“Galaxy grass” pickers Kitchen Dwellers have shared a full, pro-shot video of their guest-filled January 13th performance at Live For Live Music and AEG Rocky Mountains‘ Denver Comes Alive 2023 featuring appearances by Billy Failing (Billy Strings) on banjo, Jason Carter (Del McCoury Band) on fiddle, Lindsay Lou on vocals, and Mimi Naja (Fruition) on electric guitar.
The Montana-native quartet was among the most buzzed-about bands on the Denver Comes Alive bill going into the weekend. Introduced by event MC Ari Fink (SiriusXM) as “the most metal bluegrass band on the circuit,” the Dwellers made good on that promise with their intrepid brand of adrenaline-spiking jamgrass, drawing Friday evening’s biggest crowd to the Mission Ballroom’s sprawling dance floor.
In addition to a poignant “Stand At Ease”, written in tribute to late Yonder Mountain String Band vet Jeff Austin, highlights from the Kitchen Dwellers set included a pair of tunes with guests Billy Failing and Jason Carter (Béla Fleck‘s “Whitewater” and Failing’s own “So Many Miles”), a ska-grass skank-fest on Operation Ivy‘s “Sound System” with Lindsay Lou (vocals) and Mimi Naja (electric guitar), and a deep, dark, effect-inflected “Covered Bridges” improv odyssey featuring some thematic flirting with Bob Marley‘s reggae classic “Exodus”.
Related: 21st Century Bluegrass Band: Torrin Daniels On The Rise Of Kitchen Dwellers [Interview]
Kitchen Dwellers have a busy road ahead of them in early 2023. This weekend, the quartet will hit the road along with Lindsay Lou for a run of 11 tour dates in the mountain states and the Pacific Northwest. Other upcoming tour highlights include a slot at WinterWonderGrass in Steamboat Springs, CO (3/3–3/5), a taping of PBS’s The Cavern Sessions at The Caverns in Pelham, TN (3/24–3/26), and a co-headlining show with Eggy featuring support from Sicard Hollow at Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, NY (4/28). Click below for a complete list of upcoming Kitchen Dwellers tour dates. Head to the band’s website here for complete ticketing details.
Watch a full, pro-shot video of Kitchen Dwellers performing at Denver Comes Alive 2023 and check out the complete setlist below. For a set-by-set rundown and photos of the action at the two-day event, head here. For more on the band, revisit Live For Live Music‘s pre-Denver Comes Alive interview with Kitchen Dwellers’ Torrin Daniels here.
Kitchen Dwellers – Denver Comes Alive – Mission Ballroom – 1/13/23 – Full Video [Pro-Shot]
Setlist: Kitchen Dwellers | Denver Comes Alive | 1/13/22
Set: Sundown > Tombstone Blues (Bob Dylan) > Drowning (…Again), Smokestack > Stand At Ease, Whitewater (Béla Fleck) [1], So Many Miles (Billy Failing) [1], Muir Maid, Sound System (Operation Ivy) [2], Bottom Shelf, Covered Bridges > Ebenezer’s Winter, Timebomb (Old 97’s)
[1] with Billy Failing (banjo), Jason Carter (fiddle)
[2] with Lindsay Lou (vocals), Mimi Naja (electric guitar)