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The Crooked Rugs

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The Crooked Rugs Self Titled

Jed Murphy

BandWagon Magazine

collected in their maturity and cool in their confidence.

Ever expanding and prolific, Fort Collins-based psychedelic high-desert rock outfit The Crooked Rugs is back with a self-titled fifth full-length album. Locking in on the things that made their previous album Hear & Now so interesting, The Crooked Rugs is contemplative and precise, feeling more like the steady forward motion of a train than a wander through the hills. Once again aiming to capture the timeless feeling of ‘60s and ‘70s classic rock, this album is packed with subtle and not-so-subtle nods to artists like Tom Petty, The Allman Brothers and a sprinkle of Foghat. Songs like “Canned Meat” and “Change” keep the motor running on this album, while “Breaking the Dawn” and “Repeater” return to their psychedelic roots. Then tracks like “Drifter” and “Down the Dream” somehow balance the two aesthetics and remind listeners these boys have chops. There is an easy casualness to these tracks that elevates the whole record. Unforced and polished, even the high-energy moments have a serene pocket couched under the surface. The Crooked Rugs shows a band

And for those raised on their local classic rock radio station, The Crooked Rugs is like a bingo card for that era of music. You’ve got faithful emulations of Gregg Allman’s guitar tone, the crunch of Black Sabbath, and even a little ZZ Top Texas boogie. These nods to the icons of rock are at times almost too on the nose, but in deft expressions of self-awareness, the band usually brings it home. What’s particularly great about this album is it doesn’t feel like a slog. These twelve tracks fly by, and before you know it, it’s over. This is an accomplishment in itself, especially for bands who lean into the psychedelic, where the vamp is king. All too often, bands in the genre get so lost in their own grandiose vision they forget how the listener interacts with the music. With this album, The Crooked Rugs feel tuned in more than zoned out, tapping into something that feels like it’s for everyone – not just those wanting to take a trip. On the whole, this album is what all Colorado bands should shoot for. Many of their contemporaries often struggle to balance genres and influences that go into a record, pulling from so many places the whole project loses consistency. But with this album, The Crooked Rugs have found that sweet spot in their sound that allows space for all those inputs. Contemplative yet energetic; spacey yet determined; relaxed yet road-worn – this album deserves to be celebrated by the local scene and acknowledged by national audiences.

DACONO

Music & Spirits Festival RETURNS BY DAWN DUNCAN

here are times when small cities make their mark and stay there, and the Dacono Music & Spirits Festival, presented by Colorado National Speedway, is a prime example. When the City of Dacono’s premier festival kicks off Saturday, August 1, 2026, at Centennial Field in Dacono, the grounds will come alive with live music throughout the day, including national headliner William Clark Green, the Waste Connections Kids Zone, a spirits competition, and a dazzling fireworks display presented by OXY and SM Energy that tops off festivities at 9:45 p.m. The festival is free to attend with free parking, and the event runs from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

presence, gritty and soulful voice and intriguing songwriting, and is also the founder of the Lubbock music festival Cotton Fest.

Now entering its 18th year, the festival was brought to life by festival director and co-founder Chris Kresge and a committee of City of Dacono employees in 2008.

What do you get when funk, punk, reggae, cumbia and ska mix? Denver-based Latin ska band Roka Hueka is the answer. Alive with nonstop energy and fullthrottle commitment to bringing the party to the stage, the band features members representing Columbia, the U.S. and Mexico.

Hailing from Texas, William Clark Green has been entertaining crowds for the past 15 years while touring steadily in support of his nine album releases. Green’s debut, Dangerous Mind (2008), was followed by Rose Queen (2013), the album that featured standout song “She Likes the Beatles,” which currently has more than 40 million streams. Ringling Road followed, breaking into the Billboard 200 at No. 18 before reaching number one on the Billboard Heat Seekers chart (2015). Later, Green released Hebert Island (2018) and Baker Hotel (2022), garnering acclaim from the Grand Ole Opry and Rolling Stone. Today, Green has more than 400 million global streams and is a respected artist and collaborator, working with several Texas acts including Pat Green, Wade Bowen, Treaty Oak Revival and Flatland Calvary. This year, he introduces Red Dirt and Outlaw Country to the Dacono festival, which is sure to keep everybody on their feet and dancing. He is well-known for his exciting stage

Joining Green on the bill is Ryan Chrys and the Roughcuts, a Colorado outlaw country favorite out of Denver and a Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame inductee. The band is also a Westword honoree for Best Country Band and winner of Best Outlaw Album in Best of Denver 2025 for their release Blame It on the Road. Classic rock act Creedence Colorado Revival takes the stage paying homage to legendary band Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Fogerty.

