Category: Writing

Local Crews Help Build Country Jam’s Success

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This article originally appears in the Spring 2019 issue of Spoke + Blossom magazine. 

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Each year in early June, semi trucks filled with concert equipment descend on Jam Ranch in Mack, Colorado. Awaiting their arrival are small crews of sound engineers, stage hands, and festival organizers. They’ll spend the next several days busily sorting and assembling the main stages, sound systems, and general framework for Country Jam.

For nearly three decades Country Jam crews have transformed the open ranch land off I-70 exit 11 into one of the largest country music festivals in the U.S. Featuring top country music stars and attracting thousands of music fans from across the country for a four-day honky tonk, Country Jam is the premier live music event in Western Colorado.  

Thousands of work hours go in to pulling off the Jam, many of which are supplied by local crews tirelessly working behind the scenes to make sure every aspect of the event runs smoothly.

This year, for the first time in the festival’s history, Snob Productions, a Grand Junction based production company, will handle all aspects of Country Jam. Audio, video, lighting, and staging will all be assembled from the ground up by Snob.  

“We are super excited about Country Jam,” Snob Productions owner David Wall said. “It’s one of those events we’ve been working towards for a number of years. We’ve built up our reputation with the organizers and they’ve put their trust in us to run the event. It’s also cool to keep that contract local and that money local.”

Planning for this year’s Jam has been in the works essentially since last year’s event. Wall and crew have been meticulously ramping up effort as the event date gets closer and will use roughly 20 – 30 employees, a majority of which are local based.   

“I’ve worked some different [live] events and have seen it all, good and bad,” longtime Country Jam stagehand and stage manager Vernon Walker said. “We are pretty lucky to have a solid local crew that’s been doing it for a long time. Without them the show couldn’t happen.“

West Middle School principal by day, music fan boy by night, Walker has been working the Jam since 1998. Building the main structure, providing grunt labor for the performers’ tour crew, troubleshooting tech and audio issues, even playing tour guide to Chris LeDoux and suggesting which local golf course to play, is all part of the job.   

“Being around live music really attracted me to the job. There are few things cooler than live music. Seeing what goes into putting off a show like this is addictive,” Walker said.

Once all the structures are built and the festival gates open, local crews stick around to help shuttle gear during set changes, protect equipment from inclement weather, operate spotlights, and take on any unanticipated task that needs to be completed. While the performers get all the attention, it’s the anonymous local crews who work to ensure fans and performers have a great Country Jam experience.  

Country Jam 2019 is June 13-16, and features headliners Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, Little Big Town, and Alabama. Tickets are available at countryjam.com.

Country JamPhoto courtesy of Country Jam. 

Nathaniel Rateliff

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This article originally appears in the Winter 2018 issue of Spoke + Blossom magazine. 

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Atop the Colorado music scene sit Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. Since the release of their 2015 eponymous debut album, the band is one must-see act currently active in the Colorado music scene. Led by their powerfully charismatic songwriter-and-lead-singer Rateliff, the Night Sweats are totally worthy of the accolades and love the state has shown them.

Even casual music fans will know the boisterous, bearded Rateliff from headlining gigs at Red Rocks, annual holiday shows at the Ogden Theater in Denver, or multiple appearances on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Rateliff and Co., fueled by a little bit of vintage soul and classic rock charm, have struck a chord with music fans around the state — and the world.

The band’s success, however, is still a relatively new phenomenon. Before Colorado was a trendy destination for twentysomethings, before Open Air on Colorado Public Radio championed local music through the airwaves, back when the Underground Music Showcase was indeed an underground music showcase, Denver music fans will remember Rateliff as a mildly successful folk/gospel artist, and not as the headlining frontman from the Night Sweats.

Venture through old YouTube videos of Rateliff playing solo gigs, and you will find a denim-clad songwriter with the voice and chops primed for a breakout. Listen closely to his acoustic work, and you will also hear the early influences and song structures that the Night Sweats developed to great success.

Rateliff’s solo music is slower and a bit more tender than that of the Night Sweats. Often strumming a nylon-string classical guitar, Rateliff is an introspective storyteller. His work on the 2013 album Falling Faster Than You Can Run demonstrates his ability to pierce the soul with little more than his voice and a thoughtful lyric.

As a solo artist Rateliff found a reasonable amount of success touring the country. He was featured in multiple music blogs and magazines like Spin and Paste Magazine, as well as the documentary Austin to Boston, which shows the highs and lows of musicians on a low-budget cross-country tour in a caravan of old Volkswagen buses.

