CMC student Bailey Peth reflects her new Steamboat community
Bluegrass on The Yampa
Music should be played once you have read the post, it could be a bit distracting to do both at the same time. Enjoy!
One of my favorite things about Steamboat is all of the musical people who live here. There is live music everywhere you turn, whether it be hippies in the parking lot of the gas station beating their drums, or bands playing at bars and even on the mountain. More than once I have walked into a house party only to find the people throwing it sitting behind various instruments ready to jam. This kind of musical atmosphere is ideal for people, like me, who positively thrive off the energy and the movement that comes along with live music. If it was a viable lifestyle I would leave on festival tour tomorrow. It is great for me then, that live music is abundant in Steamboat.
Last Saturday I had the unique pleasure of seeing one of Steamboat’s local string bands, Old Town Pickers, play at a bar in Hayden. Hula-hoops in hand, my friend Tabatha and I set out to enjoy our evening. And it was even better than I expected it to be. I hooped until I was too tiered, and too dizzy to move. Later, I got to spend some time talking with the band, whom are all amazingly cool people and fantastically talented at their various instruments, which included; a dobro, a banjo, stand up bass, and of course, an acoustic guitar.
Everyone at there was as nice as the sunshine in spring, and really interested in how Tabatha and I learned to hoop. We talked with them for a few hours, everyone huddled around an enormous bucket of peanuts that none of us could stop eating. They were more addicting than potato chips. And toward the end of the night, Tabatha brought me a very nice older man to dance with.
Little did I know that dancing in this bar meant swing dancing. I was twirled around like a toy top, my partner demonstrating amazing coordination and skill, so graceful. I however felt more like a drunken ballerina, tripping over my own feet and his, than anything graceful. Despite my difficulties, that is one of the best dances I have ever had. My partner, Scott, was pro. As he twirled me back and forth and to and fro an enormous smile spread across my face. I relaxed more and more the longer we danced, and I was finally able to let him lead. After that it just got better. I must have been twirling and smiling and tripping over feet for five songs before I was too exhausted to do it anymore. And through the hooping and the peanuts and the swing dancing, the Pickers played away in their corner, one of the best displays of bluegrass musicianship I have ever seen in a town this small, and better than a lot of acts i’ve seen in Denver. Without them, my night would not have been possible, and I look forward to many like it in the future.
I don’t know how I got so lucky to live in such a beautiful place with such beautiful music and wonderful people.
Old Town Pickers are playing again this Wednesday, December 7, at Carl’s Tavern on 7th street and Yampa. This is an all ages event so there is no reason not to come out! I’ll be there and I hope to see you, bring your friends and your dancing shoes.
This blog post was originally published in CMC student Madison Bailey Peth’s blog, “Bluebird Sky.”