Grant Livingston of Colorado-based band River Spell joined KGNU’s Shawna Sprowls to discuss the group’s music and upcoming shows. The four-piece band, known for their improvisational style and original songs, has become a fixture in Colorado’s vibrant music scene. Grant shared insights about songwriting, the band’s collaborative process, and their winter schedule, including shows at the Velvet Elk Lounge and Globe Hall (Interview date: 11/18/24)
Shawna Sprowls: I am so happy to have Grant Livingston of River Spell here. We were going to have more of the band. Life happens, but Grant still graciously volunteered to come in. He actually plays solo and duo acts. So this is not a big switch up for him. Good morning, Grant.
River Spell: Good morning. Thanks so much for having me on.
Shawna Sprowls: Hey, thanks so much for coming. I appreciate it. I know that mornings can be difficult for you musicians who are out playing or seeing other people play. Did you catch the show at the Mission this weekend?
River Spell: I sure did. Yep. Cervantes as well the night before. It was an awesome weekend of music.
Shawna Sprowls: Oh, that’s fantastic. Did you play over the weekend too?
River Spell: I didn’t. We had a rare weekend off this week. So we were taking it easy. We don’t get that very often. It was pretty nice actually, to get to enjoy some music and hang out.
Shawna Sprowls: Yeah, I was checking out your lineup. You got a busy couple months coming up. I think you’ve got a busy four months coming up.
River Spell: Yeah, we’re looking forward to it.
Shawna Sprowls: That’s awesome. River Spell, of course, is a four piece band with Grant on acoustic guitar and vocals and Ben Maillaro on electric guitar, Charlie Milo on bass and Zach Ritchie on drums. They’re from right here on the Front Range, been together a couple years. We’re gonna let Grant play a couple songs and come back and tell us a little bit more about the group.
River Spell: Awesome. Sounds great. Here’s the new one I’m working on called “Everything We Need”.
Shawna Sprowls: Oh, I really like that one.
River Spell: Thanks so much.
Shawna Sprowls: And you’re writing that one?
River Spell: Yes, that’s one I just finished recently.
Shawna Sprowls: Fantastic. Go ahead and play one more and then we’ll chat a little bit. Grant Livingston of River Spell on KGNU Morning Sound Alternative.
Oh, I really like that one too.
River Spell: Right on. Thanks so much.
Shawna Sprowls: Did you write that one?
River Spell: Yeah, that’s one I wrote. We call that “Like a Fountain”.
Shawna Sprowls: “Like a Fountain”. Fantastic. So tell me how you all met and got together.
River Spell: I moved to Colorado about three years ago with the intention of starting a project. I spent the first year or so floating around the state and meeting musicians and playing as much as I could. Through that process I met some of the guys here. We started playing as a band about two and a half years ago here in Denver and Boulder mostly. Yeah, we just started having loads of fun with it. So we’ve been cooking since then.
Shawna Sprowls: Where’d you come here from?
River Spell: I came here from Northern California. I was in the Bay Area before this. I’m from Michigan originally.
Shawna Sprowls: There you go. The best of both worlds, right?
River Spell: I love it out here for sure. Yeah, Colorado’s a good place to be.
Shawna Sprowls: Got a great music scene.
River Spell: Absolutely. That’s why I moved here, cause I heard it was awesome. It’s far exceeded my expectations of what I imagined. Everyone eats it up out here and there are so many good people.
Shawna Sprowls: There’s so many shows, everybody includes live music in their events. I feel like the musicians are all very welcoming and wanting to collaborate. I hope that’s been your experience as well.
River Spell: Absolutely. I’ve been falling in love with the scene out here for sure. It’s an amazing place and scene.
Shawna Sprowls: That’s awesome. So what’s the favorite show that you have played? Cause I see that you’ve played the Fox, Cervantes, Belly Up in Aspen, all over the place.
River Spell: Off the bat, you nailed some of our favorites right there for sure. We’re fortunate to have a good relationship with Cervantes in Denver and the Fox here in Boulder. We’ve gotten to play at Cervantes probably four or five times now on all the different stages, and we have loads of fun doing that every time. The whole staff there is awesome.
Shawna Sprowls: Duncan and Scott and Diana, they’re a great crew over there. They take good care of their musicians.
River Spell: Absolutely. So we love doing that. And the Fox here in Boulder too, we’ve gotten to play there a handful of times, and we always have loads of fun doing that. We’re actually getting to co-headline it in January. January 17th.
Shawna Sprowls: Oh, fantastic. Who are you playing with?
River Spell: We’re playing with another local band called Young and Dead. They’re a Grateful Dead cover band. Some friends of ours do a really great job with it.
Shawna Sprowls: Oh, that’s fun!
River Spell: Another local band, Huck N’ Pray, is on the bill as well. Some friends who do some killer original music too, and it should be loads of fun.
Shawna Sprowls: Tell them about us, please.
River Spell: Yeah, will do, for sure.
Shawna Sprowls: Is the Globe Hall your next show?
River Spell: We actually have one more before that coming up. This Thursday, on the 21st of November, we’re playing at the Velvet Elk with our friends the Hip Snacks, and we’re really looking forward to that.
We love playing at the Velvet Elk. The Hip Snacks are an awesome kind of soul, funk, rock band, some good friends of ours. It should be loads of fun, so we’re really looking forward to that one.
Shawna Sprowls: It’s really nice for Boulder to have a venue of that size again, we haven’t had that smaller kind of listening room place for a bit now.
River Spell: Totally. It’s definitely one of my favorite rooms in town now. It’s a perfect size and intimate, but enough to throw a good party and it’s loads of fun.
