In a lively and heartfelt interview with Dan Willging, Andy “the Tie-Dye Guy” and musician Eben Grace shared exciting details about the upcoming Rail on the River Arts and Music Festival, happening June 26–28, 2025, at the scenic Parish Ranch near Longmont, Colorado. Celebrating its fifth year, the festival offers a magical setting with shady trees, open dance areas, and vibrant decorations. With 15 local and regional acts including Gasoline Lollipops, Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams, and Eben Grace’s band The 89s, the event promises an unforgettable musical experience. Beyond the music, attendees can enjoy hands-on art workshops, philosophy talks, and wellness sessions like microdosing discussions and cooking classes. Tickets and full lineup details are available at coloradograss.org.
Dan Willging: All right, hey, it’s 11:14 and I’m with Andy and Eben Grace—and his beautiful guitar. That was just a couple of tracks from our headliners.
Andy: You bet.
Dan Willging: I always like when they go, “Hey man, I like that CB radio thing in there.” And then, that was the Gasoline Lollipops. Yep. And that was a new track called Holy Rebel.
Andy: Yeah, I guess they put out an album—it took them about a year to get it out—but they did some crowdfunding for it, and people really turned out and helped them get this thing produced and out into the world.
Dan Willging: Yeah. I’m becoming a fan. Soul Mine—I started liking that album.
Andy: Oh, right on.
Dan Willging: I’ll find it eventually.
Andy: Yep, yep.
Dan Willging: What else did you want to talk about for the festival?
Andy: Well, just getting back to it—it’s the fifth annual Rail on the River Arts and Music Festival.
You know what I’d like to talk about now, really, are two things. The first is the venue. I’ve been to a lot of fests in a lot of venues, and I have to say that Parish W Ranch—about 20 miles or so northwest of Longmont—is really just a magical place.
That’s where we have this fest. It’s down in a little valley. It used to be an old dude ranch, actually.
Dan Willging: Oh, okay.
Andy: Yeah, with that big lodge building. So that’s nice—and actually, a lot of the art goes on inside there. There are a lot of shade trees and grass, and it really makes for a nice venue. Where the stage is, there’s plenty of space to dance.
We’ve got easy-ups and our friend Prayer Flag Andy—that’d be me—is gonna be decorating the entire venue: tie-dyes, prayer flags. And we’re gonna encourage you to come make your own and really help make this site beautiful.
One of the other things that’s really important is the volunteers and the people who put this together.
Dan Willging: Great.
Andy: Every festival relies on volunteers. All of these folks are really invested in having the best festival experience. But what I’d really like to get to is the lineup—that’s why we’re here. We’re here for the music.
I’m gonna run down the lineup. Any information you might need can be found at coloradograss.org. Any info about tickets, bands, lineups—you can find it all there.
The festival starts on Thursday the 26th, and the last headliner is Saturday, June 28th. Paul has brought 15 local and regional bands together for an incredible lineup. We start at 1 p.m. on Thursday. Come on down.
We’ve got Surprise Lost Penny, and then there’s a potluck open mic. Again, if you have an instrument—bring it and play. That’s one of my favorite parts.
We have the Casey Jones Experience, which was born out of late-night jamming. Cool Americana.
Dan Willging: Yeah, they’re awesome.
Andy: Nice. They’re awesome. And then on Thursday we have the Gasoline Lollipops—good friends of ours, and good friends of the festival.
The Gas Pops are gonna make you think, they’re gonna make you sing, they’re gonna make you dance, and they’re gonna send you home happy. So we always like that.
On Friday: Lucy Moore and the Night Children, The Grasshoppers, my friend the Antonio Lopez Band—I always enjoy seeing Antonio.
Dan Willging: I interviewed him a couple of times last year. He is awesome.
Andy: FY5, Tonewood, and then Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams are gonna make us dance and dig us into some honky-tonk and rock and roll. We’re really looking forward to that.
Dan Willging: And that’s a super good booking because their popularity has only grown since they took that hiatus.
Andy: Yeah, it really did, ’cause it left a void in the local honky-tonk music scene—especially since they wrote all those cool songs. Brent did, you know?
Moving on to Saturday the 28th, we’ve got Foggy Mountain Spaceship opening, which is just an incredible way to start the day, I think.
Dan Willging: Yes.
Andy: If you like banjos—a new band on the scene—I looked at their YouTube and they were playing a Clash song. So I think we’re in for a treat. Then we have Sugar Sounds and The 80-Nines. Eben’s gonna help us out with a song here, and then ending the show…
The Gasoline Lollipops will rock us out and make it an incredible night.
One last thing before we move on—this is an arts festival as well. A lot of the Left Hand Artists group will be there. Each morning, there are workshops that we’re doing.
The workshops are hands-on classes: I’ll be doing prayer flag-making and printing, songwriting, specific instrument instruction—so again, bring your instruments. Some philosophy, of course—I mean, you can’t have a festival without a little philosophy.
Dan Willging: Gotta give ’em a message!
