CROMA Member Bands

The following old-time bands are based in the Central Rockies region and are members of CROMA. They are available for events, and can be contacted through the information listed or by emailing CROMA.

The Boulder Bogtrotters (Boulder, CO)

An eclectic dance band consisting of fiddler Charlie Martin and three utility infielders (Pierce Martin, Duffy Keith and Doug Rippey) playing a sometimes mystifying variety of instruments. We indulge in a mix of southern Appalachian, New England, Celtic, Ragtime and other tunes with energy and abandon! The Boulder Bogtrotters never stumble into the swamp of taking ourselves too seriously.

Cottonwood Grove (Fort Collins, CO)

From across the divides of traditional music, the members of Cottonwood Grove have come together to share their love of Old Time Stringband music. Their sound not only embodies the tradition of the music, but each group member weaves personal background and experience into the music that gives the band's sound its own unique quality. Based out of Fort Collins, CO., Cottonwood Grove would be pleased to provide the entertainment for your event or private party.

Firing Line (Lyons, CO)


A trio started in Lyons, Colorado, Firing Line's members suffer from an undying, insatiable obsession with Old-Time music. The music is as true to the Appalachian tradition as you can find in the Rockies (we've been waiting for the East Coast to call and ask for its old-time music back).

The band's members all hail from various places within the US. Dusty Rider moved to Colorado from Anchorage, Alaska in August of 2011, where he was quickly snatched up as a banjo player by Gina, who moved to the area 2 years ago from Fredericksburg, Virginia. Kyle is the newest member of the Lyons community, as he was drawn away from the musical community of Ashville, NC.

Forty Degrees North (Denver area, CO)


40 Degrees North is Anita Schuneman and Doug Rippey. Anita and Doug have been presenting concerts and programs to diverse audiences since 1978. They play a number of traditional Appalachian instruments, including fiddle, guitar, and banjo. They sing songs and share stories about this rich musical heritage, bringing late 19th and early 20th century United States regional history alive. Their informal and often humorous presentation makes them popular with all ages!

Anita has been playing Appalachian fiddle for over 30 years, beginning in the late 70s with Old Mother Logo, a California based all-woman string band. The tradition is in her blood, dating back to Uncle Will McLaughlin, who fiddled for community dances in southern Minnesota in the early 20th century.

Doug is a multi-instrumentalist who specializes in playing guitar and banjo in 40 Degrees North. He has toured nationally, appeared at the Newport Folk Festival with El Teatro Campesino, and has led numerous campfire singing sessions for all ages.

Nine Dollar Shawl (Salida / Lyons / Fort Collins, CO)


Nine Dollar Shawl is a Colorado old-time band that plays from Salida to Fort Collins. The all-gal group frequents dance halls and farmers' markets, mountain lodges and music festivals. Led by Andrea Earley-Coen's accomplished fiddling, Nine Dollar Shawl also features Ellen Rosenberg's hard-driving rhythm guitar and Lori Nitzel's sprightly banjo playing.

Andrea toured nationally and internationally while playing and clogging with the Minneapolis-based Wild Goose Chase Cloggers and Pig's Eye Landing. She currently resides in Salida, where she's in-demand as a dance caller and fiddle/dance teacher. Ellen has been backing up fiddlers along the Front Range since old-time rocked her world in the early 90's, and fell in love with the banjo-uke in 2008. She plays in dance bands Poultry in Motion and the Prairie Chickens, and started the Lyons Old-time Dance in 1999. Lori began her banjo journey in 2007, the day after seeing clawhammer-style up close for the first time. She plays in Fort Collins with Cottonwood Grove and with Front Range-based Furry Mountain String Band, a group that donates music to animal rescues and shelters.

Nine Dollar Shawl's stage show includes fiddle tunes, old-time songs full of harmonies, clogging, and if you're lucky, a limbergoose or spontaneous square dance!

The Prairie Chickens (Denver, CO)


The Prairie Chickens have been delighting dancers and old-time music lovers on Colorado’s Front Range and further afield for a decade. An offshoot of Poultry in Motion, these three musicians have been musical co-conspirators for nearly twenty years, playing fiddle tunes primarily from Appalachia and the Midwest. Fiddler and dance caller Larry Edelman has been playing traditional music and teaching traditional American dance for more than 30 years. He has played and taught at numerous music and dance camps throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. He is also an avid researcher of traditional American square, contra and circle dances. Larry delights both novice and veteran dancers with his humor, enthusiasm, skillful teaching, knowledge of dance history, and colorful calling.

Thom Curdts was born in Virginia at an early age and discovered old-time banjo in the late 1970’s as a teenager in Florida. He has been claw-hammering ever since in kitchens, dance halls, farmers’ markets and opera houses in such far flung places as Alaska, Guatemala, New Zealand, Antarctica and Leadville. For the past two decades he has been a regular at Front Range dances. Ellen Rosenberg, a rhythm guitar junkie, discovered community dancing 30 years ago in New England's grange halls. In the early 90's, a Colorado old-time band's Appalachian fiddle tunes rocked her world and compelled her to play guitar. Countless dances, farmers' markets and festival jams later, backing up fiddlers remains one of her life's greatest joys. In 2008, seeking a smaller instrument to tote, Ellen stalked her favorite banjo-uke players at Weiser and fell in love with a new rhythm machine. She also organizes the Lyons Old-Time Square Dance, begun in 1999.

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    • Sawmill (Fort Collins, CO)

    Fiddle and banjo, what more do you need? Guitar? Okay, we'll throw in a little guitar on occasion. What's that? Okay, we'll sing one now and again too.

    Sawmill is an Appalachian duo that strips the music down to its barest essentials. After all, a fiddle tune can express far more emotion and feeling than words could ever hope. Beth Mosko and Eric David came together with one thing in mind: to play the tunes we dearly love. We see ourselves as humble stewards of one of the greatest forms of American music. We would love to play for you, whether you need ambiance for an event or a band for a dance. If you don't want to get up and dance when we tear into a ripping fiddle tune, we're not doing our job!

    Stolen Thyme (Colorado Springs, CO)


    Stolen Thyme is a neo-traditional Old Time string band based in Colorado Springs, CO, made up of John Weathers (Guitar), Stacy Olitsky (Banjo), and Ben Lewis (Fiddle).

    The music of Stolen Thyme celebrates the everlasting joys of life and explores the dark depths of human nature. The trio embraces the American folk music tradition and transforms it for a modern sensibility. The timeless truths and ancient melodies carried by the ballads and fiddle tunes of Appalachia and British Isles resonate in Weathers, Olitsky, and Lewis' hypnotic arrangements. Whether chilling the spine with a dusky ballad, entertaining with a meandering, golden melody or lighting the place on fire with a rip-roarin' barn-burner, Stolen Thyme always shares a transcendent, emotional musical experience with its audiences.

    Two Thin Dimes (Denver, CO)

    The core of the Denver based Two Thin Dimes is the husband and wife duo of Chad Yost (fiddle) and Carrie Jackson (banjo) who met in northern Minnesota in 2000, and have been playing together ever since. Chad has been on a musical journey most of his life, starting out playing guitar in punk rock bands, then discovering traditional Irish music and a stint playing mandolin in a bluegrass band. In 1997, Chad saw the Freight Hoppers in Winfield, Kansas, deciding then and there to learn old-time fiddle. Chad and Carrie are joined by talented rootsy singer-songwriter Chris McGarry (guitar, uke) and Tory Heinrich (bass), creating a hard-driving old-time stringband sound.