Colorado Loves Bluegrass Band Magoo

Erik Hill is enjoying some well-earned downtime after returning from a mini-run through Oklahoma and Texas earlier this month.

The shows went well, better than expected, he shares, and the vocalist-guitarist of Denver bluegrass band Magoo is feeling grateful for all the progress he and his mates have made within the past year, including hitting the Midwest for the first time over the summer.

“We started touring out of the state this year,” Hill says. “We bought a van and all that and hit the road.”

It proved to be an eye-opening experience and provided some perspective for a young crew on the come-up. But it’s nice to be home.

“If we’re on the road playing somewhere new and then we come back and play a show in Colorado, it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, these are our people,’” Hill explains, adding it was surprising to see such warm receptions in those previously untapped areas, too. “We probably took it for granted playing here. Coming back, I think that’s when we realized we got lucky here having Colorado be our homebase and home market.”

Since 2022, the quartet of Hill, Dobroist, Dylan Flynn, mandolinist Courtlyn Bills, and bassist Denton Turner has quickly become a native favorite known for its live shows and bluegrass-meets-disco-funk jams. Whether it’s headlining Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom recently or nabbing a solid second-place finish at Telluride Bluegrass Festival band competition last year, Magoo always brings it, and the crowd responds in kind.

“Colorado in general is pretty rowdy, and the fans are usually pretty die-hard, whether they’re seeing us for the first time or seen us a dozen times. The fans out here are pretty intense,” Hill says. “They love music to death. Whether we’re in a mountain town or up here playing at Cervantes’, the crowd’s pretty rowdy, hooting and hollering and dancing and singing along to the songs. It’s always a really good time, and we can tell.”  

And Hill & Co. want to reciprocate and replicate the local love.

Magoo is preparing for a mountain-town foray, starting with a sold-out New Year’s Eve gig at Buena Vista’s Surf Hotel. Then the group is meeting up with Kitchen Dwellers for two nights each in Telluride and Crested Butte to kick off 2026. The Telluride dates are Thursday, January 15, and Friday, January 16, at the Sheridan Opera House, then it’s to Crested Butte for two shows at the Center for the Arts on Saturday, January 17, and Sunday, January 18.

“We’ll definitely have some collaborations, whether we got Torrin [Daniels, Kitchen Dwellers banjo player] sit in with us, or hopefully they’ll want to have some of Magoo guys come up and jam throughout both nights,” Hill says of the upcoming Western Slope slate.

Looking ahead, Magoo is also getting ready to release its long-awaited full-length debut, What A Life, on February 27 (the April release show at Bluebird Theater is already sold out, another example of how much Colorado loves Magoo).

“We have had a lot of these songs since basically the inception of the band and even before then,” Hill explains. “Some of these originals are songs that I wrote, or Dylan or CJ wrote years and years ago, before Magoo was even a thing. It’s pretty cool to put them out into the world.”

Magoo’s shared three singles so far, including the latest, “Angel of Telluride,” featuring the undisputed King of Telluride and bluegrass icon Sam Bush. The song was inspired by the real-life love story of how Bills met that special someone at Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Bush was more than happy to help out, so the four flew to Nashville for a day to record with him — another all-time highlight.

“Just the stories he was telling in between recording, we could have sat there and listened to him tell stories about Jerry Douglas and Tony Rice and David Grisman, all these heroes of ours and his peers that he grew up playing with,” Hill recalls.

“At one point, we were like, ‘Sorry, Sam, we do actually have to record this song. We only have a little bit of time left,’” he continues. “We truly look up to him and what he’s done for bluegrass has paved the way for a lot of the nontraditional bands, especially with New Grass Revival and what he did with Béla [Fleck].”  

Living the dream, indeed. The album title and eponymous track serve an ethos as much as anything, Hill shares.

“It’s one of Courtlyn’s best songs that he’s written. I think it’s beautiful. It closes out the album. I think it’s something that people will resonate with,” he says. “That’s why we chose that as the name of the album because it’s such a great song and concept and encapsulates how our band is doing.

“All of us have been playing music since we were kids and to have this band come together and grow and have the support we’ve received has just been incredible,” Hill concludes. “We’re just so grateful for taking off like this. We don’t take it for granted, and what a life it’s been.”