Local acts wow the crowd at Rock & Rails

Two local acts, and first timers at Rock & Rails, got the crowd going at the weekly concert Thursday, July 6. Although rain threatened the event earlier in the day, the clouds parted just before the opening act, providing a perfect night for music, dancing and food.

Dechen Hawk started the night with his indie soul ballads. Having moved to Boulder when he was five, the "adopted Colorado native" says he has always loved music. But when his father was diagnosed with brain cancer when Hawk was 14, he used music as an outlet to express what he was feeling and experiencing.

He formed his first band in high school and together the group played the Boulder Creek Festival and the Boulder Battle of the Bands. After high school, Hawk moved from Boulder to North Carolina and established himself in the Chapel Hill music scene. A singer and songwriter, Hawk made it to the finals of the North Carolina Songwriters Co-Op's songwriting contest.

Eventually, he returned to Boulder to attend Naropa for a degree in music and made piano his primary instrument. Hawk's music continues to evolve and he considers his style rooted in jazz with elements of blues, funk, soul, and more.

Hawk has written for film and commercials and is currently a professor at his alma mater, Naropa University. He played The Wheel House at the Rock & Rails after party and can be seen in the next few weeks at 63rd Street Community Music Nights and MainStage Brewing Company in Lyons.

Although a first-time performer at Rock & Rails, The Pamlico Sound, the evening's headliner, has been together for more than 10 years. Playing authentic funk and soul music, the group performs original songs while drawing inspiration from classic acts such as Sly & the Family Stone and Parliament Funkadelic.

In the style of last week's headliner, Los Cheesies, The Pamlico Sound is known for their audience interaction. They call the relationship the "Jive Church,'' a non-religious, interactive experience inspired by the Black Baptist churches of the south.

The band has played extensively in the area at the Boulder Theater, The Bluebird Theater, The Fox Theatre and on KBCO's live-on-air "Studio C" program. The Pamlico Sound is big on horns, big voices, and even costumed performers on stilts.

The group began the evening's "Jive Church" session with "Dance to the Music," playing up the "church" angle in full choir robes. Playing covers from artists such as Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan and James Brown, the band had the crowd on their feet and they never sat down.

Anybody who lives in this area is likely familiar with the night's tip jar recipient, Niwot Youth Sports (NYS). The hefty tip jar total of $2,375 will go towards NYS' mission of providing exceptional recreational and competitive sports experiences that promote teamwork, build self-esteem, and increase skill knowledge for kids ages 4 to 18, and most recently, the Monarch Improvement Project which will soon bring permanent restrooms and concession area to Hangge Fields at Monarch Park. The organization has raised $420,000 towards the goal of $500,000.

The local non-profit, founded as a sandlot baseball organization in the late 1960s, eventually became the Gunbarrel Lefthand Valley Recreation Association, Inc., adding both basketball and girls' softball to its offerings.

Throughout the years, the organization has gone from borrowed "temporary" playing fields, to 10 permanent ballfields in the Niwot area. Volunteers came forward to do everything from building and maintaining the fields to coaching teams. In 1991, the organization became Niwot Youth Sports.

NYS offers both recreational and competitive team sports and fields dozens of teams in baseball, softball, basketball and flag football. Currently they serve over 500 boys and girls in the baseball and softball programs, as well as another 250 youth in the basketball program and 150 in the flag football program.

Playing Rock & Rails July 13: Tim Ostdiek & Jenny Balagna open for local favorite Last Men on Earth. For a full schedule and more information visit https://niwot.com/rock-rails/.