Brian Rill

Music Review: Dave Tipton – Memento

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By Brian Rill David Tipton’s Memento is a touching tribute to the golden melodies of popular culture. The soothing sounds of a solo stick master rat-at-at-tating his steel strings offers a sweet relief to even the most stressed-out customer. Tipton, the original gangster of elevator music, makes a strikingly appealing and broad, sweeping declaration of …

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Music Review

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By Brian Rill Don Richmond and David Clemmer – Holy Roller and a Rolling Stone Don Richmond’s new collaborative musical work with David Clemmer is a straight-ahead folk album with an old-town vibe. This record was produced among long flat countrysides of the San Louis valley, amid dusty Colorado fields that are swarmed with wasps …

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The Real Deal Music Review: Going Nomadic – Seas to Trees

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By Brian Rill Scott MacKennon, Salida native and local character better known as “Zippy,” has taken to the wilderness among the raptors and bears with the band Going Nomadic. It has been said that if man alone loved his isolation, he would either become a wild beast or a god. Seas To Trees is the …

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CD Review: Peter Israel – Midnight at the Palace Hotel

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By Brian Rill Songwriter Peter G. Israel is one of the many weighty names from Salida’s long musical history. He is best known for the song Midnight at the Palace Hotel, and the 2007 album that bears the same name. This catchy tune celebrates the old multi-story brick building where countless outlaws and first-class connoisseurs …

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The Real Deal Music Review: Brian Rill – Waterfall

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Reviewed by Michael Andre

To meet Brian Rill in person gives no clue of the talent and musicianship lying beneath his placid and easygoing exterior. He moves with decisiveness, but his languid way of speaking in a deep, rumbling baritone is more akin to the liquid flow of a river. Nowhere are these characteristics more evident than in his music. With dulcet tones reminiscent of Don Henley’s best work, Rill’s voice is both soothing and energizing. In fact, there’s a thread of virtuosity running deep through his latest ten-track CD release, Waterflow. While Waterflow is marketed as Country/Alt-Country, it manages to straddle several genres – country, folk, rock, honky-tonk, even rumba – each of them performed to perfection. This multi-faceted song writer and performer is a stellar addition to any discerning music aficionado’s collection. Yet he manages to come off as humble and unassuming at the same time.

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The Real Deal Music Review: Benny Bowmaster – Lucky Dogs

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By Brian Rill

The most popular musician in Salida may not be who you think it is and in fact, you probably have never heard of him. If you haven’t heard Benny Bowmaster then you’re in the same river boat that I was until I witnessed one of the most amazing turnouts in history for a local musician at The Muse speakeasy one night in Salida. Benny is a musician’s musician, so it’s not a mystery as to why he is vastly unknown except for within the somewhat wide expanse of Salida troubadours. What I saw one night was a collection of all the best Salida guitar pickers from the past twenty years gathered together to listen to this one unassuming songwriter perform named Benny Bowmaster.

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The Real Deal Music Review: Chris Arellano – Nuevo Americana

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By Brian Rill

The new sound of Americana is a slow and robust tone with concise phrases that spin stories into spells, devised to bring rain into the dry Northern Plains. You can hear acoustic guitar strings reverberate along desert canyon walls as well as the sound of burning wood chips in a campfire. Long-strummed minor chords send out feelings of lonesomeness into the night. Words sung of promise display a longing to return home but with no idea of the path to get there. Soft songs with sweet memories are written down and then delivered to empty mail boxes that line old Nashville roads only to be forgotten again. Chris Arellano’s album Nuevo Americana contains all these ideas and more including the influence of Norteño music from his New Mexican upbringing. The conglomeration of all these styles is surprisingly mellow and moderately inspired by uptempo pop music.

“The sun is going to chase the moon the night is going to end too soon. I’ll wake up in this lonely room again because morning always wins.” The song Morning Always Wins discusses the obtuse feeling of displacement that one experiences when waking up alone, with the ghost of a lover. With a sound resembling Dire Straits, this tune drives along with a steady back beat. The songwriting is objective but optimistic, leading one to believe that maybe her ghost will one day return.

