Purple Team Wins! Soulshine Tent
Chillicothe, IL
May 24-26, 2013
Pre-Party May 23, 2013

Tag Archives for:

Kyle Hollingsworth Band

Kyle Hollingsworth Band with Eric Krasno (Soulive) and RuffDraft

January 19, 2013
 

 

SONY DSCKyle Hollingsworth has taken part in a wide array of events at Summer Camp. From sitting in with moe. on “Happy Hour Hero” to hosting a seminar on brewing beer, he’s definitely a welcomed guest at the festival. Back near his home in Boulder, Colorado it’s becoming a winter tradition that Kyle takes a trip down the Front Range sharing good music and first-class beer. This year he upped the ante by including Soulive as well as a couple fresh brews. He warmed up for two nights in Denver by bringing Eric Krasno to sit in for the show at Hodi’s in Fort Collins. Kyle also brought a variation on Avery’s dry-hopped Winter Day IPA that he collaborated on with the brewery. It was a spicy ale, balanced by an abundance of hoppy goodness. It’s definitely a nice holiday beer.

Opening act Ruff Draft was a nice treat, comprised of members of Mofro, Nu Classics, and SuperCollider. Focusing on a blend of jazz, funk, and hard hitting vocals this group really had some chops. It almost felt like being transported back to the age of cabaret in some smoky nightspot from long ago.  With tightly wound horns backed by a lockstep rhythm section; I have to say I was honestly impressed. Their bassist was jam stalwart Todd Smallie who has played bass with Derek Trucks Band and currently tours with Mofro. Apparently he lives in Fort Collins now. It’s nice to have such an incredible musician playing the local funk jams and gigging at Hodi’s. They played for about an hour before they left the stage for Kyle.
Kyle has assembled an incredible group with The Motet’s rhythm section consisting of Dave Watts and Garrett Sayers along with Dan Schwindt who has played with everyone from Jeff Coffin and George Porter to sitting in the pit at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Normally we would get a hard-hitting array of KHB tunes intermixed with a few SCI songs and a cover or two. Tonight would be different with the addition of Soulive’s Eric Krasno on guitar things were about to go interstellar. He added an almost soulful tone overall, that alternated between beautiful and face melting often. They opened with a huge instrumental version of the Beatles “Taxman.” This was the absolute perfect way to begin; classic KHB cover and a song out of the Rubber Soulive repertoire. It felt like a clandestine meeting of two great artists. From then on fans were treated to an amazing blend of Kyle’s bouncy pop sensibilities and Krasno’s fiery guitar work. At one point the band allowed Eric to break into an extended bluesy jam that really allowed him to blast off.
 They broke up the show into two sets and the sold out crowd took the opportunity to mingle. Living in a community as small as Fort Collins, you see the same faces at every show up here. It’s comforting to have such a dynamic group of music fans in this town. They make heading out fun. Highlights from the second set included a nice “Naïve Melody” and a huge “Rosie.” Seeing Kyle Hollingsworth and his band is always a great time, but the addition of Krasno stepped the entire experience up a notch. I would really like to see this group do a tour or two. The integration of Krasno was instant and powerful. This was definitely a unique show, and I compliment Kyle for continuing to make these runs interesting for the fans.  With two more nights to go, and a quickly escalating marquee, Kyle Hollingsworth Band was firing on cylinders.

“I guess I must be having fun.” – David Byrne

 

Video Link – http://youtu.be/tJdcdEImhEE

From:
, , , , , , , , , , , ,

New West Fest Night 3 – One More Summer Adventure

September 11, 2012
 

I headed down to Bohemian Nights on Sunday around 3 PM for Widow’s Bane.  Widow’s Bane is not a Summer Camp band, but maybe they should be.  For those that don’t know this self-proclaimed “Zombie-Death-Polka” band performs adorned in face paint and blood. Led by Mortimer Leech who was poisoned by his wife a few hundred years ago, The Widow’s Bane does not shy away form playing to the crowd. They invited a friend to serve cotton candy to the mass as they performed. They were the surprise of the festival, playing up their characters and making for an intriguing blend of rock, folk, and cowpunk.

The rest of my afternoon was filed with a pair of Summer Camp Alumni, Great American Taxi, and Kyle Hollingsworth Band. Both Vince and Kyle have had interesting positions at Summer Camp over the years. Vince Herman played the role of master of ceremony in 2006 and Kyle Hollingsworth lead a discussion on home brewing and sat in with Everyone Orchestra in 2011. I took my time heading back over to the Old Town Square Stage for Leftover Salmon side project Great American Taxi. It had been two years since GAT had played at Bohemian Nights and they definitely drew in the people. The highlight of their set was a beautiful rendition of “Silver Fiddle.” With Vince Herman at the reigns this band never disappoints.

I went to see a bit of Sunday headliners Gipsy Kings before ending the weekend at Kyle Hollingsworth Band. Kyle of The String Cheese Incident has assembled an all star side project including Garrett Sayers on bass and Dave Watts on kit. They played everything you would want to her from them including an epic set closing “Rosie.” I left the event happy to have covered it, and elated with how well it came off. It’s impossible to live in Fort Collins and not make it down for at least a day or two of Bohemian Nights. Even if you don’t like many of the bands there is always plenty to see and do. I took the opportunity this year to pick my very own 10-show weekend, which is easy to do given the fact that so many bands played the event. It was well run and a great time, now let’s see moe. headline a night next year. Thanks to the Bohemian Foundation and the Downtown Association for all the hard work.

From:
, , , , , , , ,