Category Archives: Colorado Songs

Interstate Highway 70 (I-70) is a major East-West highway running from western Utah to Baltimore, Maryland.  It passes through ten states.  In a sense it is the alpha and omega of the interstate highway system.  That system was initiated by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, signed into law by President Eisenhower on June 29,Continue reading “I-70 WESTBOUND (BY THE RAILBENDERS)”

In preparing this series, I have looked at a number of other people’s lists of Colorado Songs. Can you believe that none of them have included “On the Natural,” by Hoyt Axton?  I am putting it on my list to set that travesty to rights. I previously mentioned this song in passing while discussing Chapter 9Continue reading “ON THE NATURAL (BY HOYT AXTON)”

The String Cheese Incident (“SCI”) is your typical Colorado bluegrass-Afro-Latin-Calypso-electronica fusion jam band.  The group started in 1993 when several musicians from Telluride and Crested Butte got together to do some jamming.  During their early days, they played at various Western ski areas for lift tickets.  As their popularity increased, they moved to Boulder inContinue reading “COLORADO BLUEBIRD SKY (BY THE STRING CHEESE INCIDENT)”

Singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt (whose full name was John Townes Van Zandt) was an enigmatic, perhaps singularly talented individual.  He never had a hit song, and most people probably don’t even know his name.  Nevertheless, he was quite influential in the music business and his songs – the best known of which are “Pancho andContinue reading “COLORADO GIRL (BY TOWNES VAN ZANDT)”

The natural beauty and the interesting people of Colorado have inspired many wonderful songs through the years.  In this series of posts, we look at some of the best of these. The songs considered to date are: A Mile High in Denver, by Jimmy Buffett America the Beautiful The Ballad of Alferd Packer, by PhilContinue reading “COLORADO SONGS”

The fog on a London morning is not the same as the toxic haze of Beijing, and both are different from the the wide open vistas of Montana’s Big Sky Country. Songs like Paul Simon’s “Under African Skies” and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Ole Buttermilk Sky” evoke images of particular and distinct locales. The sky that isContinue reading “BOULDER SKIES (BY PURE PRAIRIE LEAGUE)”

I have just returned from a week in Florida where there seems to be a law that tourists are required to listen to Jimmy Buffett’s “drunken Caribbean rock ‘n’ roll.”  Down there, nobody even thinks about – and perhaps they don’t even know about – Jimmy’s long-time ties to Colorado, which began no later than 1970Continue reading “A MILE HIGH IN DENVER (By Jimmy Buffett)”

By special request, this installment of Colorado Songs considers a song that is actually called “Colorado,” written by Rick Roberts. Often, it is difficult to determine what may have motivated or inspired the composer of a song.  That is not the case here because Rick Roberts wrote a book called Song Stories and Other Left-Handed RecollectionsContinue reading “COLORADO (BY RICK ROBERTS)”

In the mid-1960s, the most popular rock band in Colorado was the Boenzee Cryque (pronounced BEN-ZEE CRICK), which was formed in 1964 by Sam Bush, who later started the new Grass Revival, and several of his friends.  The personnel changed from time to time as members were drafted, married, moved and pursued other interests.  Still,Continue reading “ROCKY MOUNTAIN BREAKDOWN (BY POCO)”