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On today's special segment brought to you by correspondent Maryann Rosen, we're spotlighting the incredible town of Nederland!

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Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected]

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Daniel C. Jones has always been drawn to pedal steel guitar. In the early 1970s, he fell in love with the country rock scene at the time. What stuck out to him, though, wasn’t the Nashville country scene – it was the alternative country scene.

Jones loved the sound of performers such as Jerry Garcia, his project New Riders of the Purple Sage, and Peter E. Kleinow (or “Sneaky Pete”). In 1971, Jones’s brother took him to see a performance of Garcia’s most well-known band, The Grateful Dead. Waylon Jennings opened that night, joined by Ralph Mooney, pedal steel guitar player for Jennings’s group the Waylors.

Jones says the instrument called to him because its sound instantly captivated him. Throughout the 1970s, he steadily performed on the road full-time, but by the 1980s, he prioritized his education. He earned a BA in Music from Sonoma State University in California, an MM in Musicology/Music Theory at the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder in 1984, and a Ph.D in Musicology at CU Boulder in 1991.

Jones taught musicology at CU Boulder for over twenty years before retiring after the fall 2019 semester. Throughout that time, he performed pedal steel guitar on the side, both by himself and with the instrumental group Standard Deviations.

Now, Jones focuses entirely on playing, particularly embracing standards from the Great American Songbook. His original compositions and arrangements are all instrumental, so for him, it’s important to find pieces that lie well in the instrument’s range.

Support the show

Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.

If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:

Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected]

Tyler Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected]

Jamie Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected]

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Head to our website for all of the latest news.

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This audio library segment from Rachel Kobi focuses on important safety guidelines involving school buses in the area!

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Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.

If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:

Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected]

Tyler Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected]

Jamie Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected]

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Some of Bryan Bielanski’s earliest memories occurred in his crib, where he listened to the rock and roll records his parents and sister played. He’s always been in love with music because of this, and he fell in love with it completely by his teenage years.

Two albums in particular inspired Bielanski’s journey into music: The Beatles' self-titled album (commonly known as The White Album) and Nirvana’s Nevermind. The variety of The Beatles as an album and the sincerity and energy of Nevermind as an album became the foundation of Bielanski’s musical inspirations.

Bielanski started learning guitar, writing songs as soon as he could and playing in a band as a teenager. In the 2010s, he started performing and touring as a solo artist, which served as his transition from music as a hobby into music as a career.

Since 2020, Bielanski has released four solo albums, Bryan’s Super Happy Fun Time volumes one through four, and an EP, Free Bird. While he sometimes misses the camaraderie of a touring band, he better appreciates being able to pull a show together on his own, especially with the acoustic guitar style he’s adopted.

Support the show

Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.

If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:

Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected]

Tyler Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected]

Jamie Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected]

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Head to our website for all of the latest news.

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This segment contains the entirety of the keynote address given in Central City by U.S. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert on February 21, 2025, during the Fourth Annual Lincoln Day Dinner at the Elks Lodge, hosted by the Gilpin County Republican Committee. This segment also contains the reading of an article about the dinner written by Mindy Leary for the February 27, 2025 edition of The Mountain-Ear.

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Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.

If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:

Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected]

Tyler Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected]

Jamie Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected]

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Together, Sky Kelsey and Marty Smith serve as founding members of the traditional Irish band The Safehouse. Kelsey and Smith have been the consistent leading members of the group and have played together for many years.

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, they honed their sound as a duo for the first time. Kelsey and his then-girlfriend (now-wife) stayed with Smith for a few months, and they locked in completely on finding a sound together.

Since then, they’ve switched between performing with a band lineup in The Safehouse and as a duo group. Both projects focus on playing traditional Irish music.

Smith grew up in Wyoming while Kelsey grew up in Alaska. Neither environment is known for its vibrant Irish music scene. However, both individuals found Irish music in their communities.

In particular, Kelsey embraced the music developed in southern Ireland’s County Clare. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a native County Clare band, The Ceili Bandits, brought much of the county’s traditional music to Alaska.

 Completely captivated by Clare music, he embraced Ireland’s oral tradition. He started learning fiddle from age twelve under the mentorship of James Kelly, who Kelsey cites as his biggest influence. By the time Kelsey was old enough to gig in bars, Clare music had been well established in his community, so he completely embraced the music and started learning music from across Ireland.

