Colorado quartet Sturtz to perform at Hillside Gardens’ Summer Concert Series
Beloved in Boulder and no stranger to regional garden venues, Colorado band Sturtz is headed to Colorado Springs on Wednesday as a part of Hillside Gardens’ Summer Concert Series.
The quartet consists of Andrew Sturtz (vocals, guitar), Jim Herlihy (banjo), Courtlyn Carpenter (cello) and Will Kuepper (bass). In 2020, NPR’s All Songs Considered called the group “a reassuring breath of fresh air that pulls me back to simpler times” after their Tiny Desk competition submission of “Southern Night.” Performed in a garage with stripped production, the group’s talent and simple chemistry is on full display.
“Southern Night” appeared on their 2021 record “You’ve Done This Before” and is a standout debut. The 12-song track list brims with sincerity and is the culmination of years’ worth of songwriting, live performances and new acquaintances. It has been the foundation for Sturtz’s touring success ever since, but the group is beginning to stretch toward a new project.
“We’re getting pretty sick of it,” Andrew said. “We’ve got five or six new songs that we play during sets that we’re going to put on our next album. We’ve been throwing them in and practicing them on the road.”
And to most audiences, they don’t know any better. With a small group comes large liberty that allows bands like Sturtz to figure out how their tracks are going to resonate with listeners or fit into a larger scheme of their discography.
“It’s been all over the map how we’ve felt about it (“You’ve Done This Before”),” Andrew said. “But we definitely learned what we do want. You learn from those experiences, so I think no matter what, this second album will be way different.”
They won’t budge on their signature folksy sound, though, even surrounded in Colorado’s dominant indie bluegrass scene.
“I think it actually has affected our music in that we’re trying so hard to get farther away from bluegrass,” Carpenter said. “It’s kind of fun that it’s hard for us to define our genre, because it means we’re doing something different.”
During one of their most recent tours in the Pacific Northwest, the group worked to get a read on the different genres that dominated different regions.
“Up there, there are really good audiences for the type of music that we’re playing,” Sturtz said. “I know that a few of us have been wanting to go there for a while, but you have to see what the winters are like obviously.”
Although the members are toying with a move at some point in the future, they remain a steady act in Colorado’s indie music circuit. With a possible new record on the horizon and more tour dates than the average mega-pop band, Sturtz is poised for another successful year of live shows and projects.
What: Sturtz concert
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Hillside Gardens & Event Center
Price: $15, ages 16+, purchase tickets at venue
Acoustic quartet Sturtz will perform Wednesday at Hillside Gardens.
Acoustic quartet Sturtz will perform on Aug. 9 at Hillside Gardens. Courtesy
Acoustic quartet Sturtz will perform on Aug. 9 at Hillside Gardens. Courtesy
Acoustic quartet Sturtz will perform on Aug. 9 at Hillside Gardens. Courtesy