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CD Review: The Heartstring Hunters 

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By Brian Rill

From my experience as a songwriter, most love songs start as a series of passionate screams inspired by a beautiful muse, only to end in a desperate, stifled echo never to be heard by the intended recipient. The Heartstring Hunters however have a very different story. Started by husband and wife duo Carolyn and Daniel Hunter, they have collected some premiere musicians and forged an extensive Indy-Folk team. The songs act as a sort of dialog between two lovers as they pass musical notes back and forth strumming pathos symbiotically within romantic spirits everywhere.

Lead vocalist and lyricist Carolyn Hunter soars, stretching her voice into other dimensions where shadows of true love hide slumbering like dreaming dragons snoring through fields filled with smoke, while lounging atop unstable mountains of gold. Musically solid, their self-titled debut album is impactful and well-recorded. Acoustic chords strummed quietly ring with precision. Harmony vocals from Rachael Sheaffer shatter the subdued back beat and steady drum rolls. Tempestuous runs from a Fender Telecaster guitar touch upon the heavily-hooked verses. Daniel Hunter joins his wife on vocals for some truly heartfelt folk duets.

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CD Review: Xanthe – Time of War

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By Brian Rill

Xanthe’s tools consist of a guitar and voice, however to say she only has a voice without indulging wholly in the expansiveness of it’s character and the contour of her descant would be a mistake. The commodity value of repetition lacks weight when compared with the absolutely brilliant simplicity of Xanthe’s representation of the Muse. A supremely stripped down version of folk, Time Of War as an album represents a single prayer lifting on the rising vapors beneath the Omphalos, a sacred stone at the Delphic Oracle where a Priestess receives her vision.

Learning to sing along with classics spinning on vinyl, Xanthe experienced a secular upbringing amongst the radical vocal harmony of the seventies. Linda Ronstadt, Simon and Garfunkel; each influence subtlety creates a mutation that exemplifies her own unique style. Laying most of the harmony tracks over her self in the studio conceives an interesting chorus adding a polished patina to an altogether perfect folk CD. In her tune, Poets she teams up with fellow vocalist Harriett Landrum who adds her calm singing into the mix. 

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The Real Deal Music Review: Hogan and Moss – In Dreams I Go Back Home

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By Brian Rill

Hogan and Moss are BMI artists known for their high paced and powerful live shows. Performing over decades between Central Colorado and Texas they blend a contrite western sound with the upbeat energy of an Appalachian jam. John Hogan sings with a strong instinct of survival as if his very soul depended on the sequence of his songs. They will capture your attention and send you dancing like a frightened grassland grouse.

In Dreams I Go Back Home officially recreates this raw energy from their live performance. Recorded at Def Star Studios in Austin, Texas, the audio quality is super high fidelity, clear, bright and balanced. John Hogan’s vocals soar over the multi-instrumental tracks with Maria Moss backing up the main lines. It is with authoritative authenticity that Hogan and Moss shine; out of classic bluegrass grit they pioneer an amazingly genuine sound. A wide variety of dynamic tension, multiple tempos and numerous beats create a unique experience that rarely becomes bland even after repeated plays. After many listening sessions, the CD In Dreams I Go Back Home reveals new and interesting rhythms offering an abundance of passionate Americana music and enthusiastic prose.

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The Real Deal Music Review: Natalie Gelman – Streetlamp Musician

