Modern Whiskey Market

Old Guy at the Show
Show summaries of musical performances in the Denver, Colorado area by the old guy at the show.

Sunday, January 22, 2017
The Dustbowl Revival, Modern Whiskey Market, and Treehouse Sanctum at the Larimer Lounge in Denver, CO on 01/20/17

The Dustbowl Revival
Inauguration day reflected a divided nation, but that night a band brought the commonwealth together with a washboard and a lampshade. The Dustbowl Revival is an eight-piece band that combines bluegrass, Americana, and New Orleans Swing. Their infectious sound won over the sold out crowd immediately. Girls with long flowing scarfs took over the front of the stage dancing in a gypsy trance. Bluegrass fans sang along to all the standards. And others just smiled from the first note until the band marched off at the end the night.



Liz Beebe of The Dustbowl Revival
The Venice, California based band started when singer/guitarist Zach Lupetin placed a Craigslist ad bringing transplanted jazz and bluegrass musicians into a mash-up ensemble. A grueling tour schedule transformed them into a powerful musical force. The Dustbowl Revival gained a loyal following and was recently voted the best live band in Los Angeles, California by LA Weekly.

The band fired up the Larimer Lounge crowd with the New Orleans standard John the Revelator (you know he wrote the book of the seven seals). Liz Beebe put down her washboard and took the lead singing the rhythm and blues inspired Busted. Belting out, You think you got something/But you don't got nothing/Honey, it you don't got me.


The Dust Bowl Revival
A lampshade slowly worked its way from the back of the room to the front of the stage as the band performed the ultimate party song Lampshade On (I saw the proud owner of that lampshade getting the band to sign it at the end of the night).

The Dustbowl Revival requested the crowd to join arms for So Far Away and join in the chorus, "So far way/ So far from home/I got these new friends/ And I ain't drinking alone."

The band jumping off the stage (it wasn't easy with a stand up bass) and played in the middle of the crowd. They performed the bluegrass classic New River Train and marched off into the night with The Saints (because they go marching on).


Modern Whiskey Market
Modern Whiskey Market was the second band on the bill. Their social media state, "they have been playing knee slapping music for the fine people in Colorado since 2012." I speculate their love for bluegrass and facial hair brought them together. The band was short a man due to a medical issue (I assume it's beard related). They sang original songs about drinking moonshine and tripping on mushrooms in the Rocky Mountains. Their Prince cover of When Doves Cry transformed the 1980's classic into a fast paced bluegrass jam.


Treehouse Sanctum
Denver's own Treehouse Sanctum was the opening band. Singer/guitarist Sam Rymer sporting a red bandanna (Bruce Springsteen Born in the USA era) and Singer/Keyboardist Danya Lynn Prado decked out in leather pants (Jim Morrison Lizard King Era) lead the band through a set of music they describe as indie dream rock. When they played Pilot & Crew about a World War II Veteran, an older gentleman blowing the trumpet appeared from the back of the stage. The crowd might have wondered who brought their Dad. It turned out it was Dewayne Rymer (Sam's father). They ended their set with Van Morrison's Into the Mystic (making me ponder how one can rock a gypsy soul?)

See you at the next show. I will be the one with the washboard with my lampshade on. - Old Guy at The Show

On an August afternoon, some friends were relaxing and listening to music from a pontoon on the reservoir at Cherry Creek State Park when musician Brian Jung dove into shallow water and hit his head against the hard bottom, severely damaging several vertebrae in his back.

“I thought I was done,” says Jung, from the Craig Hospital in Englewood. “I was underwater just thinking that all I had to do was turn over, and I couldn’t do it. All I had to do was kick one leg, and I couldn’t kick one leg. It felt like a lifetime of being in the water upside down.”


Luckily, his friend Chris Spurlock had watched Jung dive and pulled him from the water within seconds. They rushed him to the hospital, where he underwent an eight-hour operation to remove and replace two spinal vertebrae as well as to insert twelve screws to fuse and support his back. In the waiting room, two of Jung’s close friends, Megan Bobay and Jennifer Horn, began thinking about the path forward.

“We were trying to soak in the severity of the situation, to think of ways that we could assist in bringing everybody together, and to find a way to raise money for all the expenses that Brian and his girlfriend were about to incur,” says Bobay.

Given that Jung and his friends are all musicians or music lovers, they decided to plan a benefit concert on November 5 at Be on Key Psychedelic Ripple.

“Music has been an important all-around aspect of my life,” says Jung. “I‘ve been a guitarist for twenty years. I’ve played a lot of folk music. I was the drummer in a local rock band. I graduated from CU Denver with a music business degree. You know, music is something that I hold really dear. I spend more time going to concerts than I do anything else.”

Though Jung likes all kinds of music, the benefit will focus on bluegrass music, a genre that he’s come to especially appreciate during the past several years. The lineup includes an extensive list of local string bands, including Modern Whiskey Market, the Sweet Lillies, Strung High String Band, the Lonesome Days, Bill McKay's True Blue Band and more. Spurlock, the guy who pulled Jung out of the water, is also the mandolin player for Strung High String Band.

“We have a really good bluegrass family here on the Front Range,” says Spurlock. “We’re all kind of connected through events like Telluride Bluegrass, RockyGrass, or any other events here in town. The same people are usually involved every time, and that’s where some of our best friendships have been made.”

The money raised at the benefit will go toward alterations to make Jung’s house wheelchair-accessible as well as to pay for his medical expenses for rehabilitation, which have reached $3,000 per day, out of pocket, despite his health insurance plan. Jung’s friends and family have already raised a sizable portion of their $100,000 goal in a YouCaring campaign. Larger national artists, including Dispatch, Leftover Salmon and Rhiannon Giddens, have donated items such as signed merch and concert tickets for a silent auction that will be held at the benefit.

Chris Phair, mandolin player and vocalist for Modern Whiskey Market, is hoping that the festival will raise the remainder of the money needed. Above all, though, he’s concerned for Jung’s recovery.



“To be honest, what I have been really looking forward to the most is seeing my friend be able to move his hand and, hopefully, to be walking again soon,” says Phair. “[Jung] is one of the nicest people I know. I want to do anything I can to help him move along.”

Currently, Jung has recovered movement in his arms, but he still lacks feeling in his fingers and legs. He hopes to be able to play music again soon. Despite the long road to recovery ahead, he’s been amazed by the outpouring of support he’s received.

“One of the things that I’ve seen through this injury is just how lucky I really am for the people I have behind me,” says Jung. “It’s overwhelming, and it really, truly feels like I’m not the only one dealing with the injury or going through this rehab. It feels like there are a thousand people behind me.” - Westword