Thursday, May 17 @ Wynkoop Brewing Company Heavy Metal Uke: Open Stage & Jam. Free and open to all!
Friday, May 18 @ The Oriental Theater Workshop and concert featuring Jake Shimabukuro w/ The Quiet American
Saturday, May 19th @ L2 Arts & Culture Center A full day of festivities! There will be workshops for all ages and skill levels presented by the artists, custom ukulele builders, jams, an open stage, master classes, ukuleles for sale, sing and strum-alongs, lunch/dinner, Colorado micobrews, a film screening , a free mobile recording studio, and of course the big concert featuring: — Nellie McKay, Aldrine Guerrero, Tina and Her Pony, Hapa Hillbillies, Victor & Penny, Ukulele Loki, Faceman, The Denver Uke Community and more!
Join us for the 5th annual Denver Ukefest! Why are we doing the Denver Ukefest again? Because the ukulele is the instrument of the people: it’s accessible, easy to play, you can take it anywhere (on your bike or in a crowded train), pretty cheap, and it just plain fun. And, Swallow Hill Music believes that the people should make music. Our festival is a family-friendly environment, offering programming for adults, kids and teens. It is not required to bring a ukulele to be a part of this amazing event, but should you choose to partake in a more hands-on festival experience, there will be ukuleles available as free loaners for the day.
Just add Uke!
Visit the Denver Ukefest Home Page for full schedule of events, artist bios and videos, workshop descriptions and more.
Tickets for the general public go on sale Friday, Feb. 10 at 10 am
Swallow Hill Music Member pricing and preferred seating are not available for Ukefest.
$125 VIP Weekend Pass-- SOLD OUT $100 Festival Weekend Pass (includes ALL festival events) -- SOLD OUT $75 Saturday All Day Workshop and Concert Pass (includes Friday workshop with Jake Shimabukuro) -- SOLD OUT $50 Concert Weekend Pass (includes Friday and Saturday Concerts only. No workshop admission) - SOLD OUT $25 Friday Night Concert: Jake Shimabukuro w/The Quiet American (does NOT include workshop with Jake) - SOLD OUT $25 Saturday Evening Pass, including concert, open stage, and movie
This May, join us for a weekend of great music celebrating the Denver Folklore Center. Artists from around the country will be converging in Denver May 25-27 to sing, jam, pick and play with founder Harry Tuft to say “happy birthday.”
Hot Rize, Tim O’Brien, The Otis Taylor Blues Band, Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur, Dakota Blonde, Mollie O’Brien & Rich Moore. Pete & Joan Wernick, and Michael Cooney (to name of a few) promise a slew of great shows and memories.
Here’s to another 50 great years!
For a full list of the weekend's events, click here
VIP Weekend Pass – $175 Includes all events, including a semi-private party Sunday evening at Swallow Hill Music! - Seating within first 5 rows of Newman Center at 5/25 concert - After-show meet & greet reception with Hot Rize, The Otis Taylor Blues Band, Harry Tuft and Dick Lamm on 5/25 -"Talk Around" with Dick Weissman and concert with Marc Silber on the afternoon of 5/26 - Early admission to 5/26 concert at L2 Arts and Culture Center - Early admission to 5/27 concert at Four Mile Historic Park - Invitation to semi-private party at Swallow Hill Music at 7 pm on 5/27
All VIP Passes must be picked up Will Call. No exceptions.
Standard Weekend Pass – $98 Includes Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon concerts - Seating within Parterre/Orchestra sections of Newman Center on 5/25 -"Talk Around" with Dick Weissman and concert with Marc Silber on the afternoon of 5/26 - Admission to 5/26 concert at L2 Arts & Culture Center - Admission to 5/27 concert at Four Mile Historic Park - Invitation to semi-private party at Swallow Hill Music at 7 pm on 5/27
All Standard Weekend Passes must be picked up at Will Call. No exceptions.
5/25 Friday Concert at the Newman Center – $28-$103 - featuring Hot Rize, The Otis Taylor Blues Band, Harry Tuft & Dick Lamm - concert ticket purchasers are also invited to the "Talk Around" with Dick Weissman and concert with Marc Silber on 5/26 from 2-5pm at Swallow Hill Music
5/27 Sunday Concert at Four Mile Historic Park – $25 advance, $30 day of show - featuring Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur, Mollie O’Brien & Rich Moore, Pete & Joan Wernick, Michael Cooney, and Grubstake - concert ticket purchasers are also invited to the "Talk Around" with Dick Weissman and concert with Marc Silber on 5/26 from 2-5pm at Swallow Hill Music
**CLICK HERE for 5/25 concert tickets through the Newman Center Box Office Tickets range from $28-$103 *For Friday night only tickets, the Newman Center service charge is $2/order online, $4/order by phone. No additional charge for purchases made at the box office - 2344 E. Iliff Ave., Dever, CO 80208
Missy Raines & the New Hip kicks up heat by fusing unlikely sources. In the spirit of musical influences ranging from Sam Bush and David Grisman to Miles Davis, the New Hip bridges the musical worlds of newgrass, jazz, singer/songwriter and any others they take a notion to explore. Start with bluegrass virtuosity, add in a jazz-tinged groove and a song-driven sensibility, then dish it up with a hot band of young players. The band moves easily from fun, funky instrumentals to rich, sophisticated ballads. They’re intimate, they’re raucous, they’re groove personified. This is mashup bluegrass jazz like you’ve never heard it.
