Rain doesn't stop the Rock & Rails party

Given the weather over the last month, it seemed inevitable that rain would eventually crash a Thursday Rock & Rails party. And rain it did on Thursday night, June 15, halfway through the headline act. But that didn't stop the appreciative crowd from enjoying a country-themed evening, nor did it end the evening.

Taylor Shae, a Colorado native who recently released the single, "Small Town America," started the music and happy hour off at 5:00 p.m. Shae, a singer and songwriter, has been performing around Colorado since 2016 and has independently released four albums. She may be familiar to the Niwot community, having performed previously at the First Friday Art Walk.

CW & Twenty Hands High got the crowd going at 6:30 p.m. with their own brand of country and Southern rock. The group played plenty of their own songs along with covers of crowd favorites by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Johnny Cash, The Allman Brothers Band and Merle Haggard, to name a few.

Rain came around 7:50 p.m., and much of the crowd headed for cover. But the band stayed on stage, and when the rain stopped, the music started again after a 30-minute break. Many on the dance floor returned and stayed until the event closed at 9 p.m.

CW & Twenty Hands High lead singer CW Wooten says the band's name comes from his 6 foot-4 inch frame. "When I was trying to come up with band names," he said, "I thought, 'If I was a horse, I'd be 19 hands high barefoot. With boots and a hat on, I'd be 20 hands high.'" And the name stuck. The band has been nominated for the 2023 Entertainer of the Year by the Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame.

This week's tip jar of over $1,400 was split between the Niwot Historical Society (NHS) and the recently formed Niwot Community Association (NCA). The Historical Society, formed in 1983, works to preserve Niwot's history, collecting local historic photographs and artifacts, hosts a regular "Now and Then" lecture series, and conducts walking tours of the Niwot historic district.

The NCA sponsors various events in Niwot, including the 4th of July pancake breakfast and parade, Niwot Clean Up Day, National Night Out, and the Veteran's Banner Project. The NCA also handles all road closures for events in Niwot, and provides traffic control. The Niwot Road Underpass is a project of the NCA, which also serves as a liaison between the community and the Boulder County Commissioners.

Next up at Rock & Rails June 22nd: Deb Stafford and the Night Stalkers open for the ever-popular Mojomama with Cass Clayton. For a full schedule and more information visit https://niwot.com/rock-rails/.