Live review: 20th annual Folks Festival @ Planet Bluegrass Ranch

Jenny Lewis, seen here playing the Bluebird Theater in 2008, will come back to Colorado this summer for a gig at the excellent Rocky Mountain Folks Festival. Photo by Lucia De Giovanni. The Rocky Mountain Folks Festival is one of our favorite Colorado music events. The good folks at Planet Bluegrass know how to craft a festival line-up that is both crowd-pleasing and interesting — something they continue to prove year after year. This year will be no different. The festival, Aug. 13-15 in Lyons [...]

[photopress:rilo0.jpg,full,pp_image] Don’t mess with Jenny Lewis’ bangs, man. They’ll totally mess you up. Photos by Laurie Scavo. When Rilo Kiley is good, damn they’re good. But when they’re bad, I’m at the bar or the merch booth or in the lobby talking with friends, because they’re embarrassingly bad. Oddly with Rilo Kiley, it’s even more black and white than that. When the band is playing anything off its first two records, and select songs from their third and fourth records, they’re damn good. But when [...]

- Rilo Kiley was nicer to look at than hear last night at the Ogden Theatre. – RILO KILEY — It makes sense that Rilo Kiley?s Tuesday-night performance at the Ogden Theatre was yawn-inducing. The band’s latest LP, “Under the Blacklight,” is a sleepy, lazy, ’70s-inspired jaunt that tries to be cute and retro-innovative… but falls flat. Of the band’s new songs, “Silver Lining” was lush and warm, and “Close Call” was tolerable. Singer Jenny Lewis’ voice is addictive and lovable, although it’s more intentional [...]