It’s Giving Tuesday, and we know there are a lot of non-profits out there to choose from. If ours speaks to you today, here’s the link to donate. We certainly couldn’t do what we do in our community without the support of others, and as always, we have plans to do more. 🙏🏻🎶❤️
Thankful for our community today and always. Also thankful for Cool Whip 😬 Have a safe holiday weekend dear friends.
November’s issue of Power Pickin’ is up! 🤗 Check your emails if you subscribe, click the link, or visit our website anytime. We’ve got Rockygronk, The Jingle Jam, IBMA, Old Grass Gnu Grass and more in this edition!
RockyGronk ‘97 - A festival for musicians (photo taken at McAwesome Ranch and shamelessly stolen from Bevin Claire Foley. I’m not sorry. Not one bit.)
Check out this festival, check out the UllrGrass Band Contest - 2024, check out the UllrGrass Troubadour Contest - 2024. These are a few of my favorite things 🎶🤗
UllrGrass is a bluegrass music and beer festival held in the Rocky Mountain foothills of Golden, CO
It is with extremely heavy hearts that we share the news of Doris Gray’s passing. Doris was a former president here at Colorado Bluegrass Music Society, and is in the CBMS Hall of Fame for all her wonderful contributions to this community. She was responsible for many of the bookings at Broomfield Auditorium, and brought a lot of great music to our state. She was loved by many, and will be missed by everyone she touched. Doris was simply the kind of person you wanted to be around, and up until the very end, she could be found at local jams singing and playing. Doris’ passing was sudden, and very much struck the Bluegrass community with sadness. We send our condolences to all who will feel this great loss. 
We had SOOOO much fun 🤗🎶 Beginners Jam night is my favorite night of the month. A few first-timers, a few regulars, a few OGs. Thanks American Music School for your graceful allowance of this incredible monthly gathering. 🙏🏻 Mark your calendars, December 12th is the next one.
It’s Beginners Jam night 🤗🎶🙌 American Music School in Lakewood, 7-9pm, 2nd Tuesday every month. You don’t have to be a beginner, you just have to know how to high five a beginner. 🙋♀️ This group is all about encouragement and inspiration, in a judgement-free zone. Get better playing with others and help others get better playing with others. We ALL do both every single time.
Well hot dang 🔥🎶🙌 Look at this line up! The Durango Bluegrass Meltdown is one of THE finest festivals in our state, and was recently nominated as one of the best in the world by IBMA. This recognition is earned and deserved, trust us. The experience this festival provides is top notch and very unique, and FUN TO BOOT! Grab tickets and get a room at the Strater. It’s a party!
https://durangomeltdown.com/
Y’all need to read this if you plan to grab tickets for Telluride Bluegrass Festival this December. 😉 Important announcement from Planet Bluegrass was made today.
Let's talk Telluride Bluegrass tickets! 🤩
We've added a step to this year's ticketing process. In order to purchase Festival passes when they go on sale in December, you will need to pre register. We repeat: you will need to pre register!!
Read everything about this new process here: https://bluegrass.com/telluride/festival-info/onsale
Give us a holler if you have any questions, we can't wait for June! 🤙🏼
📸 by Jesse Borrell
Its like we just got a “save the date” in the mail from our bestie 🤩🤗 because this is giving all the feels. Tom Knowlton from The Fretliners is hosting an open jam, free show at MainStage Brewing Company. Details below.
Save The Date!
Bluegrass Pick'n with Tom Knowton
Thursday ~ November 30th ~ 6 PM
Open Pick ~ Free Show ~ Indoor
Grab a pint and a slice, and enjoy the uber talented epic bluegrass pick'ns of Tom Knowlton and guests.
'n
If you are not familiar with the experience of floating down the river with good friends and live music on hand, you should be. This is truly an experience like no other. And the lineup for the season has been announced. SO FUN. 💦🎶
🎶 Listen to the river sing sweet songs to rock my soul 🎶
RiverWonderGrass 2024 Launches are live! Join us on a magical experience with Adrift Dinosaur and All Start WonderGrass artists as we float down Colorado's last free-flowing river and into the majestic Yampa River Canyon.
