Bands & Musicians in Colorado

Colorado's identity is bound to Red Rocks, the sandstone amphitheatre that has hosted acts from the Beatles onward, and to the Caribou Ranch studio near Nederland, where Elton John recorded. Aspen's folk scene drew John Denver, while Boulder produced Hot Rize's progressive bluegrass and jam band the String Cheese Incident. Denver now turns out indie rock, electronic producers like Pretty Lights, and soul revivalist Nathaniel Rateliff.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison is the state's flagship stage, with the Ogden Theatre, Bluebird Theater, and Summit covering Denver's club tiers. Boulder holds the Fox Theatre and Boulder Theater, the Mishawaka Amphitheatre sits up the Poudre Canyon, and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival turns the box canyon into a picking destination each summer.

The String Cheese Incident formed in Crested Butte, Big Head Todd and the Monsters and the Fray came out of the Boulder-Denver corridor, OneRepublic started in Colorado Springs, and electronic producer Pretty Lights emerged from Fort Collins. Nathaniel Rateliff built his following in Denver.

Denver concentrates the work: clubs along Colfax Avenue and South Broadway, jam-band bills at Cervantes' in Five Points, and a deep pool of pickers. Boulder's university blocks and the Colorado State scene in Fort Collins keep the college circuit busy, and ski towns hire cover bands all winter. BandMate can connect musicians across the Front Range.