Shawna Sprowls: Yeah. And they do music like every night. It’s just fantastic. I’ve seen a lot of people, a lot of the smaller and up and coming acts, it’s a great place for them to get to play.
River Spell: Absolutely. Yeah, so come on by if you’re around on Thursday. We play from 8 to 9 o’clock, and the Hip Snacks start up at about 9:15. Doors are at 7 o’clock. We hope to see you there.
Shawna Sprowls: So you are familiar with the Hip Snacks. Tell me a little bit about them.
River Spell: That’s right. The third drummer, Dylan French, actually was one of the River Spell drummers along the way. Before we met Zach, our mainstay here, we were playing with a bunch of different friends and he helped us out along the way. He’s a great player. The Hip Snacks formed, I want to say in the last couple of years here, but this is our first time getting to play together properly. So we’re looking forward to that.
Shawna Sprowls: That’s great. We’ve heard a couple of the songs that you have written. Great songwriting, by the way. How would you describe the sound of the band as a whole when the four of you get together?
River Spell: So you’re hearing the core of the songs. I do the songwriting for the band, but they really bring them to life and we expand on them a whole lot. So I bring the songs to the band and then everyone writes their own parts and we really like to improvise too. We open up the songs a whole lot for improvisation and really try to make it different every time and let the music breathe a little bit. We have loads of fun doing that.
Shawna Sprowls: So you might hear the same song, but you’re not going to hear it the same way.
River Spell: Absolutely that’s right.
Shawna Sprowls: So that means you want to go to the Velvet Elk, a nice little intimate place. And then, eight days later you can go to Globe Hall in Denver, another smaller room, a little bigger than the Velvet Elk, though maybe a little bit rowdier. And then you go to Aspen, yeah? Belly Up, December 12th. That’s a really lovely venue.
River Spell: Yeah, absolutely. We’re honored to get to play up there. That one is really special. I’ve seen a bunch of my favorite shows there. I know there’s so many musicians who I admire and respect that get to play there. So we love to get to play on that stage. This will be our second time supporting the O’Connor Brothers Band. Who I actually haven’t got to meet yet, but I’ve been checking out their music and they’re great too. We’re excited to be up in Aspen.
Shawna Sprowls: Yeah, and a nice, appreciative ski crowd. They’ll be well lubricated and smiling and happy because hopefully we’ll get a bunch of snow just before you have to drive there, of course.
River Spell: Our drummer is Zach Ritchie. He was born and raised in Carbondale, and so we like playing up in that area a lot. We got some friends and fans out there, so we’re looking forward to having a little bit of a hometown throwdown kind of thing for him.
Shawna Sprowls: Big music fans in the Roaring Fork Valley all over. I used to manage the radio station over there that’s based in Carbondale. Yeah, did this a lot with a lot of really incredible musicians heading to Aspen.
River Spell: Very cool. We’ve played on that station before actually. That’s an awesome spot. That totem pole there out front.
Shawna Sprowls: That was put there when I was there. Been about 20 years. We won’t date me. Hey, let’s hear another couple songs, shall we?
River Spell: That sounds great. I’d love to.
Shawna Sprowls: What’s this one called?
River Spell: We call this song “Only Love”. And this song is available in full band form on our album, which is on Spotify and Apple Music and all the places you can check it out, YouTube and all that good stuff.
Shawna Sprowls: That’s awesome.
We’re gonna have him play one more. We’re just not letting Grant go quite yet. Once again, this is Grant Livingston. He plays with the band River Spell, and your next chance to catch them is at the Velvet Elk Lounge on the 21st, which is Thursday, with the Hip Snacks. One more tune from Grant Livingston, who writes all of these songs. So kudos, Grant.
River Spell: Cool. Thanks so much. Here’s one more new one. Hope you enjoy it.
Shawna Sprowls: Another fantastic one. What was that one called again?
River Spell: I’m still coming up with a name. I think “Part of the Ride” is what I’ll end up calling it.
Shawna Sprowls: Oh, I’m just making a little playlist for those people who might listen later, because you can do that. You can go and listen to the archives of this show. They’ll be loaded shortly after the show ends.
River Spell: Cool. Thanks so much for doing that.
Shawna Sprowls: Of course, and I’ll share the link and all of that fun stuff. It was really nice having you in here. Looking forward to Thursday night at the Velvet Elk Lounge. I’m definitely going to try to make that.
River Spell: Awesome.
Shawna Sprowls: Where can people find your music if they’re looking for it? You’ve got a website, CDs, I know you have at least one out.
River Spell: Yeah, all of the above. Thanks again for having me. It’s been great meeting you. You can find all of our stuff at RiverSpellMusic.com or RiverSpellMusic on Instagram or River Spell on Facebook and any of that stuff. We have one album out and we definitely plan on recording another sooner than later. So keep your ears out for that. We hope to see you around. We’re playing pretty much most weekends all around Colorado this whole winter time. So come on out to a show, whether it’s here in the Front Range or all about the state we’re playing all over and we hope to see you out there.
Shawna Sprowls: Do you like to ski?
River Spell: I do.
Shawna Sprowls: I see you’re gonna be in Steamboat in Aspen and Crested Butte.
River Spell: Yeah. I don’t do the passes or whatever, but we end up playing at a lot of resorts, so we get to get out on the mountain a handful of times. Always fun.
Shawna Sprowls: Sometimes you meet locals at the show and they’ve got a buddy pass, you know what happens. You get hooked up. Not all tips are monetary. Thank you so much for taking part in your day. We appreciate it. See you on Thursday.
River Spell: Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
Shawna Sprowls: Yeah, take care.
