Austin's The Lonesome Heroes stop at Front Range Barbeque in the Springs
"It's tough to pin The Lonesome Heroes to any one music genre. The Austin, Texas-based band calls its brand of music Cosmic Americana, which takes it beyond a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll into the territory of indie music.
"The term comes from Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers - hippies starting to play more country," said Rich Russell, the band's vocalist and guitarist. "Cosmic Americana music is not hugely different from notion of Americana in general: Country, blues and rock 'n' roll all came from the same place. So it's cosmic and slightly psychedelic."
The Lonesome Heroes will play a free 3-hour show Wednesday at Front Range Barbeque.
Alt-country is a term also used to describe them and is plain in their sophomore album "Can't Stand Still," released in January 2015, in the twang of songs such as "Sunshine Come" and "Steel." Their music also crosses into indie territory, as evidenced in the ballad-y "Long Time Coming" and upbeat "Constant Vacation." "Western Style Saloons," with the lyric "I need a Western-facing highway and a town to start over again," was featured in the final season of the Netflix original thriller "Bloodline."
On Wednesday, they'll play songs from "Can't Stand Still" and a single from the album set to come out in late fall/early winter, Russell said.
"We put that ('Can't Stand Still') out a couple of summers ago now, and toured all over the U.S.," he said. "We did 100 something shows in the U.S. and Australia. I didn't have time to write, I was so busy."
The current tour is geographically compact to allow for more downtime.
"I basically tried to throw it down so we could focus on a new record. This tour is fun - two shows in the Springs, two shows in Boulder and two shows in Laramie," Wyo., Russell said. "The idea is to go on tour and be able to go swimming and hiking, too. So we're not just sitting in a car or a bar all the time."
Russell, 37, a Brooklyn, N.Y. native, grew up listening to indie rock, which has influenced the band's sound.
"We've definitely played our share of honky-tonks and can play country music, too," he said. In Austin, the band has played the famed SXSW festival.
How did they hook up with Front Range Barbeque? "That's just sort of a venue that a lot of Austin bands hit. You tend to have a lot of Texas expats in Colorado, and that's about the closest venue we can get to in Colorado from Texas," Russell said.
The Lonesome Heroes will be back in the summer on a second tour through these parts. In addition to Russell, the lineup is Georgia Parker on bass and vocals, Jackie Myers on keyboards and vocals, Eddie Baty on drums and Steve Carlson on lead guitar.
"The thing that we've noticed is this will be our 10th tour through the mountain states, so this has just become part of our life to head to the mountains. As soon as we get about 10,000 feet, we just have so much fun," Russell said. "Austin, Texas, is where everyone Two-steps. All the cool kids do it. Colorado is more free-form."