New Orleans brass band-meets-Mardi Gras Indian outfit Cha Wa radiates the energy of the city’s street culture. “My People,” the band’s follow up to their Grammy-nominated album “Spyboy,” feels like pure joy, a distillation of generations of New Orleans expression. But it also never fails to remind us how hard-won that joy was and still is: not least in the tense, funky and explosive title track, with its declaration “My people, we’re still here.”

The clattering, hollering song of Mardi Gras Indians on the move is primal and powerful. There’s a feeling that you’re somehow witnessing a deeper, stronger spirit breaking through the structures that govern city life, and the only thing more arresting than the sound is the sight of it: the Indians wear towering, elaborate suits that require months’ worth of work, topped with billowing ostrich plumes in riotous colors and festooned with painstakingly hand-beaded patches and panels that glitter in the sun or under streetlights.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

All ages are invited to the Strings Pavilion to watch the Strings Festival Orchestra prepare for Opening Night the following day.

Peer behind the curtain as the Strings Festival Orchestra prepares for two exciting performances. This event is open to the public, giving families and friends an exclusive opportunity to gain insight into the inner workings of a symphony orchestra. Children of all ages are welcome to attend!

The generous support of our community allows us to provide this event free to the public! 

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

Legendary Rock and Roll and Songwriters Hall of Famer.

The Graham Nash performance has been rescheduled to Tuesday, June 27, 2023. 

Graham Nash’s remarkable body of work spans more than 60 years from The Hollies through Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, to his latest solo releases. Towering above virtually everything that Graham Nash has accomplished in his long and multi-faceted career, stands the litany of songs that he has written and introduced to the soundtrack of our lives for nearly six decades.

GRAHAM NASH SOUNDCHECK VIP UPGRADE: ticketholders can purchase this upgrade featuring a preshow sound check, autographed tour poster, and more. Learn more.

Nominated nine times for Country Music Association awards, Brent performs with Grand Ole Opry member Mandy Barnett.

Called “the Judy Garland of our time” (American Songwriter), Grand Ole Opry member Mandy Barnett has built a reputation for her commanding voice and unwavering devotion to classic country and popular standards. Mandy has enchanted listeners around the globe with her world-class vocals and musical chameleon qualities. Of this audience favorite, renowned songwriter/artist Jimmy Webb states simply, “Mandy Barnett has a voice for the ages.”

Brent Rowan made his mark as a Nashville studio guitarist and record producer, nominated nine times for Country Music Association awards. In addition to over 15,000 recording sessions, he has played on dozens of film soundtracks and recorded with Chris LeDoux, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Olivia Newton-John, Sting, and Neil Diamond, along with many others. 

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

The celebrated New Jersey septet chronicles the twists and turns of this journey through eloquent songcraft, bluegrass soul, and rock ‘n’ roll spirit.

For over two decades, Railroad Earth has captivated audiences with gleefully unpredictable live shows and eloquent and elevated studio output. The group introduced its signature sound on 2001’s The Black Bear Sessions. Between selling out hallowed venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO, they’ve launched the longstanding annual Hangtown Music Festival in Placerville, CA and Hillberry: The Harvest Moon Festival in Ozark, AR—both running for a decade-plus. Sought after by legends, the John Denver Estate tapped them to put lyrics penned by the late John Denver to music on the 2019 vinyl EP, Railroad Earth: The John Denver Letters. Beyond tallying tens of millions of streams, the collective have earned widespread critical acclaim from David Fricke of Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, Glide Magazine, and NPR who assured, “Well-versed in rambling around, as you might expect from a band named after a Jack Kerouac poem, the New Jersey-built jam-grass engine Railroad Earth has let no moss grow under its rustic wheels.”

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

What happens when life imitates art? You get PBS favorite, Under the Streetlamp and their electrifying show featuring an inspiring catalog of classics.

