Willie Nelson

Ask a Stoner: Will smoking pot kill my sperm?

The ten best music books of 2012

This year, ambitious new books tackled the lives of music legends from Neil Young to Pete Townshend -- and many of these 2012 releases managed to burst through genres to offer significantly more than the average biography. We at Backbeat explored memoirs, historical surveys, ruminations on philosoph ... More >>

HoodLamb will celebrate the hemp lifestyle and art at HoodLab tonight

HoodLamb is a vibrant hemp company that landed in Colorado when it decided to expand beyond Europe, where it was founded almost two decades ago. With this area's growing cannabis culture, as well as lively art and music scenes, Denver seemed the perfect place to infuse with both its product and proj ... More >>

Austin's unveiling its Willie Nelson statue at 4:20. That's...Crazy.

Five acts with more taxing problems than you

See Also: • Tax Evasion: How to live like a rock star -- and pay taxes like one, too. As the saying goes: There are only two things that are certain and unavoidable in this life -- death and taxes. And while both might be causing folks to lose sleep these days (you didn't forget tax time is upon ... More >>

Video: Chipotle's Grammy commercial with Willie Nelson doing Coldplay: What'd ya think?

Chipotle: It's all about going back to the start.​Ah, yes, Chipotle's new commercial, its first ever, apparently. Completely forgot about this until just now, actually. Last summer, our pal Laura Shunk wrote about this little moving picture on the Cafe Society blog. She dug it. Found it "quirk ... More >>

Wild horses: Documentary exposes abuse and decimation of Colorado herd (VIDEO)

Anaquad-Kleinert.​The Bureau of Land Management's efforts to remove thousands of wild horses from public lands -- supposedly for their own good -- has generated outrage among mustang advocates across the country, as well as numerous YouTube glimpses of the brutality of the roundups. Now a docu ... More >>

Facebook gets worked up over Nevermind: Ten notably more offensive album covers (NSFW)

​This week, Facebook claimed the cover of Nirvana's Nevermind, which features a baby and his hanging do-dad, violated its terms of use when it was displayed on the official Nirvana fan page. The social networking site later reversed its decision, but it can only be assumed it was initially due ... More >>

Review: Willie Nelson at Red Rocks, 6/21/2011

​WILLIE NELSON at RED ROCKS | 06.21.11"While Willie Nelson is still a solid player and performer, seeing him these days is about nostalgia for a lot of people. These aren't the best versions of songs like "Crazy" and "Aint It Funny," but seeing Nelson up on stage performing them is as heartwar ... More >>

4/20 rally in Denver: To legalize or not to legalize... wait, what is the question?

​You walk into Civic Center Park, and immediately you smell it. Happy 4/20, everybody. You keep walking, slowly at first, like a teen at his first day of high school. Where to go first? There are so many people -- some smoking joints, some peddling hand-outs, all wearing the symbol of a mariju ... More >>

Willie Nelson's freedom for a song? Alternate sentencing ideas for musician's who screw up

​We all love when stars get busted. There's nothing better than seeing that terr-awesome mug shot online, but face it, we're a little tired of the same old punishment. In Willie Nelson's recent pot bust, the judge got wicked creative and suggested he sing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" in the ... More >>

Swans at Summit Music Hall, 2/22/11

Tom MurphySwans​ SWANS With Wooden Wand 02.22.11 | Summit Music Hall Last night, James Jackson Toth, aka Wooden Wand, was joined by two other guitar players -- Brian Lowery and William Tyler. And although there were three guitars and the guys were playing through Orange amps, they did not pr ... More >>

Lil' Jon's tax woes: He's not alone. Here's five of the biggest celebrity tax evaders

​The IRS loves leaning on rich people for tax evasion. Case in point, reports have surfaced that Lil' Jon (whose house was just foreclosed on in August) is on the hook for $638,000. It's certainly not easy to do taxes if you're a musician -- or any type of entertainer for that matter -- which ... More >>

