“So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie / Drove my Chevy to the levee,but the levee was dry / And them good ol’ boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye / Singin’, This’ll be the day that I die”— Don McLean
by Luke Schmaltz
March 25, 2020, was the day the music died in Denver, Colorado. Governor Jared Polis ordered the closure of all nonessential businesses — which included music venues of all shapes and sizes, from the tiny Tooey’s, off Colfax, to Red Rocks Amphitheater.
The circumstances were devastating, not only for venues but for musicians as well — as the vast majority make their living on live performances and on-site merchandise sales.
As the long-term implications of lockdown life settled in, some Denver musicians vowed to forge forth with online performances while others relinquished themselves to spend the downtime writing new material. A slew of lifelong musicians found a way to persevere, and now that the music scene is back in full swing, they are seeing their circumstances with newfound determination.
Meanwhile, the city itself has lost a number of beloved venues. Those that found a way to hang on during the pandemic are back to hosting shows as Denver is quickly reclaiming its reputation as a thriving hub for live music.
The Legend
Erica Brown has been dubbed, “Denver’s Queen of the Blues” and deserves the title, hands down (or up). Image: Marilyn Stringer
Erica Brown is Denver Blues royalty and an internationally acclaimed singer, songwriter, and recording artist. Every local publication that covers music has praised her award-winning work and she has been featured internationally in Smithsonian Magazine, Blues Matters (UK), and Rootstime (Belgium). “When the pandemic hit,” she begins, “I was putting together a dream project of mine, called the Cast Iron Queens. We had just played our first sold-out show in December at Dazzle, then in January, I had gone to Memphis and emceed the National Women in Blues Event. We were the entertainment for the Womxn’s March, we did a live in-studio for KGNU Radio in early March, then everything went ‘poof!’”
Brown is thankful that she was able to work through the pandemic, explaining, “Nearly every musician has either a regular day job or a couple side hustles (smile) and since [my job] was in a sector deemed ‘essential’ I never quit going to work.”
Brown reflects on the unfortunate Covid-related loss of Denver music institution El Chapultepec along with resident musical legend Freddy Rodriguez Sr. — a dear friend. Yet, she is thankful that longtime venues such as the Rusty Bucket, Mercury Cafe, and Lincoln’s Roadhouse are still alive and kicking.
Moving forward, Brown’s future is looking bright, “In November 2021, I’m was thrilled to be singing America the Beautiful at Boettcher Concert Hall on Veterans Day. It was the World Premiere of a documentary by professional skier and filmmaker Chris Anthony, called “Mission Mt. Mangart” which tells the story of the 10th Mountain Division’s great ski race in 1945,” she explains. In 2022, Brown will be immersed in theater productions, tribute projects, and much more — stay tuned at erica brownentertainment.com.
The Hardworking Bard
Sputnik Slovenia didn’t miss a beat when the pandemic hit, and continues on Facebook Live every Friday. Image: Sputnik Slovenia
Sputnik Slovenia has been a fixture of the Denver music scene for well over 20 years. He currently sings in a Clash cover band called The Nuns of Brixton, fronts an original, punk rock band called The Pitch Invasion, and plays regularly as a solo acoustic act. The latter served as his sole outlet during the first several waves of the pandemic. “I started streaming live shows basically the week the pandemic started,” he begins. “I had been doing a Friday happy hour at the Larimer Lounge for the past few years, so I jumped online the very first week and continued with my happy hour via Facebook Live. The response has been great. I post the shows and they get hits all during the week. I can interact with my friends from across the country and across the world every Friday, and it lets other people connect via the web as well, so check in on Facebook live on Fridays at 6 p.m. Mountain standard time.”
Slovenia contends that among the best live venues in town is the fairly new EastFax Tap and the legendary Lions Lair — which he hails as “One of the best dive bars in the country.” While he laments the loss of staple venues such as Tooey’s and 3 Kings Tavern due to the pandemic, he credits the down time for kicking him into high gear to work on his record label, Rum Dummy Records, whose Bandcamp page offers recordings from most of Slovenia’s projects. “The pandemic really was one of my most prolific times,” he explains. “I even wrote a rap song called Covid was my chrysalis.”
The Virtuoso
Juaquina “Roqui” Lluma teaches music, hosts a radio show, and awaits her next post-pandemic, high-profile bass playing gig. Image: R2Shotz
Juaquina “Roqui” Lluma is a recently naturalized U.S. citizen — originally from Argentina — who came to Denver by way of Los Angeles. She is a lifelong, classically trained musician who, for years, ground it out in the City of Angels playing in club-circuit level bands. Yet, the “L.A. Bullshit Attitude” — as she and many other musicians refer to it — drove her to seek the more genuine climes of the Denver music scene back in the mid-2000s.
