Jeff Cramer and his talented band stopped by KGNU’s Cabaret Studio for a spirited session on Morning Sound Alternative. Joined by guitarist Dave Devine, drummer Tyler Lindgren, and multi-instrumentalist Russ Smith, Cramer treated listeners to original songs, including the world debut of Gravity, inspired by reflections on space and our planet. The band discussed their 2024 album Forever Morning, recorded at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, and their live album Live at the Bluebird, captured during a memorable night alongside Megan Burtt. They also shared stories about Shed Sessions, Cramer’s backyard concert series born during the pandemic. Throughout, the band emphasized the importance of community radio and connecting with audiences beyond streaming platforms. (Studio Session: 6/10/25)
Greg Schultz: Cabaret room. You guys hear me?
Jeff Cramer Band: We’re right here.
Greg Schultz: Heard a guitar. All right. Well, listen, folks, we are honored. It’s going to be a pleasure to host Jeff Cramer. He’s got some dudes here playing with him. We’ll talk about that on the other side. But Jeff Cramer, why don’t you guys kick it off with a couple of tunes.
(plays music)
Greg Schultz: All right, folks, you are joined in the studio here with Jeff Cramer and his band, and they just gave us a couple of tunes. Morning, guys.
Jeff Cramer Band: Morning.
Greg Schultz: Don’t give Dave a mic.
Jeff Cramer Band: Give Dave special socks, but I don’t give Dave a mic.
Greg Schultz: Well, Dave’s taller than you and me, right?
Jeff Cramer Band: He is taller, and his hair is longer.
Greg Schultz: Well, I don’t have much hair left anymore, so I got nothing to come back with on that one. Listen, I want to tell you guys, thanks for coming in. We tried to make this happen last April, and we had some mishaps, but now it’s going on six weeks later. Again, thanks for coming in — beautiful tunes. Before we get started, why don’t you introduce the band. Who are the guys playing with you this morning?
Jeff Cramer Band: Sure. We’ll start with Dave Devine — the man with the special socks. Dave is the best guitar player in the universe… maybe. I mean, Dave, you don’t have to live up to that, but you’re really good. And you’re beautiful as well. Anyhow, I’m gonna stop complimenting Dave and move on to Tyler Lindgren on the drums. Also one of my favorite human beings. He’s rocking the long hair — an amazing drummer. He actually also did some production on the Live at the Bluebird record that we’ll talk about, and he did an awesome job. He brought it to life. Then we’ve got Russ Smith here. Russ is on the bass and cello. Russ played on my record Forever Morning that we’ll talk about as well. Emma Rose is usually sitting there, but she’s out of town. So we’ve got Russ doing both cello and bass at the same time.
Greg Schultz: Yeah.
Jeff Cramer Band: Won’t be able to prove that ’cause we’re on radio.
Greg Schultz: Oh, I can’t see him, but I’ll take your word for it. I did meet him earlier before you guys got here. You know, bass players are usually on time. I don’t know why that is. But he was — we got to chat a little bit, and it was kind of nice to meet him. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to meet you guys afterwards. Again, thanks for coming in — appreciate it. So, you’re based out of Denver?
Jeff Cramer Band: Correct. Based out of Denver, right down the street.
Greg Schultz: How long have you been playing music?
Jeff Cramer Band: Oh, I’ve been playing music since I was twirling around the aisle at my first Holy Communion… I was the Christmas tree at the end of the parade for a Christmas play. Not the first Holy Communion — sorry. But yeah, I was playing, I think, a triangle then. I graduated to the flute. I don’t play that anymore, but I started playing realistically about 10 years ago when I came up to Lyons and did cover gigs. I went up to the Song School.
Greg Schultz: Oh, nice, nice.
Jeff Cramer Band: It was a lot of fun. Met some amazing players up there.
Greg Schultz: Yeah, that’s how you break in and get rid of the jitters and nerves of playing in front of people. At some point, you just gotta go do it, or say, “I’m not gonna do it — I’m heading back to work.” I have both feelings each day. You have one hell of a band there. That’s really a nice sound coming out of all those instruments. Speaking of your music — your last record, you cut loose last year, 2024, right?
Jeff Cramer Band: Yep.
Greg Schultz: Forever Morning. Talk about that. You recorded it up in Fort Collins. Give the folks a little background on that.
Jeff Cramer Band: Yeah, it was a record that came out of COVID. We were all sitting around, and there are all the COVID records out there. Mine is a 15-song journey — a number of instrumental tracks. It was recorded at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins with Andrew Berlin on production, who is a lot of fun. Andrew has probably been recording for eight hours already today. He’s an amazing guy. So yeah, did that up there. Brought in everybody in this room, plus Emma Rose, Max Barlow on drums… I’m forgetting a bunch of people… Oh, and Charlie Rose, also local… Eve Panning… a lot of great local players.
Greg Schultz: That’s fantastic. What an experience. How’s the record doing for you? What’s the reception been like?
Jeff Cramer Band: It’s doing great for me. I’m playing the songs and hoping people hear them, putting the tokens in the Spotify machine and seeing what comes out.
Greg Schultz: Well, you gotta get listens, and hopefully people go out and buy it. I mean, that’s the way this cruel world works. It works well in some areas and maybe not so much in others. But it’s a good way for people to discover you and hopefully go see you — that’s just as important, if not more important.
