Like a timeless evergreen tree, independent musicians Richy Mitch and the Coal Miners (RMCM) have proven their sustainability, just as their very first release, “Evergreen” continues to gain listeners and popularity eight years since the band’s initial foray into the music scene.

RMCM is a folk-rock band consisting of longtime friends Mitchell Cutts, Nic Haughn, and Jakob Ervin. As self-taught musicians, the quintessential “Gen Z” schoolmates informally founded their band in 2015 while students at Pine Creek High School in Colorado Springs. The band’s name came from a play written and performed in German for their language class.

Upon graduation in 2017, the friends released a self-produced debut album, “RMCM” playing their “good-bye” graduation party before heading off to their respective colleges.

The band members stayed connected through social media, writing and producing songs during their college years to the present, releasing two other albums, “Solstice” and “Subliming”, and touring the U.S., Canada and Europe while gaining a considerable following.

Although now based in Seattle, the band maintains a “pipeline between Washington and Colorado” keeping a pulse on their families and home state’s environmental concerns such as wildfires, having recently donated $27,000 to various nonprofits dedicated to firefighting mitigation efforts.

As writer and frontman, Cutts says he is inspired by nature, the environment, his experiences and relationships.

“I love writing songs. I’ve got a guitar in my hand. I’m doing what I love,” Cutts said.

Although the band’s sound is distinctly its own, and their influences and genres have evolved over the past 10 years, Cutts says they “listen less and less to other musical styles and doing (their) own thing; experimenting with new sounds and ideas.”

Collaborating with Haughn as producer, Cutts thrives on the “creative work forces” he shares with his lifelong friend.

“I’ve known Nic since we were three of four years old. We were ‘project friends’ meaning we worked on things together — coding, hacking, doing videos,” Cutts said. “He is an amazing partner, very grounded, and one of the most talented producers I know.

“Jakob (Ervin) I met in high school. He is a ‘shapeshifter’ in that he can do almost anything, He’s filled with creativity, a genius with arrangements – taking them to the next level.”

RMCM’s music is immersed with appreciation for natural elements and outdoor activities while hiking, backpacking, fishing and camping, equally instilled into Cutts through his parents who have a cabin retreat in Florissant.

Listeners especially resonate with the band’s music, lyrics and TikTok videos which evoke the natural imagery of the outdoor environment, and camaraderie with like-minded nature lovers as an antidote, a way to disconnect from the isolation of an increasingly technological society.

Inspired by a 300-mile solo backpacking trip along the Colorado Trail, Cutts wrote “Evergreen” at the age of sixteen, recording the instrumental in 2017 at producer Haughn’s basement over a two-month period using acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar and a snare drum.

Clocking in at only one minute, twenty-seven seconds, the song’s popularity is rooted in simplicity. Just as simple as the instrumentation, but complex in brevity, lyrics were added in a 2024 re-mix of the 2017 song featuring American folk band CAAMP and garnering over one million views to date.

Locked in a stalemate

With a man who bars no holds

Rock and a hard place

He’s battering control

What am I waiting for?

Feet planted beneath

My compass, my transport

As stated in a review on Genius.com, “(Evergreen) captures the tension of feeling trapped by external or internal forces while yearning for clarity and direction” using “sparse lyrics and natural imagery to articulate that tension—and the possibility of personal awakening and resilience.”

Cutts says the band is grateful to fans for their support and hopes their music continues to inspire listeners with this wisdom:

“You need to draw (from nature) your energy and inspiration. (Stay) in it. Keep your eyes open for that sense of wonder.”

Take a moment and listen to “Thunderhead”, “Florissant”, “A Moment”, and Santiago” to hear more from RMCM.

With over 40 VENUES scheduled between now and the end of the year, RMCM will tour throughout Europe, the U.S. and Canada returning to Colorado Nov. 22 with a show at the Mission Ballroom in Denver. To learn more about RMCM and ticket information, check out https://www.rmcmband.com/ or follow Richy Rich and the Coal Miners on Meta.