Colorado

Songscapes Podcast Season 2! Betsy & Harrison

Ep. 12: Betsy Mortensen and Harrison Goodale - Meet the Co-Founders of Sustain

Welcome back to Songscapes! This week, meet Betsy and Harrison, the husband-and-wife team who co-founded Sustain. Their backgrounds are from opposite ends of the nonprofit’s driving forces -- music and nature -- which allows them to support each other’s strengths to build up Sustain. Listen in to hear about Betsy’s work in Tanzania with chimpanzees, Harrison’s time in the band Parsonsfield, and how that led them to where they are today. They also reveal their favorite public lands moments, and how they’re trying to reframe the common gloomy approach of the environmental movement. Make sure to tune in and meet the duo that is making music a force for nature! 

  • Host: Charles Coplin

  • Producer: Sustain Music & Nature

  • Editor: Harrison Goodale

  • Media Researcher: Lindsay Johnson

  • Theme Music: Harrison Goodale

Trail Session: Silt River Preserve with Aspen Valley Land Trust Sept 12

TS 2021 IG Posts(9).png

Press Release–Aspen Valley Land Trust (AVLT) is partnering with Fort Collin’s Sustain Music and Nature to host an outdoor acoustic concert, as part of their Trail Sessions series, September 12 from 1-3pm featuring Colorado bands Sugar Britches and Tree-O at the Silt River Preserve.

This event will bring together AVLT, Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers (RFOV), Highwater Farm, and the Town of Silt to help celebrate the community-driven successes of the preserve. Guests can enjoy a tree-top strings performance and honky-tonk duo as well as a tour of the preserve and of Highwater Farm. Tickets are a suggested donation of $10 for adults and free for kids under 12. Guests are encouraged to bring chairs, blankets, and coolers but leave glass and pets at home.

“Silt River Preserve is a great example of what is possible when a community comes together to take care of a special place,” said Suzanne Stephens, executive director of AVLT. “This special place will welcome everyone and serve as an example of the best of community-driven conservation. People care for the places they love and through this concert, new community members will be getting outside and connecting to the land, one another, and conservation.”

The Silt River Preserve, 130-acres of open land and wildlife habitat along the Colorado River, was conserved through AVLT in 2009. The Town of Silt now owns the preserve, and with AVLT, and these partners, is committed to ongoing restoration and improvements. In 2019, AVLT introduced the town to Sara Tymczyszyn, director of Highwater Farm, who established five acres of the preserve as the home for the community farm. Currently operating under the fiscal sponsorship of AVLT, the farm is dedicated to transforming the lives of young people and increasing access to healthy food in Garfield County through sustainable agriculture.

“Music and public lands are our two favorite things at Sustain Music and Nature, and we can’t wait to see the Silt River Preserve and enjoy some top-notch Colorado musicians this weekend,” shares Betsy Mortensen, Sustain co-founder. “This will be our first Trail Session on the Colorado River since we started back in 2019, and I can guarantee it will be a memorable experience.” Sustain Music and Nature’s Trails Sessions are a series of educational hikes and concerts on conserved lands across Colorado to support both local bands and conservation.

Songscapes Podcast: Summer Camp

Ep. 11: Summer Camp Hikes & Tunes

Summer is our busy season at Sustain. As a special treat, we wanted to share some extra content from some of our summer programs. This week we are featuring music highlights from our hike and concert series, Trail Sessions, that happen at public lands in Colorado. This year we are expanding the program to New York State, so check out our website to get all the details. 

This episode features music from Courtney Hartman and Covenhoven at Lory State Park in Fort Collins Colorado. The second half has Kid Astronaut and Brent Cowles at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife refuge just outside of Denver. 

Songscapes Podcast: Daniel Rodriguez

Ep. 10: Daniel Rodriguez - Letting the Moment Create the Music

This week on Songscapes, join host Charles Coplin as he interviews Daniel Rodriguez live from Telluride, CO, after his performance for Sustain’s Trail Session. The former Elephant Revival band member is continuing to learn and grow his musical style and range as an individual as he explores all genres from indie/folk to hip hop. He discusses the change in energy he feels in the return to live shows after a year-plus long pandemic, and how this time has given him more freedom in his creative flow. Rodriguez has an inherent appreciation of the simple act of creating and sharing art, and looks to nature as an inspiration and teacher as he continues to make music. To hear his thoughts on how the natural world affects the human condition, as well as the latest news on his upcoming projects, make sure to tune into this week’s Songscape! 

You can find Daniel at @drodriguezmusic on Instagram and his website, drodriguezmusic.com

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to review, share and subscribe to the podcast!

  • Host: Charles Coplin

  • Producer: Sustain Music & Nature

  • Editor: Harrison Goodale

  • Media Researcher: Lindsay Johnson

  • Theme Music: Harrison Goodale

  • Daniel Rodriguez’s Featured Music: “Static Splash”, “Colorado”, and “ Steal the Night Away”

Songscape Announcement: Liz Beebe at Green River

New Songscape retreat announced! Liz Beebe will be headed to the Green River on the CO/UT border to explore the public lands that protect this important place. We’ll be visiting Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, John Jarvie Ranch (BLM), Brown’s Park National Wildlife Refuge and Dinosaur National Monument. The adventure starts on July 5, 2021. Learn more about the project and support HERE.