With over 6,100 airings in more than 170 markets and all 50 states, Streetlamp has spent 10 years entertaining audiences through public television and assisting PBS stations nationwide in their fundraising efforts.  Streetlamp keeps adding to the more than 300 million people who have seen their performances on television and more than half a million who have seen their live shows!

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

Nickel Creek is the platinum-selling, internationally renowned roots trio of mandolinist Chris Thile, violinist Sara Watkins, and guitarist Sean Watkins.

The Grammy-winning band has revolutionized folk and roots music since first performing together as children at a pizza parlor in San Diego in 1989. Nickel Creek quickly broke through in 2000 with their Grammy-nominated, Alison Krauss-produced self-titled LP, which showcased not just their instrumental virtuosity but their burgeoning songwriting prowess. The trio quickly followed that effort with the Krauss-produced This Side, a landmark release that earned Nickel Creek the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

VIP PACKAGE UPGRADE:
*Must have a ticket to show to purchase package
*Access to private pre-show performance by Nickel Creek
*Access to private Q&A with Nickel Creek
*Limited edition poster signed by the band
*Celebrants Club Enamel Pin
*Early entry to venue
*Crowd free merchandise shopping
*On-site event host

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

Three-time Grammy-winners Nitty Gritty Dirt Band come to Strings with a refreshed lineup and newfound energy.

The group formed in 1966 as a Long Beach, California jug band, scored its first charting single in 1967, and embarked on a self-propelled ride through folk, country, rock ‘n’ roll, pop, bluegrass, and the amalgam now known as “Americana.” The first major hit came in 1971 with the epic “Mr. Bojangles,” which, along with insistent support from banjo master Earl Scruggs, opened doors in Nashville. Behind those doors were Earl Scruggs, Roy Acuff, Doc Watson, Mother Maybelle Carter, Jimmy Martin, and others who would collaborate on a multi-artist,multi-generational, three-disc 1972 masterpiece Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which went triple platinum, spawned two later volumes, and wound up in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 2022 album, Dirt Does Dylan, has received widespread critical acclaim.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

David Sedaris is one of America’s preeminent humor writers. He is a master of satire and one of today’s most observant writers.

Beloved for his personal essays and short stories, David Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, and Calypso, which was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year.

There are over 16 million copies of his books in print and they have been translated into 32 languages. He has been awarded the Terry Southern Prize for Humor, Thurber Prize for American Humor, Jonathan Swift International Literature Prize for Satire and Humor, and Time 2001 Humorist of the Year Award, as well as the Medal for Spoken Language from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

Kearney, a multi-platinum songwriter and producer has performed live on the TODAY Show, Ellen, The Tonight Show, Letterman, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Nashville-based, Oregon-born Mat Kearney is back with January Flower. Written between an isolated retreat in Joshua Tree and his home studio, January Flower sees Kearney in his rawest form, distilling the songwriting process and rediscovering the joy of making music. Over his career, Kearney has released five studio LPs, claimed the #1 spot on iTunes, topped multiple Billboard charts, made four entries into the Hot 100, amassed over 577M on demand streams and over 2.5B global streams. 

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

The Ohio-bred and Texas-transplanted band’s first new music since 2015’s Restless Ones, A Beautiful Life affirms frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom as a songwriter with the power to profoundly influence our state of mind, often by alchemizing her idealism into viscerally potent rock-and-roll songs.

On the new album A Beautiful Life, Heartless Bastards share a wide-eyed and radiant vision for harmonizing a broken world. With its delicate coalescence of so many eclectic touchstones— French pop and Celtic folk, space rock and symphonic pop, Disney scores and post-punk— the result is an album that immediately lures the listener into a more receptive mindset, one that leads to deeper generosity, greater compassion, and a restored sense of possibility.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

Michael Kaeshammer has invested a lot— countless hours at the keyboard, hundreds of recordings, thousands of live performances, millions of miles in the air and on the road— all in pursuit of a mastery of 12 notes across 88 keys.