For music fans who missed his career as a solo artist, this archival footage shows that it was all there in the early days. Rateliff’s songwriting and massive voice were well-honed before people really started to pay attention. If you can entertain a bar with just your voice and a simple guitar riff, then you’ve really got something. Rateliff’s always had it.

Lucky locals enjoyed a rare chance to see a more retro Rateliff perform a stripped-down set opening for folk icon John Prine, who himself is having quite a moment following the release of his recent album, The Tree of Forgiveness. Their November 8 show at the Avalon Theatre in Grand Junction was just one of a handful of concerts together. (Western Slopers have another chance to see Rateliff, along with the Night Sweats, at the Belly Up in Aspen on December 15 and 16.)

Regarding the significance of playing alongside a living legend like Prine, Rateliff remarked, “We keep losing all this magic as people pass away, and now we just have to start making it for ourselves again.” Whether solo or with the Sweats, Rateliff has proven himself a magician indeed.

Downtown Art Scene

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This article originally appears in the Winter 2018 issue of Spoke + Blossom magazine. 

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Downtown Grand Junction streets are lined with sculptures, monuments, and interactive art pieces, all vying for our attention. These colorful wood, metal, and fused-glass installations inspire whimsy, curiosity, and Instagram photos from thousands of tourists and local visitors who flock downtown to enjoy Grand Junction’s most popular destination for art and culture.

With music venues, art galleries, and a rotating Art on the Corner exhibit, Downtown Grand Junction has made significant investments in the artistic community.

“We are striving to be art friendly,” says Downtown Grand Junction Marketing and Communications Specialist Caitlyn Love. “With new programs like Street Beat, Electric Art, and the downtown mural projects, we try to be supportive of art projects and the creative community.”

The beauty and vibrancy we enjoy today is largely thanks to Dave Davis, a visionary sculptor and magnet in the Colorado art scene. Davis, who passed away this past August in his Clifton art studio, was key in jumpstarting downtown’s investment in the arts by founding Art on the Corner in 1984. The public art project helped galvanize a community still dealing with the fallout of the infamous “Black Sunday” oil-shale bust of 1982.

What originally started as a downtown beautification and revitalization project has now grown to be a proven economic driver for downtown businesses and artists.

“Art on the Corner is a huge draw for the downtown area,” Love says. “It brings so many people together, and it gives visitors a chance to connect with artists and see their unique style.”

For sculpture artists like Pavia Justinian, Art on the Corner and similar programs are invaluable chances to connect with art collectors and sell their work.

“Big art displays well. Small art sells well,” Justinian says. “People may not buy a big sculpture, but they might contact me later to see if other work is available for purchase. It’s great publicity for artists.”

Artists who take advantage of programs like Art on the Corner can collect multiple stipends on work that would be valued in the tens of thousands but may be difficult to sell. For sculpture artists in particular, these stipends are one of the few realistic ways to monetize their art.

“Dave really laid the groundwork for other cities to emulate Art on the Corner,” Justinian says. “Now that other cities have similar programs, there is more opportunity for me to get art on public display, and a way to make money.”

Justinian is a graduate of Colorado Mesa University and a former apprentice under Davis. Through Davis’ guidance she learned new artistic techniques and trade skills, like how to weld and work with various metals. Now an accomplished sculptor, Justinian has shown her work in exhibits across the West. In 2016, she won Best in Show in Art on the Corner for “Sigma.” In this year’s collection, she debuted a new piece made in collaboration with Davis, called “Untitled.” Davis and Justinian finished this abstract sculpture about one month before his passing, and it is likely his last completed sculpture.

For working artists, opportunity is everything. Now, thanks to a new designation, there may be more opportunities for artists coming to the downtown area. Recently, Downtown Grand Junction was awarded Creative District status by Colorado Creative Industries. The goal of the designation is to draw artists to the downtown community and foster local economic activity through the arts. According to Love, it brings Downtown Grand Junction more opportunities for grant funding and helps it get on Colorado Department of Transportation signage, which means more statewide exposure.

“The potential of a creative art district is exciting,” Justinian says. “I’m excited to see where it goes, but if you’re going to be a creative district it needs to be something more than the name.”

Throughout history, Downtown Grand Junction has reinvented itself for the better. It’s taken bold leaders with big ideas to guide the future of the area. Community leaders came together in 1962 to complete Operation Foresight, an innovative city design project that added the iconic curve to Main Street and won Grand Junction the All-American City award. Davis created Art on the Corner 22 years later, further adding to the beauty and economic diversity of downtown. Now a new opportunity presents itself with the Creative District designation. The only question is, who will have the next great idea to build upon Downtown Grand Junction’s growing vitality?

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“Affirmation Station” by Timothy Flood photo by Caitlyn Love.