Meanwhile, growing up with folk music, Smith has performed in countless groups even outside of The Safehouse. These groups include Avourneen, their spinoff duo Smithstein, and Coisir.

Smith started by playing dance tunes from the British Isles on the hammered dulcimer, and he now primarily focuses on playing the Irish bouzouki and singing. He’s been mentored by bouzouki teachers such as Andy Irvine, Aaron Jones, and Roger Landes.

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Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.

If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:

Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected]

Tyler Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected]

Jamie Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected]

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Chef Oscar Padilla has been working in and running restaurants for over twenty-five years. Born in Los Angeles, he grew up in Mexico City with his grandmother, observing and admiring her culinary techniques, particularly her preparation of traditional Mexican dishes.

Inspired to pursue a culinary career, he studied and worked in Mexico City, establishing his reputation when he joined the culinary team of The Club de Banqueros. After his time there, he moved to the United States to continue his career path.

Padilla’s reputation caught the attention of Chef Richard Sandoval, who brought Padilla onto his team. They worked together in New York and Denver, and under Sandoval’s mentorship, Padilla opened restaurants and trained culinary teams in locations such as Costa Rica, Dubai, Doha, and Chicago. Padilla has continued building his reputation, even winning as a contestant on the cooking show Chopped (in season 54, episode 7, titled "Pig Candy," to be precise).

Through working with Sandoval at his hospitality in Denver, Padilla met Mauro Gomez, the Director of Operations at the time, who has also had a culinary career spanning over two decades. Working in global hospitality management at Starwood Hotels and Resorts for eleven years, he also led food and beverage operations for Ritz-Carlton Hotels & Resorts in Doha and Dubai after his time working with Sandoval.

In 2021, after years of growing their friendship and partnership, Padilla and Gomez decided to start their own partnership. Together, they founded Balam Culinary Collective, which manages three restaurants in the Freedom Street Social food court in Candelas – Gaucho Parilla, Chulo Taco, and Santa Fe Seaviche and Chippery. Padilla’s wife, Norma, is the collective’s Head of Finance.

Support the show

Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.

If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:

Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected]

Tyler Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected]

Jamie Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected]

General inquiries: [email protected]

Head to our website for all of the latest news.

Subscribe to The Mountain-Ear in print and online.

Submit local events to promote them in the paper and on our website.

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In this transition from February into March, correspondent Maryann Rosen tells stories of notable women of Colorado to usher in Women's History Month!

Support the show

Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.

If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:

Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected]

Tyler Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected]

Jamie Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected]

General inquiries: [email protected]

Head to our website for all of the latest news.

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Michael Lenssen (also known as Mickey Lenny) is a multi-instrumentalist and composer currently based in Denver. He plays trumpet, cornet, and multiple synthesizer-based instruments (including the Electric Wind Instrument), but he didn’t start out on those instruments.

His brother, two years older than him, started playing the violin when he was about five, and Lenny quickly followed suit. Lenny played violin for about ten years, and towards the end of his time playing the instrument, he started getting into improvisational music such as jazz and Brazilian music. He started playing the trumpet in fifth grade, sticking with that instrument all the way through high school.

Throughout this time, there were a few local musicians who inspired him along the way. He grew up close to Paul Erhard, currently a professor of double bass at the University of Colorado Boulder.

At the time Lenny was growing up, Erhard was part of the Colorado Conservatory of Jazz Arts. Lenny participated in programs there from middle through high school, which led him through some of his first performance opportunities.

He also earned a Jazz & Contemporary Music degree at the University of Miami (and, as a local connection, even taught ski lessons at Eldora during high school).

Support the show

Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.

If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:

Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected]

Tyler Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected]

Jamie Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected]

General inquiries: [email protected]

Head to our website for all of the latest news.

Subscribe to The Mountain-Ear in print and online.

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 In the previous segment of The Mountain-Ear Podcast, we brought you Black History Month articles from the paper. Now, correspondent Maryann Rosen shares more stories for Black History Month connected to Colorado!

Support the show

Thank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.

If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:

Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected]

Tyler Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected]

Jamie Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected]

General inquiries: [email protected]

Head to our website for all of the latest news.

Subscribe to The Mountain-Ear in print and online.

Submit local events to promote them in the paper and on our website.

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