Cypress Hill, Willie Nelson, Natalie Merchant top sellers at local record stores

​While no specific artist dominated sales across the board at local record stores for the week ending April 25, Natalie Merchant's Leave Your Sleep, Cypress Hill's Rise Up Willie Nelson's Country Music claimed the top spots at Albums on the Hill, Independent Records and Twist & Shout, respect ... More >>

Have yourself a good ol' time at Ristau's Roadhouse

Heavy Rotation, our top spins for the week of August 17, 2009

​As music critics, the most common question we get asked (and ask each other, for that matter) is, "What are you listening to?" The pervasiveness of this query is precisely what inspired Heavy Rotation, our latest feature. For the benefit of those who happen to be curious, we've compiled a list of ... More >>

It hurts so good at the Trailside Saloon

Denver Blogs: When in Florence, it's kind of hard to be governor

When he's not hanging with Willie Nelson, Bill Ritter is... hanging in Italy? Here some links to things about things we hope may interest you. If not, come back tomorrow and we'll give it another go. Feel free to try to influence us. What might help Bill Ritter fix Colorado is being in Colorado. ( ... More >>

Shockingly, the Fray captures top spot at Twist & Shout

The Fray dominates Twist & ShoutOkay, clearly we're being sarcastic with that headline, for it comes as very little surprise that the Fray captured the top spot at Twist & Shout this week. We're not privy to the actual SoundScan numbers yet, but suffice it to say, we're eager to see if inter ... More >>

Music out of context: the serendipitous mix

Of all the changes technology has wrought to my listening habits and way of experiencing music, the biggest impact has come from the way my iPod destroys context.The most obvious benefit of the iPod revoution is the convenience of having thousands -- even tens of thousands -- songs in your pocket. ... More >>

Hot Buttered (Green) Rum

Top 10 Reissues of 2008

Over the next couple of weeks, Backbeat will feature some Top Ten lists from around the Village Voice Media chain. Click here for previous year-in-review coverage from Backbeat and VVM. It's time to rank the best of what went around and came around again. BILLY JOEL The Stranger (Columbia/Legacy ... More >>

Family Ties

Los Lonely Boys rock out with Hill Country Revue.

Rearview: The Week in Review (8/23/08-8/29/08)

DNC Party Scene: Monday Night

Mini Reviews

45 Second Reviews: pureNRG, Puscifer, Robyn, Santogold

Willie Nelson

Moment of Forever
Lost Highway

Cred Sheet

Stuff you need to know about to avoid cultural ostracism.

Willie Nelson

Songbird
Lost Highway

The Lunch Bunch

The Lunch Bunch

Willie Nelson

Sunday, September 3, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, 303-830-8497.

Sinéad O'Connor

Throw Down Your Arms (Sanctuary Records)

Critic's Choice

Critic's Choice

Carla Bozulich

Dwight Yoakam

Population Me (Audium Entertainment)

Townes Van Zandt

Texas Rain: The Texas Hill Country Recordings, The Best of Townes Van Zandt (Tomato)
A Gentle Evening With Townes Van Zandt (Dualtone)

Something Wicked This Way Comes

These cops have a beat, but can you dance to it?

Hit Pick

Denver Rescue Mission Benefit

Honky-Tonkin'

Two-steppin' through a slew of recent country releases.

Year-End Close-Out

We've got 1998's best albums in stock, but they're going fast.

Feedback

Night & Day

August 20 - 26, 1998

The Albanian Candidate

Cash on the Barrelhead

After a period of obscurity, Johnny Cash is once again a wanted man.

The Prize Patrol

The biggest musical winners from 1996.

Free Willie

A gospel album on a Denver record label is the latest step in the rehabilitation of Willie Nelson's career.

Running on Fumes

Seven years down the road, the members of Gas Huffer are breathing easier.

CADDY SHOCK