Missy Raines is the most decorated bass player in the history of the International Bluegrass Music Association- with 7 Bass Player of the Year Awards to her credit. A former member of the Grammy Nominated Claire Lynch Band, the acclaimed duo, Jim Hurst and Missy Raines, Missy is one of the most popular figures in the bluegrass community and a trailblazer in her field for as long as she’s been playing music.
Totally inimitable and unique, Bob Lind writes and sings like no one else – and he’s been doing it for more than 40 years. In 1966 he helped define folk rock with the groundbreaking megahit “Elusive Butterfly,” which spawned an illustrious career as a songwriter that continues today. His songs have been recorded by over 200 quality artists including Sonny & Cher, Eric Clapton, The Kingston Trio and Aretha Franklin, to name a few. But nothing equals the experience of watching this dynamic performer deliver his own songs. Come see why this engaging poet/guitarist/philosopher/singer/wise-ass has endured in the sometimes-cruel and always-fickle music business for more than 40 years.
In the 1970's, Danny O'Keefe put out a string of albums that cemented his reputation as being among the best songwriters of his generation. These days, casual fans know him best for his Top Ten hit "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues" or Jackson Browne's version of "The Road" from the classic Running On Empty album. But the story didn't end in the 70's. He continued to release the occasional album and recently returned with "In Time", his first solo release in nine years.
"His is the complete package: a strong performer with a batch of amazing songs. His guitar and voice lead you beyond ditty world, deep into the land of poetry." - Tim O'Brien
Tuesday, June 5 at 8 pm L2 Arts & Culture Center(Map)
Winner of the 2011 "Best World Music Album" Grammy for Tassili
Tinariwen are often associated with just one image: that of Touareg rebels leading the charge, machine gun in hand and electric guitar slung over the shoulder. The band ditch this cliché on their fifth album Tassili, and it’s for the best. The founding members abandoned their weapons long ago and on this new album they have engineered a minor aesthetic revolution by setting the electric guitar aside, though it's the instrument which became their mascot and made them famous. Instead they give pride of place to acoustic sounds, recorded right in the heart of the desert -- the landscape of their existence, the cradle of their culture and the source of their inspiration.
You might even call this radical move a return to the very essence of their art, a return which, paradoxically, has also opened the doors to some intriguing collaborations with members of TV On The Radio, Nels Cline (Wilco’s guitarist) or The Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
There is some truth in that old cliché of the soldier-musician. In the 1980s, Ibrahim, Abdallah, Hassan, ‘Japonais’ and Kheddou began to play together in and around the town of Tamanrasset in southern Algeria. They would perform at weddings, baptisms or just simple youthful get-togethers. They then spent several years in the same military training camp in Libya before the Touareg rebellion broke out simultaneously in Mali and Niger and sent them out onto the field of battle in the southern Sahara. In parallel, their songs, recorded on cassettes scattered far and wide, helped to broadcast the message of a rebel movement that set out to promote the rights of nomadic people suffering under the arbitrary policies of repressive and distant central governments.
Over the years, the group (losing some of its original members and gaining new ones along the way) became a professional unit that toured the world, headlining at various important festivals including the Eurockéennes de Belfort in France, Glastonbury in the UK and Coachella in the US. Their albums Aman Iman (2007) and Imidiwan (2009) were eulogized by the media and attracted the praises of Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, Thom Yorke, Brian Eno and Carlos Santana. Nonetheless, this success, this universal recognition didn’t alter the essence or spirit of their musical style, which mixes the bitter sound of spiky guitars with the often pantheistic approach of lyrical poetry that celebrates the sacred union between a people and their environment, and is the reflection of painful collective circumstances.
Vibraphonist and percussionist Greg Harris "has a lot of energy and knows how to relate to an audience," says the Boulder Daily Camera. "The music pulls in the listeners with its irresistible rhythms and heart-felt themes," writes Cadence Jazz. For this show, Greg will be leading the World Citizen Band playing a Gyil, a West-African xylophone from northern Ghana. Harris is a member of Bluegrass legend Pete Wernick's Flexigrass, Future Jazz Project, 9th & Lincoln Orchestra, and SuperCollider. He recorded an album with West African master xylophonist Aaron Bebe Sukura and studied with the great Kakraba Lobi in Ghana.