Songscapes Podcast: Scotty Stoughton of Winter Wondergrass

Ep. 8: Scotty Stoughton - Grilled Cheese & The Grateful Dead

Founder of Bonfire Entertainment and the Winter Wondergrass music festival, Scotty Stoughton has tons of insight on the magic that exists in the music community. He moved to Colorado from the east coast while selling grilled cheeses as he followed the Grateful Dead’s “Summer Tour of ‘94”, and recognized a unique quality of the Colorado music scene. Listen in to hear him talk about that quality, as well as the type of live shows that bring together everyone from “bikers to ranchers to yuppies”. Stoughton also discusses what the word ‘failure’ means to him, and how he takes a different approach to his mission as a promoter, both in attitude and in action. If you want to learn about how he connects his love of nature with his passion for music in his career, check out this week’s Songscape! 

You can find Scotty on his website at https://bonfirentertainment.com/scotty-stoughton/ or on his Instagram @scottybonfire

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to review, share and subscribe to the podcast! Learn more about nonprofit Sustain Music and Nature’s work to make music a force for nature at: www.sustainmusicandnature.org

  • Host: Charles Coplin

  • Producer: Sustain Music & Nature

  • Editor: Harrison Goodale

  • Media Researcher: Betsy Mortensen 

  • Theme Music: Harrison Goodale

  • Scotty Stoughton (via his band Bonfire Dub) Featured Music: “Honey”, “Rest”, and “Mountains Beyond Mountains”

June 27 Trail Session: Bevin Luna & moonmoon at Red Mountain Open Space in CO

Music and nature come together in this Trail Session. Join us on Sunday, June 27 with rock & roots artist, Bevin Luna, and folk band, moonmoon. Sustain Music and Nature will be leading a hike to a beautiful sandstone canyon in Red Mountain Open Space (Wellington, CO). We'll also hear from the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, who are bringing bits of their upcoming Smithsonian "Life in One Cubic Foot" exhibition!

Sliding scale donation tickets and details on our page: https://www.sustainmusicandnature.org/june272021

Songscapes Podcast: Courtney Hartman

Ep. 6: Courtney Hartman - Songwriting on a 500 Mile Walk

Award-winning folk guitarist, Courtney Hartman, joins us this week. Colorado-born and Wisconsin-based, she and Charles talk about her 500 mile pilgrimage on the Camino De Santiago in northern Spain and how that experience shaped her latest album, Ready Reckoner. Courtney talks about working with Mike Campbell, a member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and producing with Shahzad Ismaily, known for his work with Tom Waits. Our interview explores how nature plays a role in every song Courtney writes and her wish to shift our environmental perspective from “How can we do less harm?” to a more productive, “How can we do more good?”.

Find Courtney at https://www.courtneyhartman.com/ and on socials @courtneyhartman    

  • Host: Charles Coplin

  • Producer: Sustain Music & Nature

  • Editor: Harrison Goodale

  • Media Researcher: Lindsay Johnson

  • Theme Music: Harrison Goodale

  • Courtney Hartman Featured Music: “Won’t Be Satisfied”, “Too Much” and “Hollow”

Songscapes Podcast: Bridget Law of Elephant Revival out today!

Ep. 5: Bridget Law - Acro yoga with Michael Franti

Elephant Revival’s Bridget Law talks with us about her life as a fiddler, mother, music maker and mystic. She’s dedicated to using her talents to support sustainability efforts, and lifting the careers of women in music. Tune in to hear about her magic hot springs moment, and the physicality of being a fiddler - “It’s like your whole body is holding itself cross-eyed”. Host Charles and Bridget talk about her current music with Tierro Band, and fresh duos with fellow Elephant, Bonnie Paine. And of course you need to hear about the backstage encounters with Michael Franti!

Find Bridget at www.tierroband.com and @fiddlinbridget on social media.

Host: Charles Coplin

Producer: Sustain Music & Nature

Editor: Harrison Goodale

Media Researcher: Lindsay Johnson

Theme Music: Harrison Goodale

Bridget Law Featured Music: “Allurement” - Tierro Band, “Ancient Sea” and “Drop” by Elephant Revival

Concert Video: National Public Lands Day at Lory State Park

Enjoy hip hop artist Rolos Rios and Americana musician Daniel Rodriguez in beautiful Lory State Park- Colorado Parks & Wildlife as we celebrate National Public Lands Day. Each artist is inspired by nature, so what better place to perform? Find your own CO State Park at: https://cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/parks Thank you to Little House of Sound for producing the video and National Environmental Education Foundation - NEEF for support. Follow Colorado Parks and Wildlife to see more of your public lands in Colorado.