Jeff Cramer Band: Honestly, I think if people would put their Spotifys away and just tune into community radio, it would be a lot better. We love KGNU, we love KNCE Taos, we love KEXP. I love community radio. I wish I listened to more community radio than Spotify.
Greg Schultz: A ringing endorsement. This station has been around for 47 years, if you can believe that — probably older than most of the guys in the room.
Jeff Cramer Band: Oh, come on, man.
Greg Schultz: I don’t buy that. Oh really? Oh geez — he’s 50.
Jeff Cramer Band: Well, he doesn’t look it. Every Saturday morning, my wife and I tune in — my new wife. We just got married. Shout out to Jessica. And then Sunday morning we go to church…
Greg Schultz: …at KGNU! That’s fantastic. We appreciate the endorsement. Why don’t we do another song?
Jeff Cramer Band: Sure.
Greg Schultz: And then we’ll come back and talk about the Bluebird Live album and whatever else you want before you have to head on out. What are you gonna give us now?
Jeff Cramer Band: We’re gonna give you a song that I have the right capo for — unlike the very first song we started with. Sorry for everyone’s ears on that one. We figured it out though — it was Avan. We were actually thinking about starting with some Ornette Coleman, which would’ve been different. Wrong capo would’ve worked just fine for that.
Greg Schultz: Folks, Jeff Cramer live in the cabaret studio right here at KGNU’s Morning Sound Alternative. Thanks for tuning in.
Jeff Cramer Band: This song’s called Gravity. The story kind of tells itself, but I think it’s pertinent to our times here.
(plays music)
Greg Schultz: All right. What a cool tune, man. That slide there — bro, that’s eerie. I like that.
Jeff Cramer Band: It’s a world debut.
Greg Schultz: Is that right?
Jeff Cramer Band: First time live.
Greg Schultz: Wow, that was cool. I didn’t expect that.
Jeff Cramer Band: We gave it a try — it was great.
Greg Schultz: It was fun. You gave it more than a try — you accomplished your goal. What’s the name of that tune?
Jeff Cramer Band: Gravity. The 12-second version of that song explanation is: when Captain Kirk came back from space — in real life, on the Amazon rocket — he said, “When I got up there, I looked down. It was beautiful. The other direction was terrifying.” It just made me think about what it would be like to go up there, and what we’re doing these days — focusing out that direction, and not right here.
Greg Schultz: That slide set the mood for the song. Now that I think about your explanation, it was cool — like coming back to Earth, or maybe going the other way.
Jeff Cramer Band: Dave, you’re always bringing me back.
Greg Schultz: Very innovative, man. I like that a lot. All right, so you did this show last year at the Bluebird — Live. Tell the folks about that.
Jeff Cramer Band: That was probably thanks to Megan Burtt — the great local Megan Burtt. She’s an amazing songwriter and a great friend. She was also putting out a record, and we were sharing songs for the year or so before we put out ours. Dave also plays with Megan. We were looking at release shows, and Megan said, “I think I’m gonna do the Bluebird.” She asked me to join her and open up the show. It was a perfect opportunity to bring the bands together. We actually recorded it as an afterthought — “Let’s record this thing.” We rehearsed the whole one time. We had a blast, and when we got up there, we didn’t hit that many wrong notes. It worked. We were feeling it that night — the gods were with us. I’ve always been a fan of live records. When I got it back, and Tyler and John McVey played with it, it came alive. We made it a record. I encourage everybody to go on Spotify and have a listen — I think there’s some magic in that night.
Greg Schultz: She’s an incredible musician. Big fan. That’s pretty cool. I listened — you guys are hitting it, man. All cylinders. You talk about live records — I grew up in that era, back in the ’70s. Some of the best live recordings of all time were from when I was in college.
Jeff Cramer Band: Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore. Or Little Feat Live in Columbus. Those are the records you choose to listen to.
Greg Schultz: Oh yeah. Everybody who knows anything about music has that. My dad had it, somebody had it somewhere.
Jeff Cramer Band: Frampton Comes Alive — hand that out later with Todd samples in the mail.
Greg Schultz: People forget about that. I’m a big Who fan — Live at Leeds. Not the greatest recording, but that’s what makes it.
Jeff Cramer Band: Sometimes the lack of quality is part of the magic.
Greg Schultz: Well, it was almost 60 years ago. I encourage people — give it a whirl, give it a listen, give feedback to you.
Jeff Cramer Band: Yep — not just bots.
Greg Schultz: For sure. Shed Sessions — can you explain that for folks?
Jeff Cramer Band: Part of COVID — people weren’t going out. We put on a backyard sound and music show in Denver. Built a shed, a stage, ran my own sound. We had lots of fun bands — Megan’s played, Big Richard’s played, I’ve played, Travis McNamara, Lone Choir. Dave’s been on that stage. And we’ve still got Jeff Cramer socks for Forever Morning — ordered 300, still have about 150. Order the socks on my website — we’ll direct ship them.
Greg Schultz: I gotta look at those! Where can people find all things Jeff Cramer?
Jeff Cramer Band: Jeff Kramer Music on Instagram, Spotify, YouTube, jeffkramer.com — and right here on community radio KGNU.
Greg Schultz: Thanks so much, folks! They’re gonna take us out with a tune. What’s it gonna be?
Jeff Cramer Band: We’re changing it up — a song that was previously in A flat, upgraded to the key of A. Thanks for having us!