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By Brian Rill

Natalie Gelman has become a working class heroine, tirelessly perfecting her craft over the many years. The guitar strumming starlet is a singer and songwriter who plays a starring role in all her own music videos. With natural talent and rare beauty, Natalie is the type of artist who is easily adored. Dedicating her life to the muse, she reveals many hidden gems locked inside bunkers beneath formality, perpetually seeking the soul of the matter. Her album Streetlamp Musician beautifully expresses a courageous finesse like a brilliant flower blooming in the sun, singing out glory for a new day. Natalie embraces the essential creative spirit effortlessly with a staunch compassion for those of us who could be easily embarrassed by revealing our true natures.
A startling sense of innocence and an imploring consolation combine to ingrain Natalie’s character with an imminent gracefulness. She shares this pearl of understanding through melody, and marks heartbeats down in her rhythm. Her subtle essence sparkles with stardust, singing confidently but with a sense of humanity that is born of wounded loss. A brand new power is uncovered during every breath while shifting the mantle comprising Ms. Gelman’s unceasing profundity.
Streetlamp Musician converts old black and white film into new colors. An upgrade to the classic acoustic singer-songwriter of the seventies like Joni Mitchell, Patti Smith and Carly Simon, Gelman presents this epic song style with sincerity and honesty. She becomes a young admirer, driven to walk mountain roads while crafting lyrical ballads. Devouring the essential vitamins of sunshine and laughter, she adds an immortal ingredient into her freewheeling tone.

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The Real Deal Music Review: Smythe and Taylor – Things Have Changed

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Smythe and Taylor have released their new CD, Things Have Changed. Just what those things are is unclear, as this album from start to finish explores a tried and true but somewhat undynamic exposé of bluegrass and folk. Duet folk albums might be making a great comeback in Central Colorado, but my judgment is skewed …

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Music Review: Gabrielle Louise – If the Static Clears

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gabrielle_webReviewed by Brian Rill

Gabrielle Louise should be a movie star. Shrouded in stage lights, her enrapturing silhouette inspires lucid dreams. All that is divine moves on light feet and Gabrielle slowly drips her words onto the ear drum, barely striking it. A pseudo-drawl crawls over enticing acoustic guitar chords, vaguely jazz-laden with western flare. She wrote the first tune on a baby Martin guitar given to her at an early age and was forever inspired to become a songwriter.

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The Real Deal Music Review: Harper Powell – Colors Of My Life

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powellcd-cover_webBy Brian Rill

Harper Powell is a BMI songwriter from Salida, Colorado, who started singing not long after she began taking her first steps. This freshman solo CD, Colors Of My Life, is a respectable forty minute collection of folk-grass-inspired ditties. A strong bent of classic rock requires a second listen to appear clearly to the average listener. Like a young Alison Krauss, Harper marries the offbeat visionary style of Syd Barrett with the dark conceptualization of Grace Slick to beget a brand new but still retro-inspired musical statement.
Among highly traditional songs from the public domain like Dusty Miller and Hunting The Buffalo, Harper writes honest biographical verse on And I Want To Know, Colors Of My Life and Broken Now Flying. She sings with the softest courage of someone who laughs alone in a crowded room while reading a novel. Whether or not you understand her message, you definitely get the point. Emotionally vulnerable and a bit pensive, her persuasive voice echos in long drawn-out notes that festoon her acoustic guitar chords like floral arrangements among wicker garden gazebos.
Powerful yet humble, while remaining blissfully beautiful, Harper’s style yields to questions surrounding the innocence of flowers being born after a lightning storm. Dark and brooding held within limits of grace and strain she implores, “And I want to know, how can my heart be broken if no one ever tore it out of my chest? I’m on a steep mountain crest, lonely.” Deep introspective lyrics flow beside smooth steady guitar playing. A three-octave range delves deep into the cadence of her vocals riding the highest wave of sweet falsetto before cracking through into a repressed passionate rasp. “Maybe I’m missing something, maybe I skipped over a clue. Maybe a chunk is cut out, but by whom?”

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The Real Deal Music Review: The Long Ride Home – Tyller Gummersall

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tyyler_webBy Brian Rill

The Long Ride Home is a CD that saunters along with a rural twang. Eleven songs compile the noise of steel strings and fanciful voices within car windows, rambling down old highways filled with lonesome sounds of lullabies and sandy ballads, while idly running into some seriously talented hitchhikers along the way. Obviously a bighearted guy, Tyller Gummersall was born to flatpick and raised singing country tunes in a pickup truck. At age eight, he crooned beneath Colorado skies on rural stages beside legendary guitar wrangler, Gary Cook. While ambling between Nashville and Colorado, he was perfecting an empirically tender style to define his unique approach to songwriting.

