Adam Sanders. Lewis Brice. Parmalee. Lee Brice. If these names sound familiar then most likely you are a fan of good country music! These incredibly talented artists performed at the most recent Oktoberfest in Parachute. Nestled right in a valley with tabletop mesas in the background is the beautiful Cottonwood Park located on Colorado's Western Slope. What an amazing location to enjoy some amazing musicians. First to play on stage was Adam Sanders who is based out of Nashville, Tennessee. A couple of his top hits are 'Over Did It' and 'Burnin Roses'. Lewis Brice was second to set foot on stage. Hailing from Nashville as well, two songs you might recognize by him are 'Messin' with My Mind' and 'Best Ex Ever'. As one might expect, his older brother is country artist Lee Brice, who headlined the show. The last band to play before Lee Brice was Parmalee, who are also based out of Nashville but made their start in Parmele, North Carolina. Which, as one might have guessed, is where they landed on the name Parmalee. It's always a cool feeling showing up to a venue, whether it be a park, multipurpose building, concert hall, or any other number of locations, to take part in building out a show. At this particular park, we had a blank slate to work from. A large mobile stage was brought in from Denver, and Snob Productions brought in several truckloads of gear from Grand Junction. After a day and a half, Snob was ready to sound check. As bands were setting up their gear, dialing in their sound, people started to arrive and were anticipating an epic evening of insanely talented musicians. What an experience it was, music blasting late into the night, a cool breeze in the air, and over a thousand people in the audience enjoying every second of the artistic portrayal of sound. Alas, every good thing must come to an end. Music stopped well after midnight and production crews were working almost until dawn until they had to return to finish striking the show well into the next evening. Grueling as the jobs may be, working in the hot sun setting shows and striking shows late into the evenings or mornings, it is always something special to let realization hit us that we get paid to live our dream.
Photo Credit(s):
Gary Cavalier
Richard Crespin
Ryan Lehmon
Wesley Stark
Jon Williams