Over the course of decades as a professional performer, Kaeshammer has developed a signature blend of classical, jazz, blues, and boogie-woogie with effortless pop hooks for a compelling crossover style that’s immediately engaging yet impressively substantial. Born and raised in Germany, Kaeshammer began performing club, theatre, and festival stages throughout Europe in his early teens and continued on that trajectory after emigrating to Canada’s West Coast with his family in the mid-‘90s. His first studio album, Blue Keys, dropped in 1996 and spurred a consistent sequence of heralded releases and high-profile international performances. Through it all, the world watched as he grew from child prodigy to full-fledged phenom; from unparalleled pianist to virtuosic singer-songwriter.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

In a cultural landscape filled with endless pundits and talking heads, Fran Lebowitz stands out as one of our most insightful social commentators.

Her essays and interviews offer her acerbic views on current events and the media – as well as pet peeves including tourists, baggage-claim areas, after-shave lotion, adults who roller skate, children who speak French, or anyone who is unduly tan. The New York Times Book Review calls Lebowitz an “important humorist in the classic tradition.” Purveyor of urban cool, Lebowitz is a cultural satirist whom many call the heir to Dorothy Parker.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

Amos Lee performs music from  My Ideal (A Tribute To Chet Baker Sings) , a 16-song collection that simultaneously pays tribute to Lee’s musical hero, reflects on the Billboard chart-topper’s deep jazz roots, shines a light on his Philadelphia music community, and toasts an exciting year of returning to the road and releasing new music. Chet Baker Sings is a record that Amos has always loved, but now holds even deeper meaning as a source of light in the darkest days of the pandemic – where his daily routine included waking up, meditating, and playing the 1954 jazz epic front-to-back.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

Kathy Mattea, hailed by The Washington Post as “one of Nashville’s finest song interpreters,” performs with Suzy Bogguss, one of the country’s most pristine and evocative vocalists.

Kathy Mattea has enjoyed much success and acclaim during her 35-year career in country, bluegrass, and folk music; including two Grammy wins, four CMA Awards, four #1 country singles, and five gold albums (plus a platinum Greatest Hits collection). 

Suzy Bogguss quickly became one of the key artists that defined those golden days of ’90s country. She scored a string of Top 10 singles with country radio staples like “Outbound Plane,” “Drive South,” “Hey Cinderella,” “Letting Go,” and “Aces,” and her 1991 album of that name was certified platinum.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

Countless tunes you know from the first note, rip-roaring gigs you can count on, and a whole lot of energy you’ll take home with you.

Founded and led by original frontman, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Kurt Neumann, the band’s catalog consists of generational anthems such as “Good Things,” “You Don’t Get Much,” “Idaho,” and “Closer to Free,” just to name a few. However, they still reflect the soul and spirit of the modern American experience on their 14th full-length offering, 4 The Last Time.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

Buffalo Rose takes the singer-songwriter tradition to a new level by crafting original songs which are emotive, meticulously arranged, and inspired by a world of idiosyncratic influences that never let a dull or predictable moment creep in.

The band released their debut album, The Soil and the Seed, in 2018 and established themselves as a vocal, instrumental, and creative force. Since then, Buffalo Rose has dropped two EPs, 2019’s Big Stampede and 2020’s Borrowed and Blue, opened for the Wood Brothers, Mipso, Pokey LaFarge, Tyler Childers, Infamous Stringdusters, and shared a festival stage with the legendary Sam Bush. The band’s upward trajectory continues into 2022 with their latest EP Rabbit, created in collaboration with Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Tom Paxton, followed by a new full-length LP scheduled for release later in the year.

Juniors (ages 6-18) discounted tickets for children 6 and up attending select evening concerts.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

Join Buffalo Rose for a sensory friendly concert. Everyone is invited, but especially friends and family in the Yampa Valley who have a sensory processing disorder. Lights will be up, the music will be soft, and there will be places to move around while you enjoy this sweet show.