Book your trip now for only $250 down: https://winterwondergrass.com/riverwondergrass
First festival of the year every year! UllrGrass Music & Beer Festival 2024 has been announced, and tickets are ON SALE NOW. Great line-up, great vendors, great location. That’s a lot of greats. We hope to see you there. 🤗🎶🤘🏼
Ticket link 👉🏼 https://www.ullrgrass.com/tickets
Happy Halloween y’all! We hope you have a great day full of costumes, candy, and Colorado bluegrass. Let’s all spin one local band album tonight while handing out treats and boost those Spotify plays for our community 🙏🏻🎶
Tonight in Rifle, CO and tomorrow night in Durango! This is a must-see!!!
Sometimes all you need to do is ask. Next thing you know, you’ve got loads of musicians saying “yes” to your question, and you’re on your way to recording one of the most influential bluegrass and cou...
Hey folks! The 2024 festival list is well on its way and we’re adding each time one gets announced. 🤗 You can find this list on the CBMS website, where we work hard to make sure YOU have all the fun. 🎶
*Things can change without notice, please understand there may be cancellations on this list. As always, we are happy to add another festival to the list - send any additions, changes or questions to: [email protected]
Meet Geoff Burghardt. Geoff builds cool instruments. 🤩 He also fixes YOUR cool instruments. Founder, and one man show at III mandolin, this guy seriously geeks out about music and everything that goes with it, and it shows in the quality work and craftsmanship he puts into everything he touches. His page is wildly fun to follow, and he’s incredibly interesting to converse with. He’s a family man, a real estate broker extraordinaire, an overall REALLY nice guy, and a pillar of our community. He’s also a CBMS business member and we hope you’ll give his page a like and consider him for your future instrumental needs. You can also check out his website and gallery below. He’s got big things coming in 2024.
https://www.iiimandolin.com/
CBMS President Count John Pierce out and about at a most spooky event this past weekend. And his lovely wife Angie as a Flamboyant Cuttlefish (it’s a real thing y’all). We fact-checked 😉
If you know Will Scherer at Scherer Violin Shop you already love him. He is hands-down one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, and he both embodies and BREEDS community. He’s a musician, a luthier, an artist, a family man, and so much more. He’s also a business member of CBMS and offers his support at every turn. Here’s an interview with Will from our board member and friend, Nadine Sekerez. Thanks for your time Will! And for all your support. 🙏🏻
Today began earlier than usual for me. At 6:34 a.m., my phone buzzed with an email notification. Our CBMS President, John Pierce, sent out a request to the board of directors for content for this very issue of Power Pickin’. He expressed his desire to have an interview with Will Scherer, a Luthi...
Tomorrow (Tuesday) is our monthly beginners jam at the American Music School, from 7-9pm.
We look forward to familiar as well as new faces each week. 🤗🎶 It’s not a series, it’s not a class (although we all learn a little something each time), it’s just a safe and inspirational space for everyone who attends. We encourage each other, we applaud each other, sometimes we even high-five. Come play a few tunes with us. You don’t have to lead a song, but you can. You don’t have to play all the songs, but you can. You don’t even have to play a single song. We’d love to see you still. 🙏🏻❤️ ALL ARE WELCOME.
Incredible photos from an incredible night! 🙌 Kirk Hubbard at Denver Jamgrass gets mad props. He ‘da man. 📸
Continuing on our “meet the board of CBMS journey,” here’s the story of the ever-so-talented and FEARLESS event and festival producer, Nadine Sekerez. She was the mastermind behind our last fundraiser show, and is no stranger to event and community planning. She’s a shaker and a maker of many cool things, and also hosts a songwriting retreat with her Upstream Concerts in Estes Park venture, in addition to producing her very own yearly festival SnowyGrass Music Festival in Estes Park.
Nadine grew up in Indiana, close to Chicago. Music was a first, powerful memory, influenced by songs she heard her older siblings and mom play, such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and Dean Martin. Her grandmother, Emma, from Tennessee, was also a big influence. Emma loved Dolly and "old timey" music as Grandmother called it. She would sing songs in her high-pitched, passed down way--gospel, traditional, Carter Family, and Loretta Lynn songs.
She has been performing since she was about 8 years old. Her brother, Mike (now a professional opera singer) taught her and her brother, Dave, how to sing a Capella harmony. They would often prank call people, before caller id, and sing barber shop quartet or 50s a Capella songs to an unsuspecting recipient. (best phone call ever I’m sure!!) They would also perform in person at events such as the Orville Redenbacher Pop Corn Festival. Nadine's first instrument was the organ when she was 4 years old. In 6th grade, her school instrument of choice was the violin, which she played in the orchestra through middle school and high school. During college, while coaching gymnastics and taking art classes, she joined Billie Duncan, a poet, songwriter and singer, in duo performances in Houston, Texas. Kelly Lancaster, an award-winning bluegrass mandolinist, was her first introduction to bluegrass. Kelly even gave Nadine a couple guitar lessons. The music scene, particularly at The Boat Yard, was extremely influential in creating the draw to be immersed in the music community that seems to make the world closer and warmer.
