Cheyenne's Reproacher launches new CD July 15 at Ernie November

Delta Sonics perform at Plains Hotel April 29

The Delta Sonics, a blues band from Denver, will perform in the grand ballroom of the Historic Plains Hotel in downtown Cheyenne on Friday, April 29, 8 p.m. Advance tickets $10 at Phoenix Books and Music, 1612 Capitol Ave. Tickets at the door will be $12. FMI: 307-632-3476

New CD from Gary Small & the Coyote Brothers: "Wyoming (For Dummies)"

Grady Kirkpatrick playing latest CD by Gary Small and the Coyote Brothers today on Wyoming Public Radio's "Morning Music." Selection was "Snaggle-Tooth Jackalope." Here's info from the Coyote Bros web site: "We've just released 'Wyoming (for Dummies).' An EP with 6 crazy rockabilly and surf songs about our quirky culture in Wonderful Wyoming. If you've ever worked in the Park, or been to Yellowstone, ya' better get this one."

Jared Rogerson holds CD release party March 11 at the Rock Rabbit in Pinedale

From musician Jared Rogerson:

After much preparation, the new album "Peace, Love and Horses" was released on Tuesday March 8. On Friday, March 11, we will host a CD Release Party at Rock Rabbit in Pinedale, Wyoming. Admission is free and everyone is invited. I will be perfroming live with a 5-piece band followed by special opening guests, Gelene Cox, and Michelle Humber and Nate Curry. CDs will be on sale for $15 the night of the show. We will also will be giving away free CDs, as well. I hope to see you there.

I am so happy about the new recordings, but the key is getting those songs out there for everyone to hear. So, I would also like to announce that I now share a booking agent with western singer/songwriter Brenn Hill. His name is Charlie Parker and he is a great guy. He has been busy trying to fill up my calendar with performances throughout the West in 2011. I am now available to perform as a solo, duo, trio, or band. If you know of dates I ought play at, PLEASE let me or Charlie know. I'm determined to put a lot of miles on and make 2011 the biggest year ever. I really need your help spreading the word.

We recently launched an all new website at www.jaredrogerson.com. Song snipets can be sampled on the home page. I hope you spend some time there and I'm looking forward to hearing what you think of the new site. If you like what you see, please send the website link to everyone you can think of. And- don't forget to show your support by clicking "like" on my facebook musician page if you haven't already.

Here's Jared's partial traveling schedule:

MARCH 3/11: Record release show at Rock Rabbit
Pinedale, WY

APRIL 4/29 & 4/30: Montana Storytelling Roundup
Cut Bank, MT

JUNE 6/18: Summerfest Arts Fair
Logan, UT

AUGUST 8/6: Concert
Layton, UT
AUGUST 8/10 - 8/13: Madison County Fair & Rodeo
Twin Bridges, MT
OCTOBER 10/7 & 10/8: Nebraska Cowboy Poetry GatheringValentine, NE

NOVEMBER 11/26: Columbia Gorge Cowboy Gathering
Dalles, OR

Alex "Wherever You Will Go" Band in Casper Nov. 12

Alex Band

November 12, 2010 • 7:30 p.m.

Durham Hall, Aley Fine Arts Center, Casper College

The inspiring sound of Alex Band’s powerful, emotionally charged voice is immediately recognizable to millions of music lovers, thanks to modern-day classics like “Adrienne,” “Our Lives” and the chart-topping hit “Wherever You Will Go,” which Billboard recently named the #1 Adult Pop Song of the Decade. And though We’ve All Been There, Band’s solo debut (released June 29 on his own AMB label through EMI), contains the first new material we’ve heard from the former leader of The Calling in half a decade, “Wherever You Will Go” (which he wrote at 16 and released at 19, remarkably enough) remains a staple of the Adult Pop format, while “Our Lives” is a heavily used bumper on ESPN and other sports programming.

If his fans feel that Band is long overdue for a return to the spotlight, the L.A. native has himself been chafing at the bit to make his return throughout the last five years, which he spent in musical exile. But the time has finally come for that voice to inspire us once again. “I’ve lived with these songs for years,” says Band, “and the whole point is to share them with everybody now.”

Describing the title song, which opens this stunningly widescreen album and sets up its thematic breadth, Band says, “It’s definitely about my own struggle, but I think everyone can relate to what I’ve been through from experiences in their lives. I think everything I’m talking about on the record is pretty universal. And knowing now that I’m writing for different cultures, with fans around the world, it’s important that what I’m writing about is generalized enough that people can take the songs in their own way. ‘We’ve All Been There’ is almost like a mantra—‘Here I am…these scars on my hands…doing what I can’—with this chorus behind me singing, ‘We’ve all been there.’”

FMI: http://www.artcorewy.com/

"Songs from the Land" CD features musicians from Idaho and Wyoming

From the Valley Citizen in Driggs, Idaho:

Not only is the Teton Regional Land Trust’s new album release, “Songs of the Land,’ a work of musical art, it is an amazing compilation of Teton Valley’s best musical talents and voices.

Born out of the guiding statement, “Evoking emotion to inspire change,” the Land Trust’s Matt Lucia and Emily Nichols worked closely with some of Teton Valley’s favorite singers and songwriters (Ben Winship, Michael Batdorf, Greg Creamer and Mike Hurwitz to name only a few of the 16 artist) to pull together the album debuting at the nonprofit’s annual summer picnic next Saturday, Aug. 7.

