Before Shovels and Rope performed Saturday night at the Ogden Theatre, the crowd there was trying to claim them. There was plenty of discussion about the potential Colorado roots of husband-and-wife-duo Michael Trent and Carry Ann Herst, who champion Charleston, South Carolina as their hometown. See also: Eleven Famous Musicians…

On Halloween night, Lucinda Williams cut into the core of her songs, performing a bare-bones acoustic set at Twist and Shout and offering a preview of her appearance tonight at the Ogden Theatre. Upon entering, fans were given the option of purchasing her excellent new album, Down Where The Spirit…

The music that Blake Brown makes with Bare Bones could be considered a throwback, so it’s only fitting that it all started in a museum. While working at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Brown struck up a conversation with co-worker and current bandmate Freida Stalheim, formerly of Munly and…

Nashville’s Madi Diaz has been preparing to be a musician her whole life. A Berklee College of Music grad who started playing piano at age five, Diaz is touring in support of her recent three-song EP, Far From the Things We Know, which previews tracks from her upcoming album. In…

AGAINST ME! at WARPED TOUR | 8/5/11Without delving into the history of the Vans Warped tour, it can be argued that a lot about it has changed. What started as a tour meant to showcase punk-rock rebellion has now become a major cog in the corporate machine — attaching itself…

No one can accuse the members of ManCub — Danny Stillman and Alex Anderson — of not being original. Their respective musical backgrounds are both centered around traditional music styles, from metal to mathy indie rock, but with ManCub, the pair decided to do away with the traditional format of…

Throughout history, men have muttered a multitude of cheesy lines in attempts to lure women into bed. On their latest album, Spark the Revival, members of the Alan Baird Project seem to have gathered as many of these lines as they could and put them to music. With a sound…

MUMFORD & SONS at the FILLMORE | 06.15.11″Mumford and his mates certainly did their best to show the crowd one of the greatest shows they have seen in recent memory.”…

When people classify the music that Cannons is making, they have a tendency to be grossly inaccurate. Boasting members from some of Denver’s most established metal acts, the band often gets a metal designation assigned to it. A closer listen, however, makes it apparent that this is far from an…

If artists like England’s Mumford and Sons continue to produce some of the best music of the genre, the term “Americana” may eventually have to be replaced. Using classic American folk-rock ingredients like banjo, dobro and good old-fashioned misery, the band has become an increasingly growing musical phenomenon. Its debut…

When starting any new relationship, you generally look for positive traits in a person as a way of gauging compatibility. For the members of Il Cattivo — whose name roughly translates from Italian to “the horrid” — it was the negative qualities they all possessed that brought them together. “I…

Admittedly, not much has changed about Boldtype’s music since the band formed in 2002. It’s still pop-punk in its purest form, borrowing heavily from influences like Millencolin and Good Riddance while not really splicing in other genres. Luckily, Boldtype has gotten very, very good at this style. The group’s latest…

On his last album, 2009’s Animals in the Dark, William Elliott Whitmore sang about the pulse of strange eyes glowing outside his Iowa farm and how closely they connected with the “malicious politicians with nefarious schemes” making his life hell in Washington. No matter what he sings about, it’s understood…

Tim Browne always knew that being a talkative and outgoing drunk would eventually pay off. One night, the perfect mixture of cocktails and dreams led the Elway frontman to start up a conversation with Brendan Kelly of the Lawrence Arms, which eventually led to a recording contract. “I always like…

For the sake of this review, the bands that the members of Il Cattivo used to be in will not be mentioned. While there are a lot of them, the names will not be listed here, out of respect — because Il Cattivo’s debut album is better than anything those…

Boldtype has been a staple in the Denver punk scene for nearly a decade. The band, which formed in 2002, has seen numerous members come and go through the years but has managed to keep its sound and punk-rock ideals intact. Clearly influenced by ’90s punk acts like Millencolin and…

To call the members of the Black Dots voyeurs might be a stretch — but they certainly like to watch. For the past few years, singer/guitarist Wade Henderson and his wife, bassist Nicole, have been staples at numerous shows throughout the metro area — up front and singing along to…

Last year’s The Big To-Do was Drive-By Truckers’ most hard-rocking album since 2001’s Southern Rock Opera. On To-Do, the Athens, Georgia, group told tales of four-day drinking binges, courtroom miseries and bar-room brawls. The Truckers, who formed way back in 1996, have always been considered by many to be the…