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Running Out of Road truly has crowd support

Kickstarter campaigns remain a valuable aid to many an artistic endeavor.

The crowd-funding platform continues to grow – so far, it’s helped more than 200,000 projects get off the ground, providing billions of dollars from 8 million backers to musicians, artists, stage performers and filmmakers.

Local musicians have taken advantage, as well. In November, bluegrass band Running Out of Road wrapped up a successful campaign that funded their latest CD, “Ramblers Reprise.” Together, 96 supporters bucked up the $5000 needed for a recording session at Scooters Place with producer and engineer Scott Smith.

The band will celebrate the release of the CD with an early performance Friday at BREW Pub & Kitchen. The members of Running Out of Road are Duane Tucker on banjo, Michelle Fletcher on bass, Jeff Moorehead on dobro, Rusty Charpentier on fiddle and Ian Lennox on guitar and vocals.

Kickstarter’s never a gimmie. The organization has to approve the project, and it’s up to the artist to promote it. All Kickstarter really does is provide a platform that collects the cash. If the campaign falls short of the goal, no money is collected.

“It’s an honor system, and you are trusted with your donors and to deliver if you offer prizes,” Charpentier said in an interview last week in the KDUR studios. “They have to believe in you and believe that you can make it.”

Running Out of Road met its goal on the final day.

“Ramblers Reprise” is an organic, band effort, an end product similar to a snowball rolling down a hill. Song ideas are born on the trolley while one band member is riding to work or while another is making the 30-minute-plus drive into town. Lyrics are written in and recorded on the note recorder in a band member’s phone, then they are brought to practice, chords are suggested, and a song comes together.

“Some songs are rather old, and some are recent. It’s a good mix of stuff we’ve been doing for a long time and stuff we’re excited to try,” Lennox said. “They’re all a group effort. Duane and I will write most of the songs with lyrics, and we’ll bring our ideas to the group, and, over the next month or so, it morphs.”

It’s a strong release. Instrumentally, the band is as capable as any bluegrass band, especially behind the drive of the fiddle, dobro and banjo. It’s lyrically original, hitting on classic bluegrass content without being dry or predictable. Historical aspects are noted via geographical homage, while cry-in-your-beer ballads contrasting religion and alcohol are funny and poignant.

Running Out of Road also will perform at the Durango Bluegrass Meltdown in April, in addition to performing summer shows around the state and making a return appearance in the band competition at this summer’s Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu. Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager.

Bryant’s best

Friday: Bluegrass with Running Out of Road, 5 p.m. No cover. BREW Pub & Kitchen, 117 W. College Drive, 259-5959.

Saturday: Reggae with Magi Nation, 5 p.m. No cover. Moe’s, 937 Main Ave., 259-9018.



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