Later, in Estes Park, Colorado, she would join a rock band, where she sang lead, sometimes sang harmony, played a little keyboard, and a little fiddle. Later she would teach herself guitar so that she could accompany herself singing solo. She then discovered that she loved writing her own songs, and has become prolific in songwriting, which she brings to Lost Penny, her current band.
Since 2017, she has produced SnowyGrass Music Festival in Estes Park, Colorado, and for the first year in 2023, camping was introduced. She knows good music when she hears it and knows how to make it happen at her events.
Nadine asks a lot of questions and makes a LOT of good points. She is known for her problem-solving and practical skills on the board, but is also a dreamer and can put anything she thinks up into action. We’re so lucky to have her incredible work ethic and drive at CBMS, and look forward to future events and fundraisers that she’ll for sure knock out of the park. You can also follow her musical happenings here at Lost Penny.
It’s here 🤗🎶🙌 The Fretliners album has DROPPED! Check it out folks! We are SO PROUD of this CBMS member band and we’re looking forward to the The Fretliners (Album Release Party) w/ High Country Hustle, The Reckless Folk tomorrow night at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom. Join us, and SPIN THIS 🙏🏻
Folks, we’re over the moon to announce our debut album is officially released!!! We poured so much into this collection of 11 original songs and we’re very proud of it. Give it a spin and let us know what ya think! Available for purchase on our website or for streaming wherever you get your music!
All songs written by members of the band with the exception of Lonesome Holler and Ozark Memories written by Tom’s dad Jeff Knowlton.
Tom Knowlton - Guitar, Vocals
Dan Andree - Fiddle, Vocals
Sam V Parks- Mandolin, Vocals
Taylor Shuck - Double Bass
Recorded at Vermillion Road Studio
Produced by Sally Van Meter
Engineered by Eric Wiggs
Mastered by David Glasser
Album Art by Adam Carstens
Big thanks to Doug Altman for helping it all come together.
See you tomorrow night in Denver for the Album Release Party at Cervantes with good buddies High Country Hustle and The Reckless Folk! Limited tickets available!
This music ❤️ These musicians ❤️ Our community ❤️
Well done everyone. All the nominees and winners are so well-deserving of recognition and applause. 👏🏻 Standing ovation y’all 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
💥 Ticket Giveaway! 💥
We’re giving away a pair of tickets to The Fretliners (Album Release Party) w/ High Country Hustle, The Reckless Folk (this Saturday) but you HAVE to follow instructions first 😉 GO to The Fretliners page and “LIKE” it. (Like it and mean it ❤️😜) Then come back here and tag a friend you’d like to take to the show. If you already like their page, HEY, we do too. We’ll announce the randomly selected winner Friday morning. Good luck at IBMA fellas, we are SO PROUD OF YOU! 🙌🎶
BIG WEEK Y’ALL! 🚨 TOMORROW International Bluegrass Music Association is announcing the winner of the Momentum Band of the Year award.
FRIDAY our DEBUT ALBUM is released and available wherever you get your music!
And SATURDAY is our Album Release Party at Cervantes with High Country Hustle and The Reckless Folk. LFG!!! If you haven’t gotten your tickets already you better remedy that today!
The Fretliners (Album Release Party) w/ High Country Hustle, The Reckless Folk
📸 Elliot Siff
Well look at that! 🤩🔥🎶 We already have something to look forward to next year 🙌 Midwinter Bluegrass Festival for the Monday win.
It's time! We are thrilled to announce Becky Buller Band, Missy Raines and Allegheny , Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen, The Slocan Ramblers, and Stillhouse Junkies as headliners for the 2024 Midwinter Bluegrass Festival February 16-18th. It's going to be a special weekend of stellar acts and plenty of pickin' throughout the hotel. We can't wait to see you there.
3-day and single day Early Bird passes available now! https://bit.ly/3ENWanA
Hi, this is John --- I don't usually post under the CBMS Facebook user, but today is special because I am posting the Bio of one of my favorite people - Amy Martin!
