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Swallow Hill Music is a Denver, Colorado based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and preserving roots, acoustic and folk music. The school is inspired by the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. Swallow Hill hosts hundreds of concerts a year ranging from national acts, such as Sheryl Crow and Josh Ritter, to many talented local artists and former students. [1] [2]
In 1962, Harry Tuft created the Denver Folklore Center in the Swallow Hill neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. The DFC quickly became the place to be, and in no time grew to be one square block. It included a music store, repair shop, music store, and concert hall.
In 1971, the Denver Folklore Center Concert Hall was built and through most of the 70s experienced exceptional success. The concert hall brought in artists like Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, Bette White and many others, establishing a solid reputation to a business that had already been acclaimed by many. The late Rocky Mountain News can be quoted as calling the DFC “a place of good reputation among artists in many other cities.” [3]
Unfortunately during the late 70s the neighborhood that surrounded the DFC began to decline dramatically. Tuft and many of the centers supporters got together to come up with a solution that would help support local folk music and the artists that inhabit it. This solution is now known as the non-profit Swallow Hill Music Association. This new organization would soon relieve the DFC of both the concert hall and music school.
In the 80s, Swallow Hill and the DFC made the move from the old location to a new location at 440 South Broadway. One problem with the new complex was there was not enough space to home a concert hall. Therefore, Swallow Hill rented numerous concert venues around the Denver area to accommodate their concerts. Another big moment during this era for Swallow Hill was the formation of the first newsletter titled Simple Gifts.
During the 90s, Swallow Hill drastically expanded in a very short amount of time. The organization began the decade remodeling their new Pearl Street building, forming their first choir, Thursday night jams, and the new Folkathon.
As their school and opportunities began to cover more ground, so did the population of supporters and customers. Soon the new Pearl Street building could no longer hold the capacity of people joining the organization. Thus their current home at 71 East Yale was opened to the public on the day of the organizations 20th anniversary.
The Swallow Hill Music school was founded in 1979. In 2002, Swallow Hill Music made the decision to honor one of their most inspiring of colleagues, Julie Davis, by naming the music school after her. Davis became heavily involved in improving the school in 1984, and served as the director from 1986 to 1995. Currently, the school hosts 40,000 students a year and has classes for just about every level, genre, and age group. [4]
Trevor Emery, Walt DeHaven, Lori Fox, Grace Hanover, Kyle Harris, Jim Leonard, George Lyford, Gavin O’Toole, Dave Ratner, Rob Silk, Tracy Zabel
The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado. The university was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has officially changed its name three times, first to Colorado State College of Education, at Greeley on February 16, 1935, Colorado State College on February 11, 1957, and its current form since May 1, 1970. Approximately 10,000 students are enrolled in six colleges. Extended campus locations are in Loveland, Denver/Aurora, and Colorado Springs. UNC's 19 athletic teams compete in NCAA Division I athletics.
Josh Ritter is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author who performs and records with the Royal City Band. Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2006, he was named one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" by Paste magazine.
Located in the city and county of Denver, Colorado, the Capitol Hill neighborhood is bordered by Broadway, Downing Street, Colfax Avenue, and Seventh Avenue, which carry large volumes of traffic around the neighborhood. It is technically located in East Denver which begins immediately east of Broadway, the neighborhood's western boundary. Many consider the Cheesman Park neighborhood to be a part of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, but as defined by the city, Cheesman Park is a separate neighborhood. Denver also recognizes a statistical neighborhood called North Capitol Hill, also known as Uptown by some residents. Colfax Avenue is the border between these two neighborhoods.
Mark Erelli is an American singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and touring folk musician from Reading, Massachusetts who earned a master's degree in evolutionary biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst before pursuing a career in music. Erelli has released nine solo albums and three collaborative albums. His self-titled debut album was released in 1999, the same year that he won the Kerrville Folk Festival's New Folk Award. His first recording for the Signature Sounds label, Compass & Companion, spent ten weeks in the Top Ten on the Americana Chart. Erelli has worked as a side musician for singer songwriters Lori McKenna and Josh Ritter. He has performed at various music festivals and shared the stage with John Hiatt, Dave Alvin, and Gillian Welch. Erelli's song “People Look Around”, which he co-wrote with Catie Curtis, was the Grand Prize winner at the 2005 International Songwriting Competition. His songs have been recorded by Ellis Paul, Vance Gilbert, Antje Duvekot, and Red Molly.
The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of traditional Scottish music and also features international folk, roots and world music artists. The festival is produced and promoted by Glasgow Life. Donald Shaw, a founding member of Capercaillie, was appointed Celtic Connections Artistic Director in 2006.
While Denver may not be as recognized for historical musical prominence like such cities as Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago or New York City, it still manages to have a very active popular, jazz, and classical music scene, which has nurtured many artists and genres to regional, national, and even international attention. Though nearby Boulder, Colorado has its own very distinct music scene, they are intertwined and often artists based there also play in Denver.