Buffalo Rose takes the singer-songwriter tradition to a new level by crafting original songs which are emotive, meticulously arranged, and inspired by a world of idiosyncratic influences that never let a dull or predictable moment creep in.

The band released their debut album, The Soil and the Seed, in 2018 and established themselves as a vocal, instrumental, and creative force. Since then, Buffalo Rose has dropped two EPs, 2019’s Big Stampede and 2020’s Borrowed and Blue, opened for the Wood Brothers, Mipso, Pokey LaFarge, Tyler Childers, Infamous Stringdusters, and shared a festival stage with the legendary Sam Bush. The band’s upward trajectory continues into 2022 with their latest EP Rabbit, created in collaboration with Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Tom Paxton, followed by a new full-length LP scheduled for release later in the year.

*Music for the Community: Pay what you can!  Strings welcomes music lovers of all ages to enjoy a family friendly performance without the worries of cost or seating. Attendees are invited to pay what they can and choose seats anywhere in the Pavilion.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

“A timeless voice, deep and hearty, weathered but comforting.” -Boulder Weekly

Well-versed in the Americana tour circuit, Daniel Rodriguez is one of the founding members and lead songwriters of the transcendental folk band, Elephant Revival. Elephant Revival released six albums and headlined Red Rocks Amphitheatre three times before the band went on hiatus. Daniel immediately headed out on tour as a solo artist, sharing stages with The Lumineers, Jim James, Gregory Alan Isakov, Mandolin Orange, Josh Ritter, Fruition, and John Craigie.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

With dozens of movie scores and over 500 recording credits to his name across Jazz, R&B, and Opera, Marcus’ resume speaks for itself.

In 2020, Marcus created, musically produced, and posted the Lift Every Voice get out the vote event, which brought together political leaders and musical legends to encourage political participation. Additionally, he contributed to UNESCO’s United Against Racism video alongside countless industry legends, and was commissioned by Prince Albert of Monaco to create the orchestral arrangement for Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free” video, which he also appeared in.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

Celebrated acoustic guitarist and two-time Grammy nominee Leo Kottke joins guitar virtuoso Julian Lage.

Hailed as one of the most prodigious guitarists of his generation and among the “highest category of improvising musicians” (New Yorker), Julian Lage has spent more than a decade searching through the myriad strains of American musical history via impeccable technique, free association and a spirit of infinite possibility. The California-born New York-based musician boasts a prolific resume on his own accord in addition to collaborating with Gary Burton and John Zorn, as well as duo projects with Nels Cline, Chris Eldridge and Fred Hersch, among others.

Raised in 12 different states, acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke absorbed a variety of musical influences as a child, flirting with both violin and trombone, before abandoning Stravinsky for the guitar at age 11. Kottke’s 1971 major-label debut, Mudlark positioned him somewhat uneasily in the singer/songwriter vein, despite his own wishes to remain an instrumental performer. Kottke flourished during his tenure on Capitol, as records like 1972’s Greenhouse and 1973’s live My Feet Are Smiling and Ice Water found him branching out with guest musicians and honing his guitar technique.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.

Lee Rocker made his mark singing, playing, standing on, spinning, and rocking his giant upright bass as a founding member (along with Brian Setzer and Slim Jim Phantom) of the Grammy nominated music group The Stray Cats, who sold over 10 million albums and garnered 23 gold and platinum certified records worldwide.  He has since been named “Greatest Of All Time” in Bass Player Magazine’s 2022 listing of the top 100 bassists ever.  Come hear Lee and his band perform Stray Cats hits like “Sexy and Seventeen”, “Stray Cat Strut” and “Rock This Town”, plus lots of other rockin’ songs Lee performed post-Stray Cats with music legends from Ringo Starr and George Harrison to John Fogerty and The Rolling Stones.

On sale to the public May 11.

*Donors of $500 or more to the 2023 Strings Annual Fund are granted early ticket access.