BandWagon Magazine - October 2022 - Wheelwright

always strikes theright notes.

Music lovers will find plenty of chances to tap their toes in Greeley. We have a mix of vibrant sounds from Friday Fests to the Union Colony Civic Center lineup, featuring Mariachi bands to bluegrass. Classical lovers look forward to a new season from the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra. And local venues like the Moxi Theater have a full calendar of acts to get out and see. No matter your musical sensibilities, Greeley has every reason for you to keep tuning in throughout the summer and beyond.

Jared Kolesar is looking forward to a month-long tour in October, where he plans to play acoustic sets across the country, including a solo stop at the Moxi Theater in Gree ley, where he’s used to playing with a full rock band. The tour will give him a chance to play some new material for the first time, but he’s also looking for ward to the solitude.

Kolesar welcomes the opportunity to rage solo these days. In fact, it’s what he’s done since the pandemic, when real life caught up to his popular re gional band, Jared & The Mill, and they realized that the long tour they’d just completed right before the coronavirus would be their last.

He remains best friends with the group, and they still play with him when they can, but he’s in charge of himself now. He calls his new project Wheel wright, and he’s released nine singles under that name, including a few re worked tracks from Jared & The Mill. He’s essentially a solo artist.

“I think there’s an element of a lonely cowboy out on the trail,” he tells BandWagon in a phone interview. “There’s many songs now with a story that is best told while I’m alone with my guitar.”

“I’ll be all alone in my car,” Kolesar said. “It’s a long time traveling.”

The reworked songs give his fans a chance to preview his new sound, one he calls more sonically interesting, with more synth and more effects to his vocals to go with some new hip-hop vibes. He calls the sound Neo-West ern and compares it to a mix of 80’s futurism and Americana. Or, in his own words, “like Blade Runner with more cowboy vibes.”

“It’s pretty unique to be honest with you,” Kolesar said. “I’m doing whatever the fuck I want, and it feels good.”

Indeed, his solo career means he can do things his way, which he finds re freshing as well as challenging.

“There are times I don’t know what to do,” Kolesar said. “But at the same time, I can sit in silence in the studio for 20 minutes and figure out what I need to do. I don’t need to campaign for my ideas in the studio.”

He’s spent a decent amount of time in the studio with a couple of produc ers as of late, sessions he hopes will begin to come together for an album, ultimately. But he has no real plans to release one just yet.

“Before I jump in and make a record, I want to identify spiritually where I am

as an artist,” he said. “Plus we live in a world of singles now. I’ve just been put ting those out. Every time I do that, I get a little bit more interest.”

Regardless of Kolesar defining him self as separate from The Mill, the friendships in the band continue to en dure. He even uses their original text thread when he sends out information about upcoming gigs to inquire if any one wants to join him. But like many band constellations, it’s not all that sim ple. Times change, people grow up and deep-set dynamics can lead to strong feelings when trying to keep things the way they were in the past. He believes he might have started to resent his bandmates given their hesitation to leave their families — some have young children now — and tour. But letting go while keeping the door open seems to be the way forward for Kolesar, and for The (former) Mill.

“My thinking was, ‘Why don’t I do my own thing and they can make music when it makes sense for them?” he said.

For now, it works. And going it alone, or semi-alone, has also given him an opportunity for more exposure – in both senses of the word. He’s able to play more gigs, with only himself to schedule, and as a solo performer he makes himself more vulnerable to his audiences each night.

“I’m just a songwriter trying to sing my song,” Kolesar said. “I don’t have the band to hide behind anymore.”

BRIANA HARRIS STEPS UP

AS BAND LEADER ON DEBUT ALBUM WHEN WE’RE FOUND

On a whim, Briana Harris submitted a grant proposal along with a demo of her soul ful song “Ground Up” which she had per formed for The Burroughs’ Virtual Telethon in 2020. That June, Harris received a message that she was awarded the funding to record an album.

“Oh well, I guess I have to make this project now,” Harris tells BandWagon with a laugh.

Harris was already known around the Colorado music and art scene as a recording sideman for art ists like Spencer Zweifel and

Thomas Har pole, and as manager of the beloved nine-piece funk / soul band The Burroughs. Her role as The Burroughs’ tenor saxophone player is arguably her most visible gig, though she also writes horn ar rangements for the band. As if that weren’t enough, she also manages a roster of visual creatives who specialize in public art and murals. Harris wears many hats and she wears them well.

But the grant from the Arts Alive! Fund at the Community Foundation serving Greeley and Weld County would allow her to write and record for her self for the first time. In February of 2020, Harris decided to take part in a “30-days, 30-songs chal lenge,” a popular trend where musicians set daily time aside during their slow season to focus on writing. The end of the month bled into the begin ning of the COVID-19 quarantine, so she looked at it

“MY ELEVATOR PITCH IS: I AM A MUSICIAN, ARTIST MANAGER, AND A CREATIVE ENTREPRENEUR,” HARRIS SAID, “AND THAT’S IT. BUT THAT REALLY ECOMPASES A LOT OF LOGISTICAL THINGS AND STRATEGIC PLANNING.”

as an extended opportunity to bring excitement to the isolation. She learned, meanwhile, to get comfortable with at-home recording and mixing. Soon she had a whole catalog of ideas to share.

Songs like “Ground Up” and “Bright Eyes” fea ture a mellow but rhythmic guitar and complex vocal melodic lines comparable to Esperanza Spalding, with a cool RnB style the likes of Li anne La Havas. “River” features folky femmerock with etheral vocals spannng the genre from hints of Fleetwood Mac to a taste of Fiona Apple. Harris’ singer-songwriter tracks “Burn Out” and “Daydreamer” show a storytelling side, with an intimacy felt from the lyrics to the detailed re cording, where the creaking of her Rhodes piano or finger-picked guitar bring the vibes to life.

When it was time to hit the studio, she wanted her album, When We’re Found, to be an expe rience that was the opposite of her 2020 isola tion — to literally feel the musicians’ communion on the album. Therefore, during recording, they played live in the room together.

When We’re Found combines influences and sounds throughout Harris’s life, from funky gos pel-rock ala The Burroughs, to the smoother “cool” of the jazz she plays with her quartet.

Surprisingly, she doesn’t play any saxophone on the album, but her instrumental jazz back ground seeps into her writing through creative songform. Citing female songwriters like Phoebe Bridgers as influences, the typical verse-chorus format feels unnatural to Harris. The music she’s spent years studying and performing never in cluded chorus-sections. She instead chooses to build songs around personal narratives, anchor ing them with recurring riffs and phrases.

“I WANTED TO MAKE THE MOST VOLUME OF WORK I COULD, AND SEE WHERE THAT WOULD TAKE ME,” HARRIS SAID.

After finding herself, so to speak, Harris is still moving fullforce on all fronts. Managing her roster, hitting the stage with The Burroughs and playing frequent jazz gigs will keep her busy into the holiday season, but she is leaving room for this project to flourish. As of the When We’re Found release on September 30, that includes releasing a zine of personal es says and putting out visual glances into her songwriting jour ney over the next few months.

“I want to really present what I feel is the fullest version of myself,” Harris said. “Just the process of doing that for me has been important and empowering.”

“AS A JAZZ MUSICIAN, I STRUGGLE TO WRITE A CHORUS OR ANY REPEATING IDEA – LIKE, FOR REAL,” HARRIS SAID. “SO I HAVE FOUND [PHOEBE BRIDGERS’] LYRICAL WRITING INSPIRING OVER THE PAST COUPLE YEARS.”

BY BRIANA HARRIS IS

FOR

BRIANAHARRIS.COM