Singer-songwriters Tim and Jenny Ostdiek joined DJ Indra Raj in the KGNU studio ahead of their performance at the Sound Post Sessions Mixtape Series in downtown Longmont. Fresh off their recent marriage, the duo discussed their musical partnership, the rich Front Range songwriting community, and how collaborative spaces like Sound Post Sessions nurture local artists. Tim performed songs from The Lost Days and shared how growing up along the North Platte River, moving to Colorado, and finding a like-minded creative community shaped his songwriting. Jenny performed original songs including “People Pleaser” and “Caroline Away,” speaking about her artistic journey from self-taught musician to emerging songwriter, and her upcoming debut album All to Ash. The pair also highlighted their joint podcast Songs Off the Vine, upcoming Longmont performances, and where listeners can follow their work. (November 19, 2025).
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DJ Indra Raj: I’m very, very happy to have Tim Ostdiek and Jenny Ostdiek, who are going to be performing at the Sound Post Sessions in Longmont tomorrow night at The Times Collaborative. This is in downtown Longmont, so I wanna welcome both of you to the show. Hi, Tim and Jenny.
Jenny Ostdiek: Hello. Hi.
DJ Indra Raj: It’s great to have you in here. I wanna just start off by telling all of our listeners, congratulations to you because you got married a month ago.
Jenny Ostdiek: Thank you. Yeah, thank you.
DJ Indra Raj: That’s so great and you guys collaborate a lot as musicians, so we’ll be talking a lot about all of that and the performance tomorrow. But Tim, why don’t we start off with a song from you?
Tim Ostdiek: That sounds great. This is a song called Sienna. I wrote this song about my car, which is a 2003 Honda Element.
Plays song “Sienna”
DJ Indra Raj: That’s Tim and Jenny Ostdiek here live in the KGNU studios. What a lovely tune. Thank you. I love the idea of writing a song for a car.
Tim Ostdiek: I think it started as like, you know, when we go to little songwriting groups you have different prompts, and one of them was to write a song for a car. And this car had been with me for so much of my life, and my sister had it before me, and my dad had it before me. So yeah, it was a car that stuck with us. A family heirloom. A family heirloom of a car.
DJ Indra Raj: Alright, so both of you are gonna be part of Sound Post Sessions, which is this really lovely concert series or event series in downtown Longmont, and it has featured so many great local musicians. And we’re so happy to be able to bring so many of them on. And so many of them, just looking at who’s up on the event calendar, have been into the KGNU studios lately. They’re kind of in the circuit, and I think it’s a testament to the flourishing local music scene here.
So I’m curious to hear from both of you what your experience of being a musician here on the Front Range has been like for you, and being a part of events and collaboratives and the scene, kind of like what we get from Sound Post Sessions.
Tim Ostdiek: Yeah, I think Longmont is so lucky to have this kind of series because in Longmont we don’t have as many series that are focusing on listening rooms where you can really hear the stories people are telling. And it’s just such a special place. I moved to Longmont 12 or 13 years ago now. I moved from Western Nebraska where there were not a lot of people writing music. There weren’t a lot of like-minded people.
So when I moved here, I was just blown away. I went to an open mic at Oscar Blues that Bonnie and Taylor Sims were hosting, and I was like, “Oh my God, this is just what people here are like? They’re this talented and friendly?” It’s such a joy to be swimming in this kind of community with so many great writers and musicians. And everyone really likes to support each other, which is a special thing. It’s easy to be fans of everybody here because there are so many great songwriters and musicians around.
Jenny Ostdiek: I agree with all of that. Just coming into my own in music, I’ve always supported people and now getting into some of my own originals and putting my stuff out there, it’s been such a welcoming and inviting experience. Things like the Mixtape Songwriter Series—it’s such a cool spot to feel like people are listening and you get to share stories and where they led you. It’s so special and lovely.
DJ Indra Raj: The Mixtape—so there are two different things at Sound Post: the Mixtapes and the Local Spotlights. Do you two know the difference and can you explain it to the audience?
Tim Ostdiek: Yeah. The Mixtape is hosted by Monica, who’s an unbelievable songwriter with such a great voice. I’m excited to listen to her tomorrow. That one is an in-the-round series where we each take turns going in a circle, sharing our songs, telling stories, collaborating. It’s an intimate chance to really spend time talking about our songs and what inspired them. Jenny and I will definitely sing on each other’s songs. There’s a lot of collaboration.
The other series—the Sound Post shows—feature an opener and a headliner. The openers are local and the headliners are national. The format is more like a set from the opener and a set from the headliner.
DJ Indra Raj: And you can see on December 4th it’s a Local Spotlight with Salala Ma Songbird with Patrick Tilas. And then December 19th there’s a Spotlight with Caitlyn Williams teamed up with Desiree Gold. So many great people on this calendar. You can see it all at soundpostsessions.com.
Let’s hear a little bit more music. Jenny, let’s transition to you—
Jenny Ostdiek: Awesome. This is one of my originals called People Pleaser, and it goes out to all my fellow people pleasers.
