By Alan Crandall/Previously published at the DailyCamera.com
Well I can’t tell you how much fun these Meeting on the Mountains are to attend. They are intimate, fun, informative and did I mention fun. I was at the first one in Denver and I look forward to attending the series.
Here are some photos from the the Inaugural Meeting on the Mountain held March 1, 2015.
Here is the skinny from a recent press release:
Denver, CO — Meeting on the Mountain, a new collaborative live broadcast experience, kicks off their second event on Sunday, May 3rd, 2015 at 7pm at Cervantes’ Other Side in Denver, CO. Todd Scheaffer of Railroad Earth, Ragged Union, and Benny “Burle” Galloway will be joining in on the fun with host band, The Grant Farm, for this second Meeting on the Mountain experience, with Tyler Grant hosting. The rousing live one-hour broadcast includes performances as well as interviews with each act and gives The Grant Farm the opportunity to collaborate with some of their favorite musicians.
Meeting on The Mountain is thrilled to have partnered with Breckenridge Brewery of Colorado and Ripstic Vaporizers for the season. Look out for news and fun contests from them leading up to the next Meeting on the Mountain.
There will be five installments of MOTM in 2015 featuring a variety of artists. Each event is hosted by Tyler Grant with The Grant Farm as the house band. It will be recorded, video-streamed live, and rebroadcast at meetingonthemountain.com. The broadcast is followed by a concert with sets from each band.
Meeting on the Mountain is filmed and broadcast by Fort Collins-based Hyphytek. The complete deluxe edition re-broadcast of the Inaugural Meeting on the Mountain (3/1/15), along with bonus footage from the night, is now available to view online at meetingonthemountain.com. It features interviews and performances with Jilian and Bill Nershi, Dead Winter Carpenters, Benny “Burle” Galloway and The Grant Farm with host Tyler Grant.
The Meeting on the Mountain concept was inspired by a collaborative 4-song EP, entitled Meeting on the Mountain (Sept 2014), which features music by The Grant Farm with Fruition. The song, “Meet me on the Mountain” (written by Fruition’s Jay Cobb Anderson and Tyler Grant) conjures a laid back campfire sing-a-long vibe which embodies the spirit of the new Meeting on the Mountain series and is also the theme song for it.
“It was really a fit of inspiration,” explains Grant [in an interview with 5280], discussing how a one-off partnership turned into the series Meeting on the Mountain. ‘That [EP] just captured a certain amount of magic, and I wanted to continue with the ‘meeting on the mountain’ theme. I wanted it to be a regular concept, where we could incorporate musical guests we admire and/or have some kind of connection to.’”
Watch a video introduction of the series by Tyler Grant here-> www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeLM-
Meet the May 3rd Meeting on the Mountain Players:
Todd Shaeffer’s life story…is still being written… For now you know him as the erstwhile front man / singer of amazing roots grass band Railroad Earth and may remember that he also was the frontman and key member of From Good Homes. These labels do not define him however, they are only mere reference points for an artist / singer / songwriter who continually creates his best work every day!
Ragged Union is a six-piece, hard-driving bluegrass band, performing original tunes and off-the-beaten-path standards, with a focus on the duet singing of husband-and-wife pair Geoff and Christina Union. Award-winning instrumental work, a powerful rhythmic drive, uptempo arrangements and edgy, outsider songwriting are the marks of their style. Influences include Red Allen, Danny Paisley, John Hartford, Danny Barnes, Alan Munde, Jesse McReynolds, and Vassar Clements, with a side of Texas and a healthy dose of the blues. Along with Geoff and Christina, Ragged Unicon includes Chris Elliot on banjo, Jordan Ramsey on mandolin & vocals, Pat Hoeper on fiddle & vocals, and Andrew Bonnis on upright bass.
The host band, Grant Farm is a band on a mission. Lead by National Flatpicking Guitar Champion Tyler Grant (Emmitt/Nershi Band), the talented four-piece is built on the foundation of love, family and the joy of music. The permanent lineup of Grant Farm is Tyler “The Champ” Grant on electric guitar and vocals, uber-talented Adrian “ACE” Engfer on bass and vocals, rock solid Sean “Magic” Macaulay on drums and the phenomenally prodigious Kevin McHugh on keyboards.
Benny “Burle” Galloway, resident colorado songwriting collaborator and musician who’s first experience at Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 1978 set off his embracement of what true American music stood for. Having moved to Denver in his teens with a guitar and a stack of records, Galloway found the area teemed with progressive sounds, plenty of like minded people to play music with, an abundance of music friendly events, and places to pick and sing. After hearing Hot Rize, John Hartford, Norman Blake, New Grass Revival and Leon Russell, it was evident to “Burle” that he had just found a deep well from which to draw new musical ideas and directions. Burle absorbed every sound available from rock to gospel and began crafting his powerful songwriting skills. In the past decade, Burle has collaborated and played with the finest of musicians and bands in America. His longtime producer and friend Sally Van Meter, Scott Law, Nick Forster, Jerry Douglas, Yonder Mountain String Band, Danny Barnes, Larry and Jenny Keel, Darol Anger, Sam Grisman, John and Rebecca Frazier, Rob Wasserman, Shawn Camp, Jon Wiesberger, Travis Book, Mark Epstein, Robin Davis, Jon Stickley, Tyler Grant Jordan Ramsey, Pete Kartsounes, The Infamous Stringdusters, Leftover Salmon, Great American Taxi, Emmitt Nershi Band, Head for the Hills, The Grant Farm, Broke Mountain, The Wayword Sons, Town Mountain, Espresso, and many more!
For more information about the new Meeting on the Mountain LIVE broadcast series, please visit www.meetingonthemountain.com, www.cervantesmasterpiece.com, and www.grantfarm.net.