Shifting gears into blues, the Delta Sonics are a mainstay of the Colorado scene, voted Denver’s Best Blues Band by Westword six years running, with lead singer Al Chesis receiving the Colorado Blues Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. Rounding out the bill are David Lawrence & the Spoonful. This unique folk-rock act blends traditional folk, gypsy swing, Delta blues, honky tonk and classic rock undertones into a sound described as “mountain roots.” Beyond the music, the festival provides attendees a chance to experience local flavors from a dozen local food trucks, sample superbly crafted spirits in the afternoon (separate ticket required) and celebrate a community that truly comes together, making the Dacono Music & Spirits Festival presented by Colorado National Speedway one of the Tri-Cities region’s mustattend summer events.

information & tickets @ daconoco.gov 8

4 DAYS OF CULTURAL CELEBRATION DOWNTOWN GREELEY THURSDAY 7/23 - CO POET LAUREATE + CULTURE KEYNOTE - THE ATLAS, 709 16TH ST, 5-8PM FRIDAY 7/24 - FRIDAY FEST WITH TUMBLEDOWN SHACK - 9TH ST PLAZA, 6:30-9:30PM

SATURDAY 7/25 - CULTURE POP CONCERT UNION COLONY CIVIC CENTER LOT, 701 10TH AVE HEADLINER 8PM

ROOTBEER RICHIE >>>>>> OPENER 6PM

THE DIRTY TURKEYS

SAT 7/25 & SUN 7/26 ARTS PICNIC, LINCOLN PARK SAT 9AM-5PM | SUN 10AM-4PM

ALL EVENTS FREE TO ATTEND! ARTSPICNIC.COM

KAT HASTY

GREW UP AND KEPT GOING THE WEST TEXAS SINGER-SONGWRITER BRINGS HER RED DIRT SOUND TO COLORADO AND WYOMING THIS JULY. BY AVA HARRIS

at Hasty is a West Texas singer-songwriter, a single mom, and one of the names Rolling Stone put on Red Dirt's next wave. She's earned every bit of it on her own terms. "Pretty Things" is the song that put her on the map — TikTok viral, Rolling Stone feature, Koe Wetzel tour support. She wrote it eight years ago and sometimes feels silly singing it now. "I would've never written that song today." The woman who once sneered at Mercedeses ended up buying a Benz with the royalties. "I test drove it and thought, 'damn, maybe I don't f***ing know everything.'"

WEST TEXAS NEVER LEAVES Hasty spent the first 29 years of her life in West Texas. It shows up in everything she writes, not because she's mining it for atmosphere, but because she doesn't know how to write from anywhere else. Ask about her writing process and she doesn't talk about craft – she talks about living. "I've never intentionally written a song," Hasty said. She once sat with Django Walker, who told her his dad always said the best songs are already written – they just need to fly in through

the window. "It was like he explained something to me that I'd felt my entire life." Her songs arrive that way: in bursts, in twenty minutes, while she's just moving through the world. Months of silence, then ten songs in a week. That process is rooted in place. "I was stuck in West Texas for the first 29 years of my life, so I'm not sure how I could really be anything else." Rolling Stone's framing – Red Dirt, Texas country, the lineage of Koe Wetzel and Read Southall – feels right to her. Those artists were the soundtrack to her high school years. "Six String Sorrow, Borrowed Time, Noise Complaint, Out On Parole – those are the soundtracks to some of the best days of my life." She's honored by the company, even if the scene no longer feels like the whole picture.

THE INDUSTRY UP CLOSE The arc from viral TikTok artist to Rolling Stone feature to Koe Wetzel tour support happened fast. What surprised her most once she was inside it? "How normal artists are." She laughs at herself. "After realizing that people think of me — a very normal person — as famous, I was like, 'wow, I fan girled over Read Southall so hard. That's really embarrassing.'"

Being a single mom hasn't cost her the professional respect she might have worried about losing. When she pulled back from relentless touring to be home with her daughter, her management reframed it as scarcity. Demand stayed high. "I ultimately have the career I want for the time being. I get paid to play shows when I want and I get to do what I want every day and be home with my kid." Her daughter has been to 18 states before most kids have left their hometown. Hasty wants her to understand the world is bigger than the one she herself grew up imagining. "I grew up thinking there was only one way to live — you go to college, you make 50k a year, you travel once a year, you find a husband and have kids. I had no real idea of what else was out in the world." She wants her daughter to know differently. "Life is mostly just about doing what you want, meeting interesting people, having a story to tell and having as much fun as you can until you die."

