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Dragondeer to play psych blues on train

The importance and contribution of the blues to all other art and music cannot be overstated.

It is Americana, influencing rock, jazz, country, punk, hip-hop, folk and more, inspiring its own artists, as well as those outside the genre, from Miles Davis to Bill Monroe, Jerry Garcia to Jon Spencer.

The blues will be celebrated Friday and Saturday nights onboard the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, when musicians and fans will pack the sold-out train to travel north of town and back.

Performing are Dan Treanor’s Afrosippi Band, Cary Morin, Mark “Porkchop” Holder, Grant Sabin, A.J. Fullerton and Dragondeer.

Dragondeer is a Denver band that is pushing the boundaries of blues, combining the genre with hints of improvisation and psychedelic rock, reminiscent of the work of the cantankerous, modern psychedelic blues guitarist Otis Taylor. Members are Eric Halborg on guitar, vocals and harmonica, Cole Rudy on lap steel and mandolin, Carl Sorensen on drums and Casey Sidwell on bass.

Halborg and Rudy were punk and indie-rock musicians when they came together at a recording session and discovered their mutual love for the blues. The Chicago-born Halborg taught himself harmonica after his car stereo was stolen – instead of replacing the stereo, he stashed harmonicas in his car and learned the instrument during his commute.

“Once I had accompaniment, it was just so natural. I just loved doing it, and I shifted from indie stuff to blues, figuring out how we wanted to interpret our version of it,” Halborg said in a phone interview. “We wanted to kind of have more of a psychedelic take on it, where we could expand blues forms and have a lot of improvisation and reverb-delayed sound on it. We’ve been experimenting with that.”

Their 2014 release, “Don’t That Feel Good,” leans into Americana yet also features reverb-drenched guitar in its original songs and songs pulled from the blues canon. It also has them experimenting with their audiences, realizing that music fans with an affinity for American punk or jam also love American blues.

“We’re finding that because we have a non-traditional blues delivery, we’re able to appeal to different people,” Halborg said, referencing a recent conversation with a young tattoo artist. “She was listing off bands she listens to at home, from Rancid to AFI, but she also said she loves Lightning Hopkins and Muddy Waters. That’s what’s going on – people you assume are one way, but when at home on a Sunday morning, they want to put on some Son House. That’s how we are. We grew up playing indie and punk, but there’s nothing I like to do more than listen to Sonny Boy Williamson or Junior Wells.”

Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu. Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager.

Bryant’s best

Saturday: Durango Blues Train with multiple bands. Sold out.

Saturday: Bluegrass with Running Out Of Road, 6 p.m. No cover. The Balcony, 600 Main Ave., 422-8008.



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