Sagebrush Sessions

July 8 Trail Session: Cold Chocolate at Machimoodus State Park in Moodus, CT

Music and nature come together in this Trail Session. Join us on Saturday, July 8 with Americana band, Cold Chocolate. Guided hike with Friends of Machimoodus and Sunrise State Parks departs at 11am, followed by outdoor concert at 12:15pm.

Sliding scale donation tickets and details on our page: https://www.sustainmusicandnature.org/july82023

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

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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. 

August 14 Trail Session: The Brother Brothers, Caleb & Sterling with Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust in Osceola, NY

Music and nature come together in this Trail Session. Join us on Saturday, August 14 with Americana band, The Brother Brothers. Opening fiddle act by Caleb & Sterling. Concert at the North American Fiddlers Hall of Fame. Afterwards, join Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust, leading a hike through old growth forest a short distance away.

Sliding scale donation tickets and details on our page: https://www.sustainmusicandnature.org/august142021

July 17 Trail Session: Twisted Pine at Overmountain Conservation Area in NY

Music and nature come together in this Trail Session. Join us on Saturday, July 17 with Americana funk band, Twisted Pine. Columbia Land Conservancy, a Hudson valley land trust, will be leading a hike to a beautiful Taconics overlook at Overmountain Conservation Area (Ancramdale, NY). Probably the prettiest concert you’ll ever see or hear!

Sliding scale donation tickets and details on our page: https://www.sustainmusicandnature.org/july172021

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

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.

National Public Lands Day: Free Virtual Concert featuring Lory State Park in CO!

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National Public Lands Day Virtual Concert featuring Lory State Park

When: Saturday, Sept. 26 at 9am MST

Who: Rolos Rios & DJ Dominic Deadbeat and Daniel Rodriguez

Where: This virtual concert will premiere on our Facebook page

Why? To celebrate National Public Lands Day and highlight our hometown park, Lory State Park. Lory, just west of Fort Collins, CO is home to diverse wildlife (bears, rattlesnakes, bobcats) and provides endless recreation opportunities (climbing, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking). We also want to highlight two Colorado artists, both of whom are inspired by nature. Rolos Rios (backed by DJ Dominic Deadbeat) is a hip hop artist based in Fort Collins. Daniel Rodriguez, formerly of Elephant Revival, is an Americana singer-songwriter and just recently released a solo album, which got great reviews by Rolling Stone.

KCSU Article: Sustain Music and Nature hosts hike-in concert series to ‘sustain’ the live music scene and carry the tune of resiliency for public lands

Thank you KCSU (Colorado State University’s radio channel) for the great story on Sagebrush Sessions!

“Sustain Music and Nature has played a crucial part in literally ‘sustaining’ the live music scene in Fort Collins through the Sagebrush Sessions and other projects. The nonprofit’s driving force is to have music be a voice for something that cannot speak for itself: the environment”

“If we want to see change, we all have to act responsibly on the planet. Musicians have to lead by example,” said Bridget Law. “Music can be used as a force for change both by witnessing the conscious actions of the musicians as well as hearing their messages through the music.”

Read here: http://kcsufm.com/2020/09/sustain-music-and-nature-hosts-hike-in-concert-series-to-sustain-the-live-music-scene-and-carry-the-tune-of-resiliency-for-public-lands/