Amy has been a member of the CBMS board for I think about 3 yrs now? She coordinates all of our social media and is the "face" in CBMS Facebook posts! Anyway here is Amy's story:
In June of 2004, Amy Martin met bluegrass. More specifically, she met the man who would introduce her to all things bluegrass. She had never heard of John Hartford, didn’t know who Bill Monroe was, didn’t remember ever being in the same room as a Banjo, and had 90s alternative rock, hip hop, and bands like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin on her iPod shuffle. ✌🏼🎶
But as her new boyfriend (now husband of 16 years) was in a bluegrass band, she was fully submerged, FAST! She fell in love with Rockygrass, loved watching her honey play music, but believe it or not, she used to go to bed before him. However, in 2012 everything would change when she asked the question, “do you think I could learn how to play the guitar?” Her husband and good friend had one picked out for her and home by the end of the week.
A year later, she added a bass, and the rest is Martini Ranch history!
Born and raised in Colorado, Amy was a restaurant manager for a good part of her adult life, and she really does know how to put out a grease fire. She was an executive sommelier for a hot minute, and has spent the last 10 years as a childcare provider. If you have camped with her, she is for sure your camp mom. Amy brings her passion for connecting with others to the CBMS table, she co-hosts the CBMS beginner’s jam, and for sure spends too much time on Facebook 🤣
She can almost always be found supporting local bands, frequenting all the festivals, or hosting music in her backyard and basement. However, the day after a festival, there is only one place you will find this girl, and that’s eating a Philly cheesesteak in bed.
In fact, she and CBMS President John Pierce now trade photos of cheesesteaks, OFTEN. Hey, no one should work on an empty stomach!
Here's to the host with the most, the face of CBMS and a wonderful person -- Amy Martin!
This CBMS member band is on FIRE, and their new music is SO HOT! They also have an album release show coming up in a little over a week. Don’t miss it, and check out their new music. 🙏🏻🎶
💥NEW SINGLE “Where the Green Grass Grows” out now on Bluegrass Today!!! 🌾
Meet Nick Einterz, current CBMS board member and musician extraordinaire.
Nick is a human and has been known to play the banjo (his words exactly). 😬 Because of his tendency to ruminate on financial analyses, he works as a data scientist for CU's Finance & Business division and as Treasurer for CBMS.
He is passionate about music education, the particulars of three finger banjo, songwriting, improvisational mindsets, building community through music and wearing sandals at wedding gigs. He aims to help CBMS diversify the Colorado bluegrass scene and outreach to communities that are underrepresented.
Nick plays with a few bands around town, and we can’t NOT plug his new album with high energy, extremely fun, instrumental band The Grass Project. Seriously, these guys tell a story without using a single word… and it’s magical. Give his new album a spin, and his efforts in our community a round of applause. 👏🏻 We’re proud to have him on our team.
Most of you already know CBMS President John Pierce, as he’s a bit of a social butterfly. But did you know John is from Amarillo, TX where there isn't much (if any) bluegrass? “We had some nice country bands though,” Pierce said. He lived in Austin for 10 years where he saw his first bluegrass band. (well, sort of, Bad Livers - Danny Barnes).
Pierce has played music since he was 11. His mom played a bit of organ and piano, but he did not come from a particularly "musical" family. His mom did, however, think it was important for him to learn and started John on the piano with private lessons at 11.
After learning piano, John joined orchestra in 8th grade- played violin, then moved on to drums in band in 9th grade. He then got his first guitar when he was 19 yrs old. According to JP, “Instruments keep following me home and now I have a bunch of them...” 😂
John was really a blues/rock guy for decades. Played in blues/rock bands and even did a short stint as bass player in a punk band; he played country tunes on a Telecaster in the early 2000's, but didn't come around to bluegrass until about 2014 (9 years ago). Now he’s a certified "jam rat" -- and LOVES the Bluegrass picks.
John started serving on the CBMS board in 2017, and had previously been a board member of several other non-profits in the past. He really believes in the concept of trying to give back to the community and he is ALWAYS trying to do more to help ours.
When John isn’t out playing music or working hard to enhance the music scene, he can be found camping, scuba diving (certified 44 years now), doing photography, and traveling with his lovely wife Angie. They’ve been in Colorado 26 years now. Lucky, lucky us ❤️
2nd Tuesday BEGINNERS JAM tonight, hosted by Mike and Amy Martin. American Music School 7-8:30pm (we need to cut it just a tad short this eve). As always, this is about safe space, encouragement, amazing high-fives, meeting new friends, and playing music together. 🎶 You don’t have to be a beginner, you just need to be the kind of person that respects and supports beginners 🙏🏻❤️ See you all SOON. 
