Listeners:
Top listeners:
play_arrow
KGNU Broadcast Live On-Air
play_arrow
KGNU Music 24/7 Music Station
Concerts, Arts, and other events in the public interest around the Front Range Community.
Recorded over the course of a 4,000-mile cross-country roadtrip, Taylor Ashton’s gorgeous new album, Stranger To The Feeling, is a sonic odyssey through the heart of America, one that works its way chronologically and geographically from coast to coast as it meditates on the meaning of closeness and connection in an age of increasing isolation. The performances here are warm and inviting, anchored by Ashton’s deft guitar and banjo work and rich, easygoing melodicism, and the recordings—helmed by producer Jacob Blumberg and captured with a mix of old friends and new collaborators including Courtney Hartman, Big Thief’s Buck Meek, Lake Street Dive’s Rachael Price, Vulfpeck’s Theo Katzman, Late Show bandleader Louis Cato, and Mipso’s Jacob Sharp—are alternately sparse and lush, with arrangements often serving as aural reflections of their physical environments. From a blanket in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park to a trailer in Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest, from a backyard in Wisconsin to a spiritual vortex in Arizona, the settings are inextricable from the songs, and the result is a moving, transportive collection that manages to evoke both the gentle virtuosity of Nick Drake and the buoyant wit of Paul Simon, all while forging its own distinctive path through a landscape at once foreign and familiar.
“After so much time apart, it was really powerful just making music with friends again,” Ashton reflects. “Pulling into someone’s driveway, hugging them, sleeping on their couch, all these things that used to feel so normal suddenly felt very precious, and I wanted to celebrate that.”
While Stranger To The Feeling marks the highly lauded songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s first trip all the way across the United States, Ashton’s no stranger to the road. Born and raised in Canada, he got his start fronting the beloved Vancouver five-piece Fish & Bird and spent most of his late teens and early twenties touring heavily throughout his home country. In 2015, he moved to Brooklyn, where he began busking in the subways to make ends meet, and in 2018, he teamed up with Courtney Hartman for a collaborative album that Rolling Stone proclaimed “packs a punch in today’s mainstream.” Two years later, Ashton released his long-awaited solo debut, The Romantic, earning widespread praise alongside dates with the likes of Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, Madison Cunningham, The Wood Brothers, and more.
About R.O. Shapiro
R.O. Shapiro is a purveyor of original Americana music, carefully crafted and soulfully sung. Originally from the very east end of Long Island, NY, he spent several years touring and recording with the acoustic trio Odell Fox. When the members of the group went their separate ways in 2017, R.O. settled down in Austin, TX, where he developed a full-band, electrified sound, as heard on his 2021 release King Electric Sessions. A powerful performer of original heartfelt songs, and with a little bit of New York swagger and Texas twang, he’s drawn comparisons to Josh Ritter, Ray LaMontagne, and Nathaniel Rateliff. R.O. is a winner of the 2022 Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk songwriting contest, has recently toured with May Erlewine and opened for Jackie Greene, and in September 2024 will release a two-song 45 he recorded with producer/instrumentalist Phil Cook (Bon Iver, Hiss Golden Messenger.) He is currently based in Northern California, and regularly tours solo in the US and Canada, always on the lookout for new communities and stages where he can share his authentic warmth and wit.
About Emma Rose
Emma Rose (formerly of Big Richard) has been steeped in the music scene since she entered this world. Raised by two talented musicians and with a natural knack for songwriting, Rose has spent the last few years fine tuning her quiver of indie-soul-folk songs with only the finest pollen that the spring flowers have to offer. Rich, crystalline vocal melodies weave themselves through a sweet sonic landscape sparking curiosity of oneself and the emotions that come with diving into the human experience.
For details about events, ticket availablity, or other questions, check the venue or event website.
KGNU has no additional information about this events, nor is responsible for their accuracy or last minute changes.
This May 1st and 2nd, we’re encouraging you to give and to publicly express what KGNU personally means to you.
We join other public and local stations across the country for this second annual event. It’s your forum to support and champion how KGNU connects with your values.