Plays “People Pleaser”
DJ Indra Raj: I can relate to that one.
Jenny Ostdiek: Yeah.
DJ Indra Raj: So we have Tim and Jenny here in the KGNU studio live. You two will be performing in the Mixtape Series at Sound Post Sessions tomorrow at the Times Collaborative in downtown Longmont.
Jenny, I’d love to hear about your journey through music. Also, tell me about this instrument— is it a ukulele or a guitar or what?
Jenny Ostdiek: The age-old question. It is a baritone ukulele. I started in piano, but I didn’t want to carry that around at gigs since they’re hard to carry. So I switched to ukulele. They’ve slowly gotten bigger throughout my time playing. This one is ukulele but strung like a guitar, kind of in between, and it’s easier to carry.
DJ Indra Raj: Do you ever hop on the piano if a venue has one, or do you stick to uke?
Jenny Ostdiek: I haven’t as much, but whenever I see one, I think about it. I’ve done some stuff with Tim where I play in the background. Some of my songs are piano songs, some are baritone uke songs. It’s fun to explore different instruments.
DJ Indra Raj: Did you teach yourself?
Jenny Ostdiek: Pretty much. I’ve had some lessons, but mostly self-taught. I started piano young and just wanted to learn it, so I figured it out. I also played trumpet and was in choir, so I learned other stuff from there. Anytime I could get my hands on an instrument, I wanted to see how far I could get.
DJ Indra Raj: How did you start songwriting?
Jenny Ostdiek: I started a few years ago. I’m a writer—I’ve written and self-published two books, a fiction fantasy series called Lauren’s Legend. Writing a 400-page novel felt easier than putting thoughts into a three-minute song. But being in songwriting groups with Tim, and going through some personal stuff, I realized music was a great outlet. So it became another form of therapy. Now I have a full collection of songs from the last few years.
DJ Indra Raj: Wonderful. Tim, let’s hear one more tune from you.
Tim Ostdiek: We’ll do a song Jenny sings on a lot called Ran with the River. I grew up alongside the North Platte River, and when I moved to Longmont I found myself wandering along the St. Vrain. Water is a big deal in my family—if you come to Thanksgiving, you’ll hear hours of water talk. My sister works on the Colorado River doing important work. This is a river song.
Plays Ran With the River
DJ Indra Raj: That’s Tim’s song Ran with the River. Really great to hear from both of you today. Tim, tell me how you discovered music and songwriting.
Tim Ostdiek: I started guitar in seventh grade with a teacher named Perry Brennan who loved music. Once I learned a G chord and a C chord, I realized that could be a Bob Dylan song or any song in the world. I started writing through high school. I got a little USB mic, a MacBook with GarageBand, and started recording.
Then moving to Colorado, I went to Song School at Planet Bluegrass and the Folks Festival. My heroes growing up were the Indigo Girls, Richard Thompson, Jason Isbell, and I assumed nobody in Nebraska knew them. Then I end up in Lyons where they’re heroes too. It was amazing to find that community.
DJ Indra Raj: And you two are active in the scene—any releases coming up?
Tim Ostdiek: We have a bunch of stuff out. My most recent album is The Lost Days, and Jenny sings all over that. We’ve got shows in Longmont through the end of the year—300 Suns Brewery in December, where we met and got engaged, and Bricks on Main on the 18th.
We also have a songwriting podcast called Songs Off the Vine featuring different musicians. Every other episode is me and Jenny chatting.
Jenny has her own record coming soon—we’re going back into the home studio.
Jenny Ostdiek: Yeah, my debut album. I don’t have an album out yet, so we’re working on it after the holidays. It’ll have 12 songs and be called All to Ash. I’m excited to release some of these songs.
I also have a couple of books on Amazon.
DJ Indra Raj: Tomorrow, Tim and Jenny will be at the Sound Post Sessions at the Times Collaborative. Monica Marie Laband will be hosting and performing as well. More at soundpostsessions.com.
Jenny, can we hear one more tune from you?
Jenny Ostdiek: Yeah. This is one of my newer songs called Caroline Away. Tim, play on this with me if you want.
Plays “Caroline Away”
DJ Indra Raj: Live music from Tim and Jenny here in the KGNU studios. Thank you both so much.
Tim Ostdiek: Thank you.
DJ Indra Raj: Before you go, tell listeners how to keep up with you.
Tim Ostdiek: TimOstdiek.com. I have a mailing list. If you search “Tim Ostdiek,” you’ll find me anywhere.
Jenny Ostdiek: Instagram and Facebook are great for me. Jenny Ostdiek. I’m changing things around, but if you find one you’ll find the other—or if you find Tim, you’ll find me.
Tim Ostdiek: You played Gillian Welch earlier, and that’s how we describe us—like Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings. One name is on the poster, but both are always there.
Jenny Ostdiek: Yeah, that’s usually us. One of us, but with each other.
DJ Indra Raj: I love it. Thank you so much. We look forward to having you back at KGNU maybe next year.
Jenny Ostdiek & Tim Ostdiek: Thank you.