WHATEVER COMES NEXT The move to Austin isn't just geographic. It's structural — more studio time, more collaboration, less road. She's thinking about an electronic album drawing from Houndmouth, Paramore, and Charlie Robison. She wants to take harmony gigs for anyone who'll

have her around town. She's considering a twelve-month herbalism certification. She wants to start sewing again. She invokes Tyler Childers — the way people puzzle over his career moves, the obscure projects that don't chase the mainstream. "When you've got it right, you stop thinking about a 'music career' like it embodies who you are as a person. I think the rest of my life is going to be spent just doing random shit that makes me happy every day. Because at the end of the day, Tyler Childers is just a guy trying to be happy." The big mouth that got her in trouble her whole life, that wrote "Pretty Things" at 21 and went public about depression during pregnancy when most artists go quiet — it's still there. It's just aimed more carefully now. "I've matured a lot throughout my 20s and learned restraint in the things I say." The defiance hasn't gone anywhere. It's just gotten more intentional, less reactive. Less dying her hair brunette because a man said he liked blondes, more deciding what she actually wants and building toward it. That's the version of Kat Hasty coming to Colorado and Wyoming this July — sharper, more settled, and very much on her own terms.

KAT HASTY PLAYS GASLIGHT SOCIAL IN CASPER, WY ON JULY 10, MOXI THEATER IN GREELEY ON JULY 11, AND LULU'S DOWNTOWN IN COLORADO SPRINGS ON JULY 12. ALL SHOWS AT 8 PM. TICKETS AT BANDWAGONPRESENTS.COM 13

• PA RA MO U N T BA L L R O O M

• TH E M E TR O P O L I TA N

•ALEXIS DRAKE

You can still hear the echo of boots on boardwalks, but now they’re headed downtown for happy hour. Today in Cheyenne, murals pop, cocktails clink, and makers turn grit into something downright gorgeous. STAY AWHILE. WE CLEAN UP NICE. C H E Y E N N E .O R G / C H E Y E N N E - C H I C

KIM CONGDON PHOTOS: WILDCARD PHOTO

COMEDY’S UNLIKELY SURVIVOR L

ike any scene in the entertainment business, comedy has changed significantly in recent years. In the not-so-distant past, a coveted spot on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson meant you’d hit the big time – an achievement accentuated if you were invited to sit on the host’s couch following a successful set. Today, this honor has been replaced by invitations to podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience and Tony Hinchliffe’s Kill Tony, and while many comedians have accomplished this goal, few have done it quite like Kim Congdon.

BY NATE WILDE

FLORIDA GIRL Being considered a successful woman in comedy is far rarer than its male counterpart, but Kim Congdon has unquestionably joined the ranks of some of her idols – including Roseanne Barr and Sarah Silverman – on the proverbial Mount Rushmore of female comics. But this wasn’t always the plan. A Florida native, Congdon’s comedy career began at The Swamp, a restaurant in Tom Petty’s hometown of Gaines-

ville, where she worked while attending the University of Florida. However, an encounter at a different swamp nearly landed the comic in the obituaries instead than the entertainment section. At eight years old, a young Congdon was floating in Florida’s Ginnie Springs when the mother of a friend – likely after consuming a bit too much wine – decided that the group should play a game in the alligator-infested waters. It was at this point that our young heroine was greeted by “two pairs of yellow eyes.” Af-

ter paddling to safety, she overheard another adult proclaim, “You’d better get those kids out of there – this thing is full of alligators at night.” Luckily, Congdon survived the ordeal unscathed and eventually found herself at the aforementioned, considerably safer Swamp, where she discovered a new passion for filming events at the restaurant. That led her to accept an internship in Los Angeles, a move that would prove to be the catalyst for her rise in the comedy world.

TRAGEDY INSPIRES COMEDY

Narrowly avoiding an alligator attack may have been one of the biggest hurdles in Kim Congdon surviving long enough to become a successful comedian, but it was a different tragedy that inspired her to enter the field. While interning in Los Angeles and living with her cousin, a man tragically lost his life in a freak sinkhole accident. The incident inspired Congdon to come up with a joke on the spot. That same evening, the cousins watched Dane Cook – then at the height of his career – tell his own joke about the incident. Congdon decided she could do better. This revelation inspired Congdon to give comedy a try, which turned out to be a more than moderately successful endeavor. It also led to a chance meeting with her future frequent collaborator Sara Weinshenk, as well as a then-relarively unknown Tony Hinchcliffe, who approached the two budding comics about appearing on his new podcast. It was at this moment that the stars aligned for both Congdon and Hinchcliffe, and Kill Tony was born. Congdon would become known as the show’s first regular, but appearing nearly every week for the next two years. It was also around this time that she discovered another seem-

ingly hidden talent: the art of the roast.

