Canyon Collected & Tyler T at Hodi's Half Note

Canyon Collected 05/24/2017 Fort Collins, Colorado - Hodi's Half Note / photo credit: Ryan M. Conway

On Wednesday night (05/24/2017), Canyon Collected, recently having returned home from an epic southwest tour, performed at Hodi's Half Note in Fort Collins. Tyler T, their fellow tour comrade, opened the show with a powerful and eclectic performance. His use of original lyrics, playing the guitar quite well, and other elements such as a didgeridoo, percussion, keyboards, loops, were an impressive force. It is obvious that Tyler T is a shaman of sound and a storyteller. The crowd responded enthusiastically to his hour long set. 

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Canyon Collected took the stage at 10:00 and jumped straight into their barn-burner, 21st-Century Blues, which quite possibly is the best political anthem song of our current times. "Elections bought & sold. Lies in places of news. Money buys the truth. 21st Century Blues." 

Leon Elam sang strongly & confidently, as always. Tia Martini sang lead on a couple of numbers, including, "Whiskey Brain." Jake took the lead on a couple of songs, of course singing his signature song 'wHisky.' The two new members of the group also got to sing a song each. Tom sang a song that he wrote on tour with the band in the southwest.  

The musicianship in this string band is quite amazing and enjoyable. Leon has some really great jams on the banjo, Tia Martini take you into outer space with her ukulele solos, Tom's intricate guitar picking is second-to-none, Jake's melodies and ringing tones on the mandolin throw a wonderful hue onto everything, and Quinn's bass-playing skills are becoming a great backbone for this accomplished string-band. 

During the course of the night, Canyon Collected sang songs of political discourse, transcendental dinosaurs, and of course, wHiskey. They are in top form right now, and will be playing one more Colorado show, tonight (05/25/2017) at Cervantes Other Side,  before they head north on a tour in Montana.