Photo courtesy of Don Richmond is among several musicians who will perform at the annual Alamosa Live Music and Friends Concert in Alamosa on Feb. 17 at 5:30 p.m. at Society Hall. There is only one person. For more information, please visit almaonline.org.
ALAMOSA — Go out and hear some great music while supporting the work of Alamosa Live Music Association (ALMA), which brings quality live music to the San Luis Valley. The annual ALMA and Friends concert will be held on Saturday, February 17th at 6pm at Society Hall, 400 Ross His Avenue in Alamosa. Doors open at 5:30pm and you can enjoy complimentary finger food.
ALMA announced that local musicians Don Richmond, Barry Monroe, Ruben Dominguez, Rose Vialpando, and Ol Scratch will perform. Admission is free for ALMA 2024 members. General admission is $20. Advance tickets will not be sold, so please arrive early to secure your seat.
Monroe, a refugee from Miami, Florida, has been entertaining audiences around the San Luis Valley since arriving here in the 1980s. He had performed there since his days with the Briarwood Singers in the early 1960s.
Interestingly, Monroe said this is almost 60 years.th This day marked the anniversary of an unforgettable gig for him in February 1964, when the Briarwood Singers opened a show at Carnegie Hall for a new British group called the Beatles.
Although Monroe has performed in numerous ensembles since coming to the Valley, he is best known for his solo shows, which showcase his beautifully crafted, moving songs and expansive tenor voice. The show will be accompanied by vocalists Tim Brenner and Susan Coutant, known as the Cheap Therapy Singers. Monroe and Cheap Her Therapy tend to feature upbeat songs with a beachy vibe, which they call “tropical pop.”
Dominguez and Vialpando are both part of large musical families that have been playing music in the San Luis Valley for generations, and they also continue to build on these traditions with their own more contemporary music. We have made progress. In 2022, Dominguez received the Los Hiros Cultures Premio Award, a prestigious award given to traditional folk artists of the Upper Rio Grande region. Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. He is the third member of his extended family to receive this award, and the first to receive this award so early in his career.
Vialpando also grew up in the same large musical family in the San Luis Valley. She was heavily influenced by the musicians in her family, including her mother, several of her uncles, and her aunt. Eventually, she moved out of her parents' home and was away from her. Familia and away from Traditional of culture many years. During this time, she always felt that something was missing.It was one of the reasons she returned to her “La Musique” She worked as a counselor and social worker with women who needed help finding their voice. Thanks to her work with these women, as well as her own journey of finding her own voice and speaking her truth, she was inspired to return to her music. She composed the title song “Hallando Mi Voz” and recorded the CD. (Finding her own voice); Although it was a slightly different style than the “traditional music” she had grown up with, it was the beginning of her journey. Soon after, she joined her uncle Salomon López to form the performance duo “Los Cancioneros del Valle”. Rose and Salomon have released her two-volume CD entitled “Dos Voces – Dos Guitarras”. rancheras, corridos and vase.
Ol' Scratch is South Central Colorado's premier original band. Playing what they call “acid funk” (similar to acid rock, but funkier!), Ors Scratch has earned praise, standing his gigs, ability, beloved original songs, and rearrangements of classics. I continue to collect. Born out of an inquisitive mind, Gabe Swanson and Mark Eaton have been exploring American music, using Ol' Scratch as a platform to do just that. Since its founding in 2018, All Scratch has been raising the bar for live music in the region. For 2024, he is working towards a freshly written and soon to be recorded album that will add a heavy blues and R&B flavor to his horn line influenced funk rock. The boys stand head and shoulders above their peers in the community.
Richmond has been making music in his home state of Colorado and New Mexico for over 55 years. Influenced by the vast spaces and isolated environment of his valley, San Luis has made a living from a variety of musical disciplines and endeavors, including performing, producing, and songwriting.
Richmond is a founding member of bands like Tumbleweed and High Red Hands, and currently plays with the Rifters, a New Mexico-based band that plays Southwestern Americana. Tumbleweed released four albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s, High Red Hands released three albums in the 1990s, and The Rifters released seven albums.
In addition, Richmond has recorded seven solo CDs, two with his brothers Ed and Jim (Richmond Brothers) and two with his friend and business partner David Kremer (Richmond/Kremer). Masu. As the owner of Howlin' Dog Recording and a partner in his Howlin' Dog Records, and now as a board member of the new nonprofit Howlin' Dog Music Group, he has recorded hundreds of albums for local, regional, and musical , produced or co-produced. National artist.
Richmond is also an accomplished songwriter and regularly co-teach songwriting workshops with friends Eliza Gilkyson and John Gorka. He also wrote a self-help book for musicians, “Overcoming Fear and Reaching the Music,” published in 2004, and in the 1990s he was a workshop artist trained in the Colorado Arts Council's Artist-in-Residence Program. became the leader of
In 2014, Richmond received an honorary doctorate from Adams State University in his hometown of Alamosa, Colorado, and in 2015 he received Colorado's Governor's Award for Creative Leadership. He also serves on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations, including the Society for the Hall, Crestone Performance, the Alamosa Live Music Association, and the Valley Community Foundation. Richmond continues to produce select projects, performing both as a solo artist and with his flagship band, the Rifters, and occasionally with his old band, Tumbleweed.
