Whereas Oscar and Emmy statuettes are produced by huge high-end manufacturers, John Billings and his small team handcraft Grammy awards in the little town of Ridgway, Colorado.

grammys-hp

For breaking the color barrier in symphony music, the Denver legend is revered by generations of both classical and jazz devotees.

Charlie Burrell

birthdays

A symposium at Fiske Planetarium convened members of Spontanuity, whose psychedelic light show provided visual background for the Dead’s 1969 concert in Boulder.

Grateful Dead/Spontanuity

Having shot hundreds of concerts as a house photographer at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Lisa Siciliano has generously culled images from her voluminous collection in this gallery for Colorado Music Experience.

Neil Young, 2015
David Clayton-Thomas, 1987

David Clayton-Thomas, the husky-voiced lead singer for Blood, Sweat & Tears, passed away in Toronto on June 24, 2026. He was 84.

All

All

New York and Los Angeles had been the traditional headquarters of the music industry, but the business had become decentralized by the late 1990s. In local scenes—Minneapolis, Seattle and Athens, Georgia—it wasn’t uncommon to find labels not affiliated with major companies.

Kenny Vaughan

Kenny Vaughan
Kenny Vaughan co-led Jonny 3, Denver’s top punk/new wave band in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Nashville called and offered him plenty of work, and the guitarist became a sought-after sideman, recording with dozens of top artists including Lucinda Williams and Rodney Crowell along with a regular gig in Marty Stewart’s band.

On Record Book Series

On Record book series

Each volume of the award-winning On Record series gathers over 200 limited and extraordinary images and 100 interview-based profiles spotlighting an array of musical artists.

merch

merchandise

Explore the Colorado Music Experience’s store, stocked with stylish products and gifts for music fans.

hosted by g. brown

A non-profit organization established to preserve the legacies of Colorado music, CoME serves as a repository for informational and archival resources.

Jon Rizzi, G. Brown, Mark Zaremba and Chip Garofalo