The Stanley Hotel will host seven nationally known acts in its concert hall next year.
(Courtesy of the Grand Heritage Hotel Group)
With more than 500 miles between it and the nearest major city, Denver is a live music oasis by default. But even though many touring bands make the trip to dip their beaks in our city’s music scene, for some, it’s still a stage too far.
Imagine, then, how Estes Park must feel.
The mountain town is a winding two-hour drive north of Denver, and on your way to nowhere in particular – maybe Cheyenne, Wyo., if your band is on a roadhouse tour. Unless you’re a local artist looking to test your material in the mountains or the Bloomington, Ind., group Murder By Death, which has a yearly gig at the historic Stanley Hotel, there isn’t much sense in routing your tour up through Route 7.
If the 107-year-old hotel has its way, that mindset will go the way of the steam-powered car.
In November, the Stanley Hotel will launch “Live from the Stanley,” a concert series featuring nationally recognized artists performing at the venue’s 530-person-capacity concert hall that it aims to broadcast online and, potentially, on television.
“It could be something like the Stanley’s own brand of (‘Austin City Limits’),” said Frederic Lahey, head of communications for the Stanley Hotel. “Austin City Limits” is a long-running and Peabody Award-winning televised concert series on PBS known for its sharp, eclectic booking. It’s credited with helping peg Austin as “The Live Music Capital of the World,” a motto the city has since trademarked.
The Stanley will introduce “Live from the Stanley” with a two-night stand by Grammy Award- winning country-folk artist Mary Chapin Carpenter on Nov. 11th and 12th. These inaugural shows will not be streamed or broadcast anywhere.
The hotel declined to disclose who it had in mind for future concerts, save to say it is looking at “large, recognizable names.” It’s currently in the process of booking shows for December and January.
Though its debut show in Carpenter would seem to suggest a predilection toward old-fashioned acts that suit the hotel’s historic aesthetic, Lahey said the venue would not adhere to any genre limitations. In 2015, bluegrass jam band Leftover Salmon began an annual tradition of hosting a hotel-wide, three-day mini music festival at the venue. Last year, German producer Zedd rented out the hotel for a promotional event for a song off his latest album, “True Colors.”
“You’d be surprised at who thinks the Stanley is the coolest place in the universe,” he said.
While the more than century-old Stanley already enjoys a reputation as slice of bygone frontier life, the concert series is the latest example of the hotel’s push to expand its appeal for a new generation. In 2013, the hotel partnered with the Denver Film Society on the horror-focused Stanley Film Festival, which took a hiatus this year (and subsequently scared away the DFS) to host a symposium to brainstorm concepts for its upcoming $24 million, 43,000 square-foot film center.
“Live from the Stanley” could attract even more visitors to the Estes Park centerpiece year-round. The venue plans to host seven shows next year and, if all goes to plan, 10 a year from 2018 on.
It may seem like a challenge to coerce artists to hike up to Estes Park’s historic haunt. But what the hotel lacks in convenience, it makes up for in its unique environs. Beyond the epic scenery that flanks the grounds, the Stanley provides room and board for performers and their entourages in the hotel for the duration of their stay.
Besides that, what other music venue can boast that it inspired one of the most beloved horror stories of all time?
“It’s not just another gig,” Lahey said.
By Reverb
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/09/28/live-from-the-stanley-estes-park-live-music/
[Thank you to Alex Teitz, http://www.femmusic.com, for contributing this article.]