that he would help Johnson...

Ever wonder how Gilpin County was formed in the first place? Mountain Tales correspondent Maryann Rosen brings us back in time to tell us the story of William Gilpin and how the county that took his name came to be! 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, featuri...

For many years, Andrew McConathy worked as a children’s ski instructor at Vail’s Golden Peak, and after enough time had passed, he felt he wanted to find a different way to make a living. He started playing music on the side with two friends of his from the slopes, skiing by day and playing bluegrass together at night. He and Derek Shields had grown up ski-racing together in Vail, attending Middle...

In today's Weekly Wednesday episode, we're centering the spotlight on two local Halloween celebrations coming up very soon! The third and likely final Haunted Stage Stop event opens on October 18th, and Andy Reiner talks to us about that grand finale before Brent Warren promotes his own Halloween magic show as Doc Murdock at Teens Inc. Be sure to tune in for more details! Our theme song...

Exciting events will happen in the Peak to Peak area very soon! In this episode, we focus on two of them as we bring Maryann Yustas onto the podcast to talk about the First Annual Halloween Spooktacular on Central City's Main Street and bring Cari Minor and Ray Smith back for the third time to talk about their upcoming songwriter's showcase at the Very Nice Brewing Company location in Ne...

Christina “Redd” Daugherty focused on open mics for a large part of her performing history but stopped performing as frequently during her approximately decade-long position as a high school English teacher at L&N STEM Academy in Knoxville, Tennessee. After the COVID-19 pandemic, however, she started performing at open mics again.  At these open mics, she met and became friends with Katie Adam...

With October finally here and spooky season just around the corner, The Mountain-Ear Podcast's Maryann Rosen brings you tales of the cemetaries around the Peak to Peak area and the stories that surround the locations and the people that have been laid to rest there. Here's the link to the Eldora event for easier access: https://www.eldora.com/activities-amenities/events/all-events/fall-f...

Brandy Ray vividly remembers the date on which her current primary project, Brandywine and the Mighty Fines, performed live for the first time: March 6, 2020. This is because, a week later, COVID-19 caused the world to shut down. The band could finally kick themselves into gear once regulations were lifted, starting with a handful of gigs and booking more and more as they cemented the lineup. The...

Mollie O’Brien and Rich Moore first met in 1981 and had both been in several bands in the bar scene before then. They had sometimes performed together but hadn’t fully leaned into being a duo. After getting married and having children, they realized it was much harder to perform in the bar scene than it was before. They decided to lean more into performances as a duo in 2006, when their daughters...

As we transition into October, it's time to give a spotlight to an advertising campaign we've been promoting in the podcast for the last couple of months, so here to talk about the Forward Together Campaign is Alisa Witt from Gilpin County Public Health! Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record  Better off Dead  here. Support the show Thank you f...

Nat Lefkoff has been playing music and writing songs since he was around the age of nine – songs which he now considers terrible. For him, music started as a hobby and developed into a passion, and he performed in several bands throughout junior high and high school. He found himself getting more comfortable performing in local bars and other venues, and eventually, he moved to Washington to atten...

For this week's Wednesday episode of The Mountain-Ear Podcast, we hear from artist Marc McClish (a photographer of what he calls "chromascapes") and curator Annie Thayer (who has also focused on painting, particularly landscapes, since 2001) to hear about the upcoming opening ceremony for the Arts at the center event at the Nederland Community Center!  Our theme song is courtesy of...

In 1999, Amy and Randy McIntosh co-founded an organization of their own to continue teaching music from the African diaspora. They called it Kutandara, a Zimbabwe term meaning “to come together and have fun.” The two have now fully cemented their roles in the organization – Amy as the executive director, Randy as the artistic director, and both as instructors. After Randy had been denied opportuni...

On this week's Monday edition of The Mountain-Ear Podcast, we hear from Maryann Rosen about why it's important historically and currently to cast your ballot, especially with the national elections coming up in just over a month!  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...

The Nederland Community Library has been hosting the photographs of Serene Karplus since the beginning of July, but on October 1st, that display will be coming down. To celebrate the closing of the display, Serene will be hosting an artist reception in the Nederland Community Library's brand-new Reading Garden. This will be immediately followed by a concert from a performing trio from the Bou...

Coming soon to the Gregory Plaza in Black Hawk is a performance by opera/musical theater performers Jonathan Hays and Jennifer DeDominici! Learn more about their background and the upcoming performance by listening to this Monday's episode!  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 Th...

Over a decade ago, Eric Halborg and Cole Rudy met as part of the Denver indie music scene. At the time, Halborg played and wrote for the punk band The Swayback (he currently also plays for Wabi), and Rudy played for the groups Barnacle and Varlet. Striking conversations, the two realized they both loved old-school blues. Halborg had practiced harmonica privately for a few years, finding time in th...

This week's Wednesday episode of The Mountain-Ear Podcast is not the typical retrospective. Instead, we're highlighting an upcoming presentation at the Nederland Community Library on Cuba's musical connections to North America, hosted by Chaz Chambers and Yami Cabrera, husband and wife, musicologists, performers, and creators of the touring companies Havana Music Tours and Musical G...

What did Colorado look like almost 150 years ago, when it first became a state on August 1, 1876? What was prominent in each town, and where did we come from? Maryann Rosen travels back in time and answers that question in this Mountain Tales segment. Plus, be sure to stay to the end for last week's music mentions! Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her re...