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The Real Deal Music Review: Still The Birds – Darryl Purpose

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birdscd_webBy Brian Rill

The spiritual purpose of Nederland-based Darryl Purpose’s new collection purposes to insight mass awareness and, thereby, inspires world peace. A magical musical collaboration with eleven songs, co-written by author and songwriter Paul Zollo, Still The Birds soars like a black swan against the mediocre motley crew who unfurl Jolly Roger flags over a sea of modern music. Zollo’s wording begins to speak poignantly while substantively engaging the human experience of divinity.

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The Real Deal Music Review: Elephant Revival – Petals

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petals_cover_webBy Brian Rill

Petals as an anthology is a testament to travelers, who after returning from a long pilgrimage are stunned by the difference time has caused to familiar surroundings and begin asking aloud, “Hello who’s there?” They implore, “Has anything changed, or are we all still the same?” Indeed much is new with the maturity that comes after a long journey. The addition of steel guitar and cello adds to Elephant Revival’s lineup. This is the fourth studio album, with Bonnie Paine on washboard, cello, musical saw and stomp box; Bridget Law on fiddle; Charlie Rose on pedal steel, banjo, upright bass and guitar; Dango Rose on upright bass and mandolin; and Daniel Rodriguez on lead vocals, guitar and percussion.

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CD Review: Rupert Wates – Colorado Mornings, True Love Songs

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By Brian Rill

Rupert Wates is not a Colorado native, although he currently has a residence in Salida. Born in London, England and based out of New York City, Rupert travels the world playing an average of 120 yearly shows. Now he finally comes home with the release of his highly anticipated eighth album, Colorado Mornings, True Love Songs. “The Manhattan skyline may be good for a week or two, but I’m over it now. Don’t need it anyhow. And the Paris boulevards trump Second Avenue until you run out of wine, then you run out of time. I’ve said my goodbyes to the place I came from. I threw it away for the price of a song.”

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Music Review: Carin Mari – Miles Per Hour

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By Brian Rill

Buena Vista native Carin Mari has fully arrived with her first solo CD Miles Per Hour. After fourteen-year journey, her career has officially begun. Having won countless awards and performing at the Ryman Auditorium and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Carin pursues critical success with her pedigree.

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Music Review: Chuck Pyle – Cover Stories

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By Brian Rill

On Nov. 6, legendary country artist Chuck Pyle passed away unexpectedly. His body was removed from the aquamarine waters of Palmer Lake after he went fly-fishing near his historic Colorado cabin. Mr. Pyle was later pronounced deceased at the age of 70. His 13th album was recorded in January this year. The unprecedented swan song has become a final tapestry in the long tale of an enlivening songwriting career. Two thirds of Chuck’s life had been spent writing songs and traveling, singing around the countryside and playing for packed audiences in his 100 shows a year. Chuck’s legacy includes crafting special pieces for John Denver, Chris LeDoux and Jerry Jeff Walker. Mr. Pyle has performed at the opening sessions of the Colorado State Legislature. He was hailed as the favorite musician of tech giant and philanthropist Bill Gates and also appeared as a guest on the PBS series Spirit of Colorado.

A high-and-dry land drifter from dusty Iowa roads, Chuck scours the land forms searching for evidence left from a perfectly constructed plainsong. The solidly crafted tunes on Cover Stories manage to soothingly respect a Highwaymen vibe, delivering 12 songs at just the right tempo in just the right order. It’s a classic recipe for a hit country CD, duplicating immortal vibrations from 1922 when the first fiddle song was recorded on a roll of wax to the modern twang of country hymns.

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Music Review: Justin Allison – Take Me Where the Moon Lives

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By Brian Rill

A new work has come from the Howard, Colorado artist and composer Justin Allison who breathes life into a sweet set of 14 tunes. Teaming up with Grammy-nominated woodwind player Bob Rebholz on the CD Take Me Where the Moon Lives, Justin presents a tome of striking creativity. His collection of original songs gets mixed with modern arrangements from classic and contemporary artists. His anthems present an array of striking guitar chords aligned with Bob’s astounding flute solos and succulent saxophone melodies. Thelonious Monk’s swinging jazz standard, Monks Dream, is brought to life through the guitar and alto sax. The 1954 duet of Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Joy Spring jumps to the old smooth sounds of New York Bop. Innovative covers of Phyllis Molinary and Artie Butler’s Here’s To Life with the Brazilian pop tune Being Cool by Lorraine Feather and Djavan help us discover the real essence of modern jazz.