The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Bennet, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob Niles, Susan Reed, Paul Robeson, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Cisco Houston had enjoyed a limited general popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. The revival brought forward styles of American folk music that had in earlier times contributed to the development of country and western, blues, jazz, and rock and roll music.
Since their marriage in 1989, Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen have been traveling, performing and recording together.
Upon his return to New York in 1959 after a nearly a decade spent based in London, UK, Alan Lomax produced a concert, Folksong '59, in New York City's Carnegie Hall, featuring Arkansas singer Jimmy Driftwood; the Selah Jubilee Singers and Drexel Singers ; Muddy Waters and Memphis Slim (blues); Earl Taylor and the Stoney Mountain Boys (bluegrass); Pete Seeger, Mike Seeger ; and The Cadillacs.
Lamont School of Music is the school of arts of the University of Denver, based in city of Denver, United States. In 1941, the school merged with the University of Denver.
The 25th Young Artist Awards ceremony, presented by the Young Artist Association, honored excellence of young performers under the age of 21 in the fields of film and television for the year 2003, and took place on May 8, 2004 at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, Los Angeles, California.
The Fillmore Auditorium is a concert venue located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Denver, Colorado. Since opening in 1907, the venue has hosted numerous functions both private and public. It holds the title of the largest indoor venue for general admission seating in Colorado. The venue also holds an exclusive dual Minors with Adults Liquor License in Colorado for a private venue; it allows minors and consumers over 21 to stand together, rather than having to be separated by their ages. In 2006, local newspaper Westword awarded the venue the "Best Place to Run into a Hippie turned Yuppie". The venue also houses an office for the Bill Graham Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides music grants.
Kyle James Hauser is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and singer. He was born in Alexandria, Virginia on March 14, 1985.
Darcy Farrow is a song written by Steve Gillette and Tom Campbell, and first recorded in 1965 by Ian & Sylvia on their album, Early Morning Rain. Gillette released his first recording of it in 1967 on his eponymous album, Steve Gillette.
The Colorado Music Hall of Fame is a museum located in the Trading Post at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
Josh Kaufman is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, composer, arranger and engineer based in Brooklyn, New York. He is a member of the supergroups Muzz and Bonny Light Horseman.
Walter Bell Conley was an American folk singer, Hollywood actor, voice actor, and owner of Denver's folk venue Conley’s Nostalgia. The Rocky Mountain News described Conley as the founding father of Denver's folk scene, which began in the late 1950s and stretched into the mid-1960s. Conley shared stages with, and opened for, Josh White, Cisco Houston, Mama Cass Elliot, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, and Judy Collins, among many others. Conley also opened his home to a young and unknown Bob Dylan in the summer of 1960, and introduced Denver to the little-known Smothers Brothers that same year. As the owner of Conley’s Nostalgia, Walt brought in big-name performers such as John Fahey and Dave Van Ronk. To those who worked with him, knew him, and wrote about him, he is referred to as Denver’s “Grandfather of Folk Music.” Conley remained an entertainer until his death from a massive stroke at the age of 74. At the time of his death, Conley was married to Joan Holden. Conley had four children from previous relationships. Conley's resting place is the Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.
Harry M. Tuft is a noted figure in the world of folk music, particularly in the state of Colorado during the American Folk Music Revival. Tuft is the founder and former owner of the Denver Folklore Center, and a musician.
The Mission Ballroom is a concert venue located in RiNo neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. The building opened in August 2019 with a capacity of nearly 4,000 patrons. Operated by AEG Presents Rocky Mountain, the venue is viewed a competitor to the Live Nation operated Fillmore Auditorium.
The Family Dog Denver, was a concert dance hall located at 1601 West Evans Avenue in Denver, Colorado. Opened from September 1967 to July 1968, it is regarded as a seminal music venue that launched Denver on its trajectory to its current status as a major concert destination by introducing never-before-seen acts like The Doors, Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Buffalo Springfield, Janis Joplin, Chuck Berry, and many others. Many acts, like The Doors and Van Morrison, for example, had yet to become famous when they played The Dog, evidenced by the poster artists having to stylize the names of their leading songs into the poster art for the shows. The Family Dog is also seen as a cultural turning point in Denver from the conservative, western-minded sensibility of the early and mid-20th century to the current, liberal-minded climate. The venue's history, surrounding drama and ultimate impact had been largely unknown and unrealized until it was unearthed and detailed for the first time in the 2021 documentary, The Tale of the Dog, produced and directed by Dan Obarski & Scott Montgomery and distributed by Cinedigm. As there are no useful photos, no video and little written history remaining of the Family Dog Denver, the film's oral history format told in first person by the people who were there serves as a definitive reference for “The Dog.”
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Coordinates: 39°40′04″N104°59′12″W / 39.667721°N 104.986703°W