Just before the pandemic hit, Lluma was seemingly headed for the big time — juggling bass duties between blues rock powerhouse Hot Apostles and the country rock outfit Tracksuit Wedding. By late March of 2020, both acts were immobilized and a year later when things began to finally loosen up — both projects were no more.
Regardless, Lluma forges onward with music, currently teaching online lessons and co-hosting an Internet radio show dubbed El Crawlspace hosted by nucleorock.com. “I am doing this with a friend from Puerto Rico,” she begins, “The idea is to be a link between all the underground scenes. We focus on rock and underground music — anything that all the other Latin radio stations aren’t already doing. Our listeners are from all over the world: Europe, Mexico, Colombia, and more.” Lluma aspires to make this enterprise an international link between the underground scenes. “The show could be a contact point between bands overseas and bands over here,” she says.
Moving forward, Lluma keeps a keen ear to the grapevine in anticipation for the next high profile bass playing gig. She also pays particular respects to the folks at the Oriental Theater for “keeping shit real” by putting on their “Safe and Sound” music series during the waning months of the pandemic.
The Career Man
Jim Dalton (bottom left) plays solo, with The Railbenders and with Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. Image: Jim Dalton
As the front man, guitarist, songwriter, and founding member of The Railbenders, Jim Dalton has done more than his share to bolster the Denver music scene by building a fiercely loyal following and inspiring hordes of other musicians. Dalton also holds down lead guitar duties for Arizona-based national touring sensation Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. His position in the latter act took up the majority of his time until all tours were canceled in early spring of 2020.
Dalton decided to use his pandemic down time to flesh out and record a solo album titled “In My Head.” The 11-song opus includes an eclectic array of original tunes he’d been working on over the last couple of years. “The song, ‘In My Head,’ was the first tune I wrote after my father passed away from cancer in 2015,” he explains, “It has been around quite a while and I have always included it in my live solo shows. Same with the other songs on the record,” he continues, “the pandemic gave me the time to finish recording since all of our tours were canceled for over a year.” Of all the venues the pandemic claimed, Dalton laments the loss of 3 Kings Tavern. “Lotta good memories and emotional ones,” he says. “We held an Irish-style wake there for both my Uncle Terry and my father.
Moving onward, Dalton is set to soon get back out on the road with Roger Clyne. He is also looking forward to an upcoming two-night Railbenders run at Denver’s Globe Hall. He also cherishes the fact that some of his favorite long-standing Mile High venues are still in business. “Some of my favorites are Lincoln’s Roadhouse, Soiled Dove, Bluebird Theatre, and Herman’s Hideaway. But if I had to choose one,” he explains, “I’d say everyone needs to see a show at Red Rocks once in their life.”
The Wunderkind
Red Stinger are prolific in the creativity department, having released five studio albums in their 10-year tenure before the pandemic. Yet, 2020 shifted their productivity into overdrive. During the second, third and fourth quarters of 2020, the band’s singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter — Tim Merz aka Timmy Flips — conceived of a nine-part series of content releases and proceeded to embark on the most creative period of his life.
Merz, a ballroom dance instructor by day, explains, “During covid I wrote a full-length album titled Punk Rock Ballroom — a hip hop rock album available on Bandcamp. Then, I wrote The Stinger Scriptures — a nine-part rock album rewrite of the Bible. After that,” he continues, “I wrote Crooked Town — a ballroom ballet dance interpretation of the Battle of Armageddon.”
Merz’s Covid accomplishments also include a ballroom dance love story, a stage play about intergalactic alien enslavement, and much more. The singer cites his personal philosophy as the driving force behind his creative arc. “The current state of the world and the direction humanity has chosen is broken,” he says. “Humanity is constrained by our enslavement by money, religion, and weapons. Our political system has failed us, our religious leaders have failed us, our financial institutions have failed us. The only hope is a return to what is our truth and that requires a serious reshaping of what it means to exist — which is the true punk rock mentality. Punk is the refusal to accept that anyone has power over anyone else. A return to the physical human body and the realization that we are all the same and all equal in the eyes of death.”
Moving forward, Merz and his Red Stinger bandmates look forward to more recording work including a greatest hits album and a live album while keeping alive the hopes that, “Denver doesn’t become completely overrun by corporate music joints who only book bands with the appropriate amount of Facebook Likes.”