A WORTHY ADVERSARY

Kill Tony’s format heavily emphasizes trash-talking – something Kim Congdon excels at. She recognized this gift at an early age, but it was her entry into comedy that made it truly pay off. Early in her career, Congdon began participating in – and winning – roast battles. The phenomenon caught on quickly, and the Los Angeles-based battles drew some of the biggest names in comedy, including Jim Carrey, Dave Chappelle and the Roastmaster General himself, Jeff Ross. After recognizing Congdon’s ability to verbally tear other comics to shreds, Ross enlisted her as a ghostwriter for some of the biggest roasts in recent history. While she typically declines to specify exactly which material she wrote, her work has appeared in the work of Tom Brady, Rob Lowe, Justin Bieber and, most recently, Kevin Hart. Congdon doesn’t limit herself to verbal sparring, either. She is also known for her skills on the mat as a Jiu-Jitsu practitioner – a passion she discovered while living in New York City and still pursues today.

RIDING THE WAVE OF SUCCESS

Kim Congdon’s accomplishments as a stand-up comedian, comedy writer and all-around creative force are not to be taken lightly. At 35, she has worked on numerous television projects – including Impractical Jokers and a Super Bowl commercial – has written numerous feature films, and is preparing to publish a memoir titled Blunt Force Trauma - Stories I Think I Remember. As impressive as her résumé is, Congdon never strays far from the art form that started it all: stand-up comedy.

SHE’LL BE MAKING HER WAY THROUGH COLORADO AND WYOMING THIS SUMMER, PERFORMING AT THE MOXI THEATER IN GREELEY ON JULY 23, THE RIALTO IN CASPER ON JULY 24, & TWO SETS AT THE BLACK BUZZARD AT OSKAR BLUES IN DENVER ON JULY 25. 19

HOW THE

LINCOLN Is Stepping Into Cheyenne Frontier Days History BY AVA HARRIS

or roughly 25 years, the afterparty had an address. When the Outlaw Saloon closed its doors, it left more than a vacancy in Cheyenne's nightlife calendar. It left a ritual without a home. Cheyenne Frontier Days draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every July. The CFD shows bring some of the biggest names in country music to one of the biggest stages in the West. But for locals and repeat pilgrims alike, the part that really sticks has always been what comes after. That part used to belong to the Outlaw. The Outlaw Saloon wasn't just a bar during CFD week. It was infrastructure, a place where the night had somewhere to go after the park gates closed. For two and a half decades, that tradition held. Then it didn't. When word spread that the Outlaw was closing, the question hanging over CFD faithful wasn't just where do we go now, it was whether anyone could really fill that space. The Lincoln thinks it can. When Ely Corliss called Renee Jelinek about taking on the official CFD afterparty, the answer came fast. "It was a no-brainer, we jumped on it," Jelinek said. What they've called After

Hours runs nightly during CFD week, and the lineup reflects a deliberate philosophy. Blackhawk anchors the traditional end of the spectrum. Ryan Charles brings hip-hop-infused country energy. Willow Avalon rounds things out on the more ethereal end. "It's all country, but it's not all the same," Jelinek said. Jelinek speaks about the Outlaw's legacy with clear respect, but she's not trying to replicate it. The Lincoln is a different proposition: a controlled indoor environment where the sound system is the star. "This will definitely be different than the Outlaw," Jelinek said. "I think our space will be more about the actual show. But the good thing is we won't get rained out." That's not a small thing in Wyoming in July. Price is part of the pitch too. CFD week can be expensive, and After Hours is positioned as the affordable option: low ticket prices, live music, no compromise on quality. The goal isn't to consolidate CFD nightlife under one roof, either. "We hope that we can be an anchor for other downtown businesses," Jelinek said. The Outlaw is gone. The tradition it carried for 25 years is still very much alive. It just found a new address.

THE LINCOLN’S CFD AFTER HOURS SHOWS RUN NIGHTLY DURING CHEYENNE FRONTIER DAYS. Tickets and lineup details at thelincolncheyenne.com/after-hours

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