Kiernan Maletsky, former Westword music writer, will take over as music editor

Westword will keep it all in the family early next month when Kiernan Maletsky, who got his start here three years ago as a freelancer music writer and intern, takes over as our new music editor. He replaces Dave Herrera, who announced in late January that he is leaving after...

By Jonathan Shikes

February 10, 2014

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Westword will keep it all in the family early next month when Kiernan Maletsky, who got his start here three years ago as a freelancer music writer and intern, takes over as our new music editor. He replaces Dave Herrera, who announced in late January that he is leaving after eleven years. Maletsky currently serves as the music editor of our sister paper, the Dallas Observer.

"The move brings me and my partner back where we came from and where we hope to stay, and it's really as simple as that," he writes in that paper's blog. "Working at the Observer has surrounded me with writers and editors as smart and passionate as any journalist could hope to keep as company, and North Texas is home to more skilled, inventive musicians than I could have known if I'd lived here another 30 years."

But Colorado came calling, he continues.

"My favorite piece of American interstate is a horrible stretch in eastern Colorado between Burlington and Limon. If you hit it heading west, you've probably spent most of the day on the treadmill that is I-70 through Kansas, and the plains stretch for hours ahead. And then the road bends around a little hill and when you get beyond it you see the Rocky Mountains for the first time.

"I grew up in the shadow of the mountains and got my start as a music writer there. So when I get close to that hill on I-70, I queue up the biggest guitar riff in my CD collection (lately "A More Perfect Union" by Titus Andronicus). Every time it's a little bit different, depending on where I'm coming from."

Maletsky grew up in Monument and graduated from the University of Missouri's Journalism School. In addition to his work at Westword, he's written about music for several publications including The Colorado Springs Independent. He spent two years as the music editor for the Riverfront Times in St. Louis before taking the job at the Observer.

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Jonathan Shikes is a Denver native who writes about business and beer for Westword.

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