Author - The Durango Herald

Local bands will battle this summer

Nobody said the music business was a walk in the park. The band Dire Straits took a sarcastic look at how some view the music biz with their 1985 hit “Money for Nothing,” with that infectiou...

DATE: May 30, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Jeff Solon a local music mainstay

Jeff Solon is all about jazz. If he’s not playing solo, or with his duo, trio, quartet or big band, he’s home practicing or writing new compositions. If he’s not practicing or creating new m...

DATE: May 23, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Couple brings bluegrass to Durango

He’s a huge figure in Colorado bluegrass music. As a teacher, Pete Wernick, aka “Dr. Banjo,” has provided the starting steps for scores of banjo players; his book, simply titled “Bluegrass B...

DATE: May 16, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Iris DeMent raised on music

Follow your muse. We all should have that inner-voice, that thing inside us that hopefully guides us down our life path and pushes us into whatever direction we think we need to go. ...

DATE: May 9, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

P.J. Moon right at home in Durango

Local musician P.J. Moon has good things to say about Durango’s music scene. It’s the reason he moved here and arguably the reason he stays here. The well runs pretty deep when i...

DATE: May 2, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Euforquestra not afraid of challenge

The Fort Collins-based band Euforquestra wears many musical hats. Unafraid of a musical challenge and willing to experiment and change things up, if the genre hat fits, they’ll put it on and...

DATE: Apr 25, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Ranky Tanky uses music to teach history

A Ranky Tanky concert provides two outcomes. One being what you’d expect from a concert: You dance, you’re entertained, you leave the venue musically satisfied. The other outcome appeals to ...

DATE: Apr 18, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Larry Keel to play Durango Meltdown

Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part column highlighting the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown and its overall contribution to the community.Guitar player Larry Keel is a perfect per...

DATE: Apr 11, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Meltdown celebrates its 25th year

Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part column highlighting the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown and its overall contribution to the community.People have big opinions about bluegrass m...

DATE: Apr 4, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Casual Fridays are N.M.’s ska historians

Las Cruces, New Mexico, may sound like an unlikely place for a ska music scene, but it’s been home to at least two ska bands that have properly represented the music. One band is ...

DATE: Apr 2, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

Pianist Adam Swanson plays for silent films

Hanging out with Adam Swanson is the closest you’ll ever come to time travel. The local musician, who has been a regular performer of ragtime music in the Diamond Belle Saloon mos...

DATE: Mar 21, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown

A history of KDUR Cover Night

KDUR Cover Nights have grown into a fire-breathing monster of an event that equally entertains and angers. Entertains because the events (full disclosure: I’ve organized these th...

DATE: Mar 14, 2019 | CATEGORY: Downtown Lowdown