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Music Review: Free the Honey – Fine Bloom

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Fine Bloom is an album graced by three instrumental muses: mandolin player Jenny Hill, violinist Lizzy Plotkin and guitarist Katherine Taylor. In the hives of these queen bees dwells a lone upright bass player, Andrew Cameron. He works his tail off to bring home a steady beat that forms the bottom end of this talented bouquet. Gunnison-based Free the Honey was formed as a string quartet steeped in the Appalachian sound. Its traditional mixture of slow-brewed fiddle is simmered on top of a jangling banjo, which warms when cooked over hot coals. Deep, low tones of double bass penetrate, held together with the churning chunk of a mandolin. Three American girls descant a breathtaking three-part harmony, blending together their soulful whispering vocals into a thick syrupy flow. These three sirens are songwriters accustomed to the classic country tune. Southern heritage runs like long river deltas down their veins. The Central Colorado Rockies beckoned them all distinctly with an older bluegrass mythos. A simpler form of music then made its emergence from floral meadows deep beneath the shadow of a prestigious mountain.

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The Real Deal Music Review– Be.Man, The Mountain Rapper Terraforming Traditions

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Terraforming Traditions is a 2015 release by Be.Man, The Mountain Rapper. Appearing as an impressively constructed hip-hop portfolio with a serious slant toward the supernatural, rounded bottom bass beats boom along with every groove; highlighting the supremely juxtaposed radiotelegraphic frequencies extracted from the ionosphere by two innovative DJ robots. These denizens of futurity were gifts …

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The Real Deal Music Review – Pint & A Half – Blue Sky Earth

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by Brian Rill The blue sky stretches out long over the Colorado Rocky Mountains, sweeping clear onto the eastern seaboard. Then, threading back through the majestic St. Louis Arch and finally, in between towering cliffs that hang silently and over a saintly green valley. High above an obfuscated pass, followed down slowly by devout hermits, …

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The Real Deal Music Review– Jim Remington with Emmy Baskin – First Person

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by Brian Rill Jim Remington with Emmy Baskin – First Person 2014 In business school, the first paradigm of prosperity is: include a limited number of primary participants who can consistently agree upon a shared vision and contribute directly. This standard is evident from the success of Jim Remington’s newest self-made CD, First Person. Power …

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The Real Deal Music Review: Leadville Cherokee – How to Build a Fire

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By Brian Rill

A dry lake bed is perhaps the appropriate place for lighting a signal fire. That’s just what Leadville, Colorado band Leadville Cherokee has done with the release of their first studio-length album How to Build a Fire. Out of a chilly 10,000-foot mountain town, they have coveted ingredients for combustion: a large cluster of superheated gas and rock grinding together in a vacuum. Producing a loud exclamation of exaggerated activity, they are blazing the trail to ignite a new star, in the form of lead vocalist Coco Martin.

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The Real Deal Music Review

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by Brian Rill ELM – Darkness Made Light Known 2014 elmtunes.com In the damp, waterlogged hills of rural Scotland sits an old house in autumn. Vines ascend its austere stone walls, escaping an abundant landscape. Over dozens of miles a proud and majestic river known by the name of Orchy weaves under a verdant green …

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The Real Deal Music Review – Kevin Danzig, Playground

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by Brian Rill Kevin Danzig – Playground 2104 Bandanzig Music, Alma CO 2014 Alma resident Kevin Danzig just released his ninth solo album, Playground. It is a multi-instrumental and polyphonic collection including two dozen fully produced acoustic demo songs engineered in Leadville, Colorado by Grammy nominee Tim Stroth. Kevin Danzig is himself a six-time Billboard …

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