Ten of the Best Guitarists in Denver — 2016 Edition

While New York, Los Angeles and Nashville have long been home bases to the world’s most talented guitarists, but around Denver there are plenty of top-notch musicians who haven’t fled for more coastal climes. To select our city’s greatest players, we polled our music writers and considered technical proficiency, style, originality and more. We’ve rounded up ten of the best guitarists in Denver, appearing here in alphabetical order. Let us know who we missed.

Ra Ra Riot Keeps Rolling With the Changes

It’s been eight months since New York indie rockers Ra Ra Riot released Need Your Light, the band’s fourth full-length studio album, and since then, 2016 has been a constant stream of touring, press responsibilities and more touring. Ten years into its existence, Ra Ra Riot has got the recording/touring…

Mac Miller, Young the Giant and the Best Concerts in Denver This Week

Mac Miller headlines Halloween on the Rocks tonight with a bevy of openers including Vince Staples, BIG K.R.I.T., Pouya and more. The Naked and Famous, Car Seat Headrest, Chelsea Grin and Itchy-O are also playing Halloween night. Young the Giant takes over the Ogden Theatre for two nights, A$AP Ferg is at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom tomorrow, Hiss Golden Messenger is at the Bluebird Theater on Wednesday and Bettye LaVette is at the Oriental Theater on Thursday. See our full list of picks below.

High-Fiving Titus Andronicus: La Sera Talks Physics, Touring and Holiday Plans

I catch Katy Goodman as her van pulls into a gas station in rural Oklahoma. She’s been on the road all morning, and her back is killing her. Not that this is all that surprising: Touring is a slog, and driving through the extensive Midwestern farmlands that separate major cities is especially brutal. And gas station yoga sessions only do so much against the grueling eight-hour trek from Dallas to Kansas City.

Widespread Panic, DeVotchKa and the Best Concerts in Denver This Weekend

There are a ton of Halloween shows and parties this weekend, including Widespread Panic’s three-night run at the 1STBANK Center, DeVotchKa’s annual Halloween run on Friday and Saturday at the Boulder Theater, the Infamous Stringdusters’ Big Top Halloween at the Fillmore Auditorium, Cherub at Red Rocks and Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe performing Prince’s Dirty Mind with Fishbone’s Angelo Moore. Also on tap this weekend are Joan Baez, Gang of Four, Screaming Females and the Sword. See the full list of our picks below.

The Pretenders Shopped at Denver’s Rockmount Ranch Wear

New Wave has gone country.  Yesterday members of long-running rock band the Pretenders stopped in to Rockmount Ranch Wear, the downtown Denver purveyor of classic Western wear that frequently draws celebrity visitors.  “We never know who is going to walk in the door,” Steve Weil, president of Rockmount Ranch Wear,…

Always Human Tapes Showcase Will Be an Audiovisual Cornucopia

Theater Electronic-music imprint Always Human TapesTheater is putting on a showcase of its artists over three days at the ATLAS Black Box Theater on the CU Boulder campus and at 1010 Workshop in Denver. Ryan Wurst founded the label in the summer of 2013 while earning his master’s degree in visual…

Purity Ring and HEALTH Prove That Noise Can Be Pop Music, Too

The definition of “pop music” is a constantly evolving — as a genre, it’s easily impressionable and malleable while also being a great fortune-teller of what and how the rest of popular culture will present itself in the moment. That’s also what makes pop music so wonderful — it is…