Colorado Music Hall of Fame inducts Firefall, Manassas, Nitty Gritty Dirty Band, Poco

By Quentin Young

Boulder music history was made on May 1, 1977.

On that day, hometown band Firefall performed in front of a crowd of 61,500 at Folsom Field on the University of Colorado campus. Firefall was supporting Fleetwood Mac on that band’s career-peak “Rumors” tour and chart-topper Bob Seger.

Firefall’s debut self-titled album, released the previous year, had become the fastest release to go gold for Atlantic Records, and the band’s single, “You Are the Woman,” had cracked the Top 10. The Folsom Field show was the handiwork of legendary Colorado promoter Barry Fey, and it sold out 10 days in advance.

Two years before the show, members of Firefall were Boulder guys playing local stages. Now they were a Boulder band on a worldwide stage.

“It was a huge show, and it was just so cool to come back to Boulder and play in front of that crowd,” said Jock Bartley, the band’s lead guitarist, who now lives in Westminster. “Looking out over that crowd, you could pretty much see everyone’s face, even 100 yards away … it was just the coolest, coolest kind of thing that stamped to me, ‘We made it.’ ”

Firefall went on to score several more hit singles, two of their albums achieved platinum status, and the band is credited with pioneering a radio-friendly, country-tinged style of rock that came to be called “the Colorado sound.”

Now Firefall has a new accomplishment to add to its bio: The band will be among the Colorado Music Hall of Fame’s Class of 2014 inductees.

The hall plans an induction concert on Jan. 9 at the Paramount Theatre in Denver. Other inductees include the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Poco and Manassas. Many of the original members of Firefall, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Poco plan to perform at the concert. Stephen Stills and Chris Hillman of Manassas, which made two albums in the early 1970s, are not expected to perform, but other musicians on the bill are planning a Manassas tribute.

Stills, famous for his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, once had a cabin near Gold Hill and was a regular at Caribou Ranch studio near Nederland.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band left Los Angeles for Colorado in 1971, a move that “contributed to its rise in stature, both commercially and creatively,” according to the Hall of Fame. The hall also notes Nitty Gritty’s role in making “longhaired ‘hippie’ types” acceptable in country music circles. The band, now based in Nashville, still is active, and original members Jeff Hanna, John McEuen, Jimmie Fadden and Bob Carpenter are expected to perform at the induction concert.

The year 1971 also saw a move to Colorado by Poco, which had recruited members Rusty Young and George Grantham from Denver-based Böenzee Cryque. Richie Furay, who wrote the Poco hit “A Good Feeling To Know,” founded the band with Jim Messina after working with Stills in Buffalo Springfield. Furay, Young and Grantham, along with Paul Cotton and Timothy B. Schmit, are expected to perform on Jan. 9.

Phil Lobel, a founding director of the Hall of Fame, said the Class of 2014 includes icons of classic rock.

“Most of them are living legends,” he said.

As director of the CU Program Council in the late 1970s, Lobel was involved with the Folsom Field concert that included Firefall. The band will become Boulder’s strongest presence in the Hall of Fame, Lobel said.

“None of the hall’s bands have ever had their roots so ingrained in Boulder and on campus,” Lobel said. “Firefall was really a product of Boulder.”

He noted that the Firefall era of Boulder music was a heyday for the scene, which included seminal venues such as Good Earth and Tulagi’s and the presence of national stars such as Stills, Joe Walsh and Dan Fogelberg.

Firefall helped blaze a trail for Big Head Todd and the Monsters and subsequent local acts that found national success, and their stylistic influence can be traced through many of the roots and Americana acts that populate the area.

“It makes me humble and happy that I played a small role in some of that,” Bartley said.

Firefall also remains active, and today its lineup includes original members Bartley, Mark Andes and David Muse. They and original members Rick Roberts and Larry Burnett are expected to perform at the Hall of Fame concert. The original Fireball lineup included late drummer Michael Clarke.

Firefall’s last album came out in the mid-1990s, but now the band is planning a new release and a “thank you, Colorado” tour late next year, according to Bartley.

“We have a lot of good new songs, and I’m writing a bunch of new tunes,” he said. “I’m just excited about putting some new music out there.”

Quentin Young: 303-684-5319, quentin@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/qyoungtc