Continuing the “meet the board” series, here’s Kevin Slick, former President of CBMS who is an active board member still today.
Kevin grew up in Pennsylvania and became a musician on February 9, 1964 when he saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. While neither of his parents played musical instruments, both loved to sing around the house and had a constant stream of records playing. Glenn Miller and various swing bands from his mother, Hank Williams, Flatt and Scruggs and The Country Gentlemen played by his Dad. Although Kevin didn't quite appreciate it at the time, he saw many of the early greats of Bluegrass at Sunset Park, a campground in southern PA.
Slick has been writing songs and recording for over 40 years. He played music full time for several years with a band called Neo Pseudo who were often described as tribal-folk-rock-jazz or ""Trolkfazz" for short. Neo Pseudo played at places like the Chestnut Cabaret in Philadelphia and CBGBs in New York. He can be seen these days along side Orchard Creek Band.
Visual arts have always been an important part of Kevin’s life whether painting, drawing, taking photos, graphic design or comics. He recently retired from being an elementary school teacher, most recently teaching art.
Kevin joined CBMS on the Board in 2013 and was President from 2016-2023. He continues to share his passion for all things bluegrass, and is rich with historical knowledge on the subject.
We’d like to take some time to introduce you all to the Board of Directors behind CBMS, and we’ll start first with our newest addition, Jason Hicks. Jason has been a member of the bluegrass community for many years, and a passionate musician long before that. His band Blue Canyon Boys is known, recognized, and loved nationwide, and FOR REASON. He brings a lot of musical experience and perspective to the table (and occasionally the best socks). Here’s a little more about him:
Weeks before his 16th birthday, Jason Hicks received a gift that would help him unlock his musical passion and open a gate to the path that he is still hiking. At first glance, the gift of a 1977 Dodge step side pickup truck isn’t an obvious first step to a musical path, but Jason saw the opportunity that lay before him and persuaded his parents to let him sell the truck and use the cash to buy a shiny red electric guitar and a small Peavy amplifier. The wisdom of this decision was a perfect storm. As he no longer had a vehicle and was stuck at home with a new guitar, so he figured he might as well spend all his waking hours practicing, and practice he did. Learning the Metallica repertoire, trying to figure out how Led Zeppelin worked, the realization that improvising is just making things up in the moment, then Bob Dylan???!
Jason earned his BFA in music at Webster University, performing with classical guitar and jazz ensembles, countless choir performances, orchestra pits, ballet productions (no, he didn’t dance), jam bands and folk bands, solo slots with coffee shops, and eventually worked his way into the Colorado bluegrass scene. In 2003, he cofounded the Blue Canyon Boys. He has traveled across this country and world with his musical brothers, sharing songs and telling stories, discovering friends and family, recording 7 full length albums, and performing on some of this country’s most beautiful stages. The one constant through all these years is Jason’s quest for the song. John Prine said, “there’s a river of songs always floating overhead” and he’s glad he didn’t live downstream from Bob Dylan.
The northern Ozark Missouri hills of Jason’s upbringing as well as the Rocky Mountains of his current home are full of ditches, creeks, streams, and rivers. There are gems of songs waiting in all the nooks, crannies, cricks, puddles, and rapids and he loves stepping out and searching for those overlooked gems. “Every song has a story, every story has a song, and every guitar has a voice that wants to sing along.” Jason is more than happy to hop in the proverbial boat and drift on down the river for a song.
The August edition of Power Pickin’ is live folks. 🙌🎶 And we sure hope you all have a fabulous holiday weekend ahead. 
Festival season is still underway — go to our “festivals” page to see which ones you want to attend! Colorado Festivals — Colorado Bluegrass Music Society
We love supporting our member bands however we can, which includes helping them get their music out to the world. ❤️🎶 If you know these folks, you know this will be SO GOOD. Every little bit helps.
KICKSTARTER LAUNCHED!!!
TRF is headed to the studio! Click the link in our bio to support our debut release!
And to get this rolling, come check us out live TONIGHT as we open for Oakhurst!!!
P. O. Box 22956
Denver, CO
80222
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Newman Center for the Performing Arts
E Iliff Avenue
Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo
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