Wyoming artists on the album include Anne and Pete Sibley, Jackson; Alta’s Merissa Wilson and Mike Hurwitz; Margo Valiante, who grew up in Jackson; Screen Porch Door and Loose Ties, Jackson.

Margo Valiante, who grew up in Jackson and recently played at Targhee Fest and is set to complete the Music on Main concerts series in August, sings "First Born Son" on the album.

“This song is dedicated to those who redirected their entire life to be in a place of inspiration. I feel blessed that my family picked up everything and moved to Wyoming when I was six years old. For anyone whose life has been shaped by the shadow of a peak or the sound of a river, you are a First Born Son.”

For more information and to purchase a cd, contact Emily Nichols, 208-354-8939 or emily@tetonlandtrust.org 

"Chrome, chrome on the range..."

Michael Hurwitz and The Aimless Drifters with Tracy Nelson and Gary McMahan (June 2010). A new album of 12 new original songs, with covers of an old Libba Cotton song and a Gary McMahan song.

A real Mullligan Stew of American music styles: Western swing, Cajun, cowboy Ballads, folk, and honkytonk country. - Mike

Songs - Your Dancin' Shoes, He's a Rodeo, Love Song, Uncle Lucky, Roy Rogers in Japan, Out of the Fryin' Pan, Ed Trafton, Cowboys Gone Wild, Edith, Shake Sugaree, Real Live Buckeroo, Poor Cowboy, Home Town Reel, Minnie Sang the Blues.

Mike Hurwitz of Alta is on the Wyoming Arts Council artist roster. Bring him and his new CD to your community with an Arts Across Wyoming grant. Get info at http://www.wyomingartscouncil.org/

"Riding the White Horse Home" -- from the written page to the CD

Grady Kirkpatrick on KUWR's "New Music Wednesday" featured a song with a familiar-sounding name. It was "Riding the White Horse Home," written and performed by Salt Lake City musician Kate MacLeod. Wondered if it was based on the fantastic memoir of the same name by Laramie County, Wyoming, native Teresa Jordan (now in SLC). Grady noted on-air that indeed this was the case. But wyomingarts needed more info so looked up Kate MacLeod, which is the kind of stuff the Internet is for. We found this:

The song Riding the White Horse Home is based on the book by the same name. It is a memoir about rural family life in Wyoming, written by artist and author Teresa Jordan.

The song is on MacLeod's new CD, Blooming. Another amazing fact: the cover art was done by Denver artist William Matthews who also illustrated the first edition of Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx, back when she lived in Wyoming.

What would we do without real books by real writers?

Vote now for "Modern Day Mountain Man"

Wyoming Arts Council roster artist Bryan Ragsdale of Green River sends this request:

"Modern Day Mountain Man" has been nominated for Country Song of the Year by the Independent Singer Songwriters Association. It is a huge honor and I need you help. Starting tomorrow you can go to http://www.issa-music.org/ to vote for "Mountain Man" or the song of your choosing. Please pass this on to all your friends, family, folks you don't know. Help me put the Rocky Mountains back into mainstream music. Blog it, post it...any help would be greatly appreciated! Voting deadline is Nov. 30.

To bring Bryan to your community via a WAC grant, go to http://www.wyomingartscouncil.org/ and clicks on "Grants" on the left sidebar.

Spencer Bohren returns to Casper 10/24

Casper native Spencer Bohren will perform on Saturday, Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m., at Kelly Walsh High School Auditorium in Casper.

Here's more info from the ARTCORE web site:

Born in wind-swept Casper, in 1950, Spencer's gospel-singing parents provided the foundation for a musical style and career that remain healthy after more than four decades. In the 1950s, with Hank Williams and Elvis Presley on the airwaves, Spencer’s family spent hours gathered around a piano. Spencer says, "My mother didn't have boys and girls. To her we were sopranos, altos and tenors.” Four decades as a "road scholar," concert performer and general fan of humanity have given Spencer Bohren much to share. No one was more surprised than Spencer when Jorma Kaukonen of the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tune called to invite Spencer to teach at the Fur Peace Ranch, his guitar camp in Pomeroy, Ohio. He offers a veritable treasure trove of guitar technique, lapsteel tricks, and musical knowledge to enthusiastic students around the world.

Contemporary with his recent welcome into the academic world, Spencer has developed a performance/lecture, Down the Dirt Road Blues, which follows a single song's journey from 16th Century Africa through America's culture and history up through the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, utilizing appropriate vintage instruments.

Still actively touring in Europe, Spencer has recorded and released four CD projects with Germany's Valve Records. The second one, Southern Cross, displays a small gallery of Spencer's artwork. In recent years, he has performed in France, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and Italy, as well as Germany, and is gathering an enthusiastic following in England and Ireland as well.

While the horrific events resulting from Hurricane Katrina's devastating visit to New Orleans in 2005 have dramatically affected Spencer and his family, he, like so many others, has rebuilt his home and life. Spencer's inspired post-Katrina song, Long Black Line, became a post-traumatic touchstone for all of New Orleans, a guiding step in the recovery process.

Get tickets here