Andy: Yeah. We have some interesting mentoring sessions, some really organized jams, more philosophy—and our friend Mr. Blue is gonna talk about microdosing, psychedelics, and his experience with that. And of course, there’s the cooking class.
All of these are put together by our director of workshops, Jen Em, and we’re really looking forward to a well-rounded festival.
Dan Willging: I could use that cooking class—’cause this morning, I burned the oatmeal, which I never thought was possible. I call it “barbecue oatmeal.”
Eben Grace: I don’t know if a cooking class is gonna help with that.
Dan Willging: Well, we’ve got Eben here today, and he’s got his guitar. Hey, you wanna play some songs?
Eben Grace: I’ll do whatever you want. You can play our album tracks, or I can sing—whatever you guys want.
Dan Willging: I think you should surprise us.
Eben Grace: All right. I’ll surprise you right now with a song from our album. It’s called Wash Away. Actually, I’ll start with Back to the Light.
(plays music)
Eben Grace: That was awesome. Hey, thanks. Yeah, my headphone kept falling off.
Dan Willging: We have this new thing we do at KGNU—we send our music director videos and pictures and things like that. I’m almost in the habit of doing it regularly. I’m gonna submit that one.
Eben Grace: Cool.
Dan Willging: Definitely has another life for sure.
Eben Grace: With me trying to hold my headphone on!
Dan Willging: I tilted the camera around—I didn’t hold it straight. That was wonderful. Do you want to do another one?
Eben Grace: Sure.
Dan Willging: Okay, cool.
Eben Grace: I’ll do something else from our album. This is the title track—it’s called Wash Away.
(Performs lyrics)
Dan Willging: Eben Grace, thank you. That was awesome.
Eben Grace: Thank you.
Dan Willging: I’m a fan now.
Andy: Me too. Thanks, guys.
Dan Willging: I can’t wait to see The 80-Nines play in a few weekends.
Eben Grace: We cannot wait to play. We love playing.
Dan Willging: Do you do vocal exercises in the morning? Because your voice sounds awesome.
Eben Grace: Oh, cheers, man. Yeah—I mean, if I’m gonna be on radio, totally. I’ve got some stuff. I want to shout out my vocal instructor—her name is Monica Marie Labonte. She’s in Longmont and teaches at Butterscotch Studios up there.
Dan Willging: Nice.
Eben Grace: Anyway, if you want to sound like me—go take lessons from her. Go see her.
Dan Willging: Yeah, I could change my voice out. That’d be awesome.
Eben Grace: She’s a miracle worker, for sure.
Dan Willging: Oh wow, okay. I was just impressed. Your voice has so much power.
Eben Grace: Oh, it’s years.
Dan Willging: I know that when we do Honky-Tonk Heroes, we’ve had people try to sing early in the morning—and they open their mouths and nothing comes out.
Eben Grace: It used to be that if you had to do radio in the morning, you’d drop your song down a major third or fourth—just so you could sing it lower. But if it’s not too early…
Dan Willging: When you get up as a singer, it’s easier to sing low than high.
Eben Grace: Maybe that’s a myth, I don’t know—but yeah, when your voice isn’t really awake, you get out of bed and you’re all froggy.
Dan Willging: I think that’s true. You don’t wanna sing those high notes.
Andy: I couldn’t hit those high notes with a hammer, man.
Dan Willging: I love that image.
Andy: Just a reminder—coloradograss.org is the place to find info about the fifth annual Rail on the River at Parish Ranch. Weekend and Friday passes are sold out. Saturday passes are still available.
Halden Wofford and the Hi-Beams headline Friday, Gas Pops on Thursday and Saturday. It’s really a giant family picnic—if you’re into that kind of vibe, please come by. Buy tickets, support local music.
One last thing: this is kind of a BYOB festival. There’s no bar or anything there—so bring your own, share with others, and just have a great time.
Dan Willging: Yeah, it’s so pretty there along the St. Vrain River. I was fortunate enough to go last year, and I remember attending Chroma when they had the festival down there.
Andy: Parish Ranch is an awesome place.
Dan Willging: Do you guys want to hear Interstellar Blues by Foggy Mountain Spaceship?
Andy: Absolutely.
Dan Willging: I like this track. And thanks for giving us some tickets to give away.
Andy: Right on.
Dan Willging: If you’ve been listening—it’s Rail on the River. We’ve got Saturday passes too. Parish Ranch, Berthoud—you can find it on Google Maps and all that.
You know, I don’t remember the exact road—but you make a left or a right, depending on whether you’re coming from the north or south…
Andy: West.
Dan Willging: Yeah. Then you follow that for about two miles, go down a hill…
Andy: It’s a dirt road. It’s all farming communities and horse ranches. You make a right, then a left, another right, then hit the dirt road with a left. Go down the dirt road, veer right, follow the signs—and then you’re gonna go from beautiful Colorado horse country into this magical little enclave with a ton of music.
Also, there’s a focus on art and wellness—so please come in the morning, even if you’ve just got a day pass, and take advantage of those classes.
Dan Willging: Okay. That sounds like a great idea.
