Author – The Durango Herald

Salamander Collective: ‘It’s all about the groove’

The word “collective” is an apt term when describing local rock group Salamander Collective. “Group” is also an apt term, more so than the word “band,” as Salamander Collective is a musical ...

DATE: Feb 16, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

23 years of International Guitar Night

Australian-born guitar player Stephanie Jones got into the guitar because she thought it was “cool.” It wasn’t necessarily a pursuit of playing like a particular artist she admired, or learn...

DATE: Feb 9, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Bluegrass Jam Class at Smiley Building

Few genres of music encourage after-hours playing like bluegrass. It’s social music, arguably the most social of the bunch, a style that encourages its performers and fans to congregate and ...

DATE: Feb 2, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Balkan Bump fuses electronic, traditional music

Balkan music is dance music. Electronic music is dance music. Mix the two and you’ve got a double-dose of upbeat and body-moving rhythms, although their mating isn’t something that’s part of...

DATE: Jan 26, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Big Richard taking over ACT

There is room for subtle irreverence in traditional bluegrass. As long as its done with some tongue in cheek intent, a little harmless comedy injected into between song banter during a blueg...

DATE: Jan 19, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

iAM MUSIC hosts Second Weekend Series

Jazz fusion is where hard rock meets hard jazz. At times gloriously aggressive or laid back with a psychedelic side, it’s a punkier and sometimes even funkier side of jazz – for jazz fans, a...

DATE: Jan 12, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Nathan Schmidt sees musical success

European music lovers dig on the American roots music. From aging punk-rockers doing the roots rock thing like Armchair Martian/Drag the Rivers’ Jon Snodgrass to dark-country acts like Slim ...

DATE: Jan 5, 2023 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Ring in new year with Nu Bass Theory

It’s not electronic music. Although there are elements that pull from the EDM genre, the band and musical project of Nu Bass Theory is not your typical DJ outfit where there’s a dude behind ...

DATE: Dec 29, 2022 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Best albums of 2022: 5 to 1

Indie record labels are the mom-and-pop stores of the music business. Ditch the chains and look for the homegrown place, as the indie labels are what keeps the music business interesting, of...

DATE: Dec 22, 2022 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Best albums of 2022: 10 to 6

As the year winds down, many music fans like to take an inventory of what was added to their own personal collection over the last 365, and for many, that inventory is perhaps loaded with re...

DATE: Dec 15, 2022 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Monheit plays Durango Cool Jazz event

Jazz vocalist Jane Monheit did not have the typical childhood aspirations of what she was going to be when she grew up. She wasn’t going to be a teacher, a doctor, a nurse or any of those yo...

DATE: Dec 8, 2022 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Yves Giraud throws down roots

When musician Yves Giraud moved to Montezuma County, he found the musician pool deeper and packed with more musicians than anticipated. It was not as deep as in his former homes of Los Angel...

DATE: Dec 1, 2022 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown