Through Oct. 5: The Bright Nights lantern festival is back at Four Mile Historic Park with weekly dates through Oct. 5. This year’s themes showcase “whimsical Farmhouse Flora and Fauna,” where you can “step into a surreal Chinese Dreamland, and dive into an expanded interactive zone full of surprises,” organizers said.

In other words: a walkable, kid-friendly experience with plenty of photo ops, all taking place under 40 or so larger-than-life sculptures. On-site food and treats will be available, and kids can play on swings, try their hands at a panda whack-a-mole and make “a video call with the Cleveland Asian Lantern Festival.” (There are also 21-and-up nights on Aug. 27 and Sept. 17.)

Tickets: $21-$48, with food upgrades available; kids 3 and under free. General park admission is 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and costs $6-$8 (kids 6 and under free). 715 S. Forest St. in Denver. Call 720-865-0800 or visit fourmilepark.org/brightnights for details.

Kirkland Museum goes kid-friendly

Friday: The littlest kids likely don’t appreciate the design brilliance at the Golden Triangle’s Kirkland Museum, but then again, they’ve never really had the chance. The 13-and-up policy was removed in June, however, and on Friday, Aug. 1, Kirkland will host Art Crawl: A Tour for Infants and Their Caregivers to The Kirkland.

Now a part of the Denver Art Museum, the Kirkland joined with DAM and the nearby Clyfford Still Museum to give little kids and their parents a guided tour of the salon-style exhibitions and colorful pieces, which celebrate late artist Vance Kirkland and his Technicolor milieu. The free tour runs 10:30-11:15 a.m. Friday and meets in front of the  Denver Art Museum, 100 W. 14th Ave. Parkway in Denver. Sign up at denverartmuseum.org/en/calendar/art-crawl-kirkland.

Free ‘Goonies’ at Sunset

Tuesday: The ongoing Sunset Cinema Series at the Denver Performing Arts Complex this week turns toward the 1985 coming-of-age comedy/adventure “The Goonies.” Whether you’ve seen it 50 times or not at all, the free event in downtown’s iconic Sculpture Park offers more than just the outdoor screening, with local food trucks, pre-show entertainment from DJ Cyn, movie snacks and drinks (including craft cocktails), and selfie and photo ops.

Doors open at 6 p.m., with the pre-show at 6:30. The film begins at 7:30 p.m., and you should plan to bring your own chairs and blankets. All ages. Register at eventbrite.com and visit artscomplex.com/summer for more details.

‘Moulin Rouge’ at the Buell

Wednesday-Aug. 17: The jukebox musical “Moulin Rouge,” based on the 2001 fantasy-romance by Baz Luhrmann, conjures high-minded ideals while serving up plenty of steamy dialogue and choreography. The touring Broadway version, which triumphed in Denver during its initial visit in April 2025, is a must-see for Broadway fans looking for a visual and auditory feast, as well as some lovely escapism.

The show runs Wednesday, Aug. 6, through Aug. 17 at the Buell Theatre in the Denver Performing Arts Complex. Tickets are available from Denver Center for the Performing Arts for $53.10-$159.30 via denvercenter.org/tickets-events. It takes place at 1350 Curtis St. in downtown Denver.

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Albo will lead the 7-country metro area organization after 27 years of public service, according to SCFD, having worked as Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Vice President of Culture and Strategy at Denver International Airport, Chief of Staff for the Denver Sheriff Department, and in a variety of other roles over 11 years at Denver Department of Human Services.

The University of Colorado at Denver and Harvard Kennedy School of State and Local Government graduate was picked after a national search, SCFD said. Jordy, who stepped down this summer, will become the senior advisor on voter reauthorization of the taxing district. The next voter reauthorization will take place in 2028 as part of the November general election.

“It’s thanks to SCFD free days that I was exposed to arts and culture from a young age, and I am thrilled by the opportunity to help provide that same opportunity to others in the Denver metro area,” Albo said in a statement. “I am looking forward to working with the cultural community I call home to advance the accessibility of arts, culture, and science for all district residents.”

Replacing Jordy is a tall order. She steered the arts-funding tax district through the pandemic and other rough waters in recent years to come out on top with consistent, vital funding for nonprofit, metro area arts and culture organizations. That includes $80 million in grants for each of the last two years to more than 300 individual nonprofits.

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Yarros’s appearances tend to be of the book-signing variety, where she draws 1,500 fans or more to each book store. Fans line up to get a glimpse of the 44-year-old, Colorado Springs-based writer. Her most recent, sold-out Denver appearances took place in January and February when she wrapped up a national tour for her new book “Onyx Storm” with events hosted by The Tattered Cover and the Fantasy Fangirls podcast.

The Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame induction gala will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Denver Tech Center at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 6. Single tickets are on sale for $165, with tables of eight for $1,326 via coloradoauthorshalloffame.org.

Yarros plans to speak at the event, said Judith Briles, founder of the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame and a prolific author and industry coach. About three-quarters of the seats have been sold as of this writing, Briles said, with an overall event capacity of 200 people. She’ll raise that capacity to 250 people or more if ticket sales warrant it, she said.

“I’m in bookstores at least once a month signing books, and wherever I go she typically has a whole table that’s just her,” said Briles, who nominated Yarros for the honor. “This is not my genre that I read, but I was certainly aware of her and I admire the work she does with foster kids” (via Yarros’ One October nonprofit).

Briles, who’s written a whopping 48 books herself, typically promotes independent authors and educates them about industry representation, pitching to publishers and self-publishing options. She’s seen dozens of Colorado-based, New York Times best-selling authors throughout her career, but Yarros currently stands out due to a mainstream profile that only continues to grow.

That’s thanks in part to fan communities on BookTok and other sites, but also the momentum she’s gained among women readers of the “romantasy” genre. Her popularity and sales have led to an upcoming feature-film adaption of her book “The Things We Leave Unfinished,” on which Yarros is consulting. (She has repeatedly declined comment to The Denver Post, but said in a July press statement that it was her favorite book she’s written.)

The Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame is notable for doling out five $15,000 scholarships each year, supported by Barnes & Noble, for unpublished authors. Three of the five from the last round will be publishing their first books before the end of the year, Briles noted.

Along with Yarros, another dozen Colorado authors will also be inducted at the Sept. 6 event, including Mary Ellen Gilliland, Jim Butcher, Oscar “Osi” Sladek, and Jim Davidson, as well as the late Lucile Christy Bennett and Kent Haruf.

“Rebecca’s actually very young to be in the hall of fame, but I think she’s got a lot of years ahead of her and will continue to contribute much to the book world,” Briles said.

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But a potential move would hurt attendance, organizers said, at what they call both the largest dragon boat event in the country and the largest Asian Americans and Pacific Islander event in the Rocky Mountain region. The nonprofit festival draws 150,000 to 200,000 people each July with its colorful races and cultural offerings.

“It would be devastating for us to have to move, because Sloan’s Lake is such the perfect location for it,” said festival executive director Sara Moore. “No matter what, Sloan’s Lake moving forward is going to need some help financially and support from the community.”

This year’s 25th annual event has already been punted from its regular July dates to Sept. 5-6 over health and safety concerns raised by Denver Parks & Recreation, which manages the park and issues permits for its use, and other organizations.

Those concerns include dead fish, increasingly warm and shallow water, blue algae blooms, and a lack of filtration from untreated runoff pouring into the 177-acre lake. In addition to the Dragon Boat Festival, the city has nixed other permits for events at Sloan’s Lake until early fall, said parks department spokeswoman Stephanie Figueroa.

But even with a multimillion-dollar cleanup project looming, the chances of using Sloan’s Lake for future Dragon Boat events look dim. The cleanup planning currently includes a $5 million funding request in the latest version of the proposed $950 million Vibrant Denver bond — down from an initial ask of $40 million.

The bond request received initial approval Monday from the Denver City Council, but more changes could be on the way before it can be put in front of voters this November.

Whatever the amount, the lake needs to be drained and dredged to increase depth and water quality, as well as adding filtration to the water that flows into the lake from various cities and districts, ranging from Lakewood and Wheat Ridge to unincorporated Jefferson County — all of which need to approve the project due to their individual rights to the water, said Kurt Weaver, executive director of the Sloan’s Lake Park Foundation.

“Even if we had all the money in the bank today, it would still be at least one-and-a-half to two years simply for permits and approvals,” Weaver said. “And we don’t have the money.”

Weaver has worked to connect stakeholders in the lake, such as the Sloan’s Lake Watershed Alliance, with visitors, caretakers and commercial and nonprofit users, he said. But while he’s busy identifying EPA and USDA loans, grants and other funding sources to shore up resources, he’s worried the calm surface of Sloan’s Lake conceals the depth of the crisis to most visitors.

As the third most-visited park in the city’s system (behind City Park and Washington Park), Denver Parks & Recreation does a great job of keeping the grass and other features tended, he said. But with an average depth of 3.5 feet, along with steadily rising sediment, the lake is actually in terrible health. So much so that the dragon boats may start scraping the bottom of Sloan’s Lake in the next couple of years.

“Certainly Dragon Boat is our largest customer, and having to move their dates this year was a contentious couple of months trying to figure out what that looks like,” Weaver said. “Nobody wants to be moved because they love their spot. But unfortunately, it’s not going to be their option here soon. If we don’t do something, they literally won’t be able to paddle around the lake.”

He said there are numerous reasons as to why moving the festival would be bad for Denver, including lost revenue from visitors who travel from all over the country to participate. Any town that nabs it would see a financial and cultural boost, he said.

“But when 5,000 fish turn up dead, people tend to notice,” he added, referring to the mass aquatic die-off last summer at Sloan’s Lake. In a single weekend in July 2024, that included at least 400 fish floating belly-up or washing up on shore, according to the city. Algae drains the lake of oxygen, and its shallowness prevents cold, safe pockets for marine life to shelter during high-temperature days in the summer.

“We’ve treated the lake in the past, but stormwater drainage keeps bringing more debris and sand,” Figueroa said. “You can imagine what that does after years and years.”

For her part, Dragon Boat Festival director Moore said she’s “actually getting a lot of positive feedback from people who are glad it’s going to September, because it’s going to be cooler.”

And while she’s looking forward to another banner year for the event, she has also begun searching for new locations — although she declined to provide specifics on where.

“It’s an impending doom that is coming faster than everybody thinks,” Weaver said about the lake. “There are 100 ways this thing is going to go poorly, so we have to start now.”

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If you’ve got dogs lazing outside your storefront, chances are I’ll stop in.

Good thing I was going to Mike’s Bikes anyway. The East Denver location of the California-based chain is tucked behind an AMC Theatre, near the end of a nondescript block at Colorado Boulevard’s 9+Co. development. And yet biking enthusiasts pour in and out of the store every day, petting gentle sentries Scout (a labradoodle) and Peach (a bassett hound/lab/husky mix) as they rep the good vibes inside.

My 12-year-old son’s bike recently threw a gear, prompting not only a new bike search, but also new helmets for him, my daughter and me — of which Mike’s naturally carries various styles and price ranges. We opted for ones with Mips protection, a brain-safety layer that should be familiar to most cyclists, “designed to move slightly in the event of an impact (and) … redirect rotational motion away from the head,” according to Mips’ website.

Standard stuff at most bike shops, sure. And Colorado has no shortage of great ones (local chains, even!).

Non-standard, however, in my experience, was the kind, patient reception my 8-year-old daughter Lucy received. A friendly young employee walked her through bikes, helmets, gloves and more without the pressured sales pitch or superiority complex, giving my daughter space to envision herself speeding down the street on one of these many beautiful frames.

She learned to ride a little later than most kids, and the assumption she’s already totally confident is something I’ve felt from other bike shop employees (perhaps understandably, given the rabid cycling culture of the Front Range).

Mike’s Bikes East Denver made all of us feel welcome, despite our lack of experience, cycling jargon and, well, budget. We ended up buying a pair of new helmets, then returning for a tube next week when we needed it. I can’t help but want to go there next time I need anything cycling-related (and because it’s close to my Park Hill North home). Repairs, test rides, quickly answered questions, and free Tuesday tech clinics give me plenty of excuses to drop in. And the window shopping. Oh, the window shopping.

Despite its foot traffic, Mike’s Bikes East Denver still feels somewhat undiscovered, having changed over from Elevation Cycles in November 2022 after the latter sold its four Front Range locations to Mike’s (as of June, there’s now a fifth Mike’s in Boulder). And as for the dogs? They’re “an extremely integral part of the store,” according to manager Jack Lafleur, and they love the children who stop in. My kids and I would concur.

Mike’s Bikes East Denver, 821 Ash St., Denver. Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays. Call 720-573-9988 or visit mikesbikes.com/pages/denver-east.

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Saturday. As one of the most underappreciated yet sparkling comedies of all time, director Amy Heckerling’s endlessly funny “Clueless” is finally getting its stage due with shows featuring its biggest cast member. (Paul Rudd won’t be there, sadly.)

The film’s 30th anniversary brings a screening of the quintessential ’90s teen movie and an on-stage conversation with star Alicia Silverstone to the Buell Theatre on Saturday, July 26. It’s one of only two announced stops for the show thus far, and the movie will only be 30 once, so if you’re totally buggin’, grab some tickets ($72-$211) at axs.com. The all-ages show starts at 7 p.m. at 1350 Curtis St. in Denver. — John Wenzel

Frontier Days’ country stars

Saturday. Some of the best entertainers at this year’s Cheyenne Frontier Days are coming close to the end of the event that started July 21 in Wyoming, with a Friday, July 25, concert from Cody Johnson and Randy Hauser; and Megan Moroney and Waylon Wyatt finishing the concert series on Saturday, July 26.

Those follow huge shows from Luke Bryan, Brookes & Dunne, Travis Tritt and others, but there’s still plenty to see the annual cowboy gathering that concludes on Sunday, July 27, including competitive bronc riding, the “chuckwagon” experience and other Western foodways, a family-friendly carnival, site tours, dancing, an Old West museum, an Indian Village and, on Saturday, the big, 11 a.m.-noon airshow. Visit cfdrodeo.com/buy-tickets for tickets, directions and more. — John Wenzel

A truly Mile Long Table

Saturday. More than a decade ago, I sat down to eat at a table that stretched a mile and a half along a street in downtown Phoenix. The locally organized event was cute and communal, and the crowds had cleaned out several food trucks by the time I arrived.

At 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 26, a Mile Long Table will be set at downtown Denver’s Auraria Campus. If that wasn’t enough adherence to the British imperial unit of measurement for you, get this: It sits 5,280 people. Longer Tables, a nonprofit based in Denver, has put on more than a hundred feasts since launching in 2013 with the goal of forming bonds among neighbors and residents. Serendipity Catering will prepare a lunch using more than two tons of food inspired by the Auraria neighborhood. The minimum donation per person is $5.28. Reserve a spot at milelongtable.org. — Miguel Otárola

Of Montreal’s kaleidoscope

Saturday. Few indie rock bands are as surprising and genuinely experimental as Of Montreal, the melody-drenched project of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Barnes. With loose roots in Denver’s influential Elephant Six music collective (think Apples in Stereo and Dressy Bessy) and strong ones in Athens, Ga., the band’s weird, wonderous sound has evolved into a theatrical tour de force of psychedelic imagery, wordplay and sly humor.

Of Montreal returns with its beefed up stage show at the Gothic Theatre on Saturday, July 26, to perform its opus “Sunlandic Twins” as part of its 20th anniversary. Tickets are $28, ages 16-and-up. Show starts at 8 p.m. at 3263 S. Broadway in Englewood. axs.com — John Wenzel

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“This was an incredibly difficult decision to make, but we believe the time has come,” according to a statement credited to owners Randy Minten and Ken Maglasang. “Creating and running Denver Sweet has been a dream come true for us — and saying goodbye is heartbreaking.”

The bar at 776 Lincoln St., just south of downtown Denver, will be closing its doors for good on Sunday, July 27.

As one of the city’s only dedicated hangouts appealing to the subset of LGBTQ people who identify as bears — or larger, hirsute and more overtly masculine gay and bisexual men — the loss of Denver Sweet will further shave down the city’s LGBTQ cultural options.

That’s a shame, the owners said, especially as Denver Sweet, with its honey paw logo, was meant as a welcoming space not only for bears but all LGBTQ people. They built a strong and supportive community, but like many small businesses, they have faced existential obstacles, they said.

“Business has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, and over the last two years, we’ve seen a significant decline in traffic,” they continued. “Changing customer habits, tough economic conditions, and increased operational costs have made it increasingly difficult to sustain the business.”

One of the biggest injuries to Denver Sweet’s bottom line has been the rising cost of labor, owners said, “particularly from living wage laws in both Colorado and Denver. We’ve done everything we could to push forward — including personally funding operations — but the current climate simply isn’t viable for us anymore.”

Before Denver Sweet, the long, narrow bar hosted the Funky Buddha dance club. It’s known for its second-story rooftop space and DJ nights, but Denver Sweet also featured drag-queen variety shows, pool tables and darts, sports broadcasts on 20 TVs, upscale bar fare and boozy slushies, game and trivia nights, and brunches.

The bar won praise and awards from Colorado’s Out Front Magazine and, in April, the Best Queer Bar award from the Colorado DIVAs Awards.

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“Boulder is tough place to hold events because there’s so dang many of them that you really can’t move into the summer, and you can’t move into the fall either,” said festival co-founder Kathy Beeck, who runs the event along with sister Robin.

Before the world-renowned Sundance Film Festival makes its Boulder debut in 2027, the Beecks have decided to push their 22nd event back to make room for Sundance’s January takeover. BIFF, as the Beecks’ festival is called, has been programmed in March for the past decade or so, and before that took place in February.

Now the festival is shifting into what the Beecks consider one of the only quiet periods in Boulder’s public calendar — April 9 through April 12, 2026 — even if Kathy admitted there could very well be “two feet of snow on the ground” at that time. (The Front Range’s wettest months are usually mid-spring to early summer, according to Colorado State University.)

“A little bit of a shoulder never hurts for film festivals,” Kathy said.

The announcement arrived with a call for submissions for 2026’s BIFF. The festival exhibits new and recently premiered short films, features, documentaries, animation, adventure films, and student films in competition for a number of awards. In March, that included Emmy-winning comic and actor Jane Lynch receiving hers before 600 people at The Boulder Theater, fashion designer Kenneth Cole in attendance with a documentary about his work, Devo co-founder and film composer Mark Mothersbaugh, and others.

The 2025 BIFF, which took place March 13-16 this year, featured 68 films from 18 countries, “many special appearances,” according to Beeck, and a 20% increase in ticket sales, with 16 sold-out screenings. She declined to name specific revenue numbers, ticket sales or attendance, but said more than 25,000 attended in total. She also said that film submissions and films that programmers sought out for the fest increased 14% over last year.

That’s a sign that Sundance, at least at the moment, hasn’t dampened enthusiasm for what has long been the city’s biggest film festival. If anything, the attention from the Sundance announcement in March has drawn more film interest to town, Kathy said.

“(BIFF) is attracting more and more filmmakers who are feeling like it’s really the place to screen, so we’re excited about the next year,” she said. “This year was our best year for everything — like, wow! — and frankly, we’ve continued to build due to a lot of word of mouth from filmmakers who attend.

“We just hope that we can get the word out with the date change, and that people will continue to come to BIFF even if it’s a little bit later,” she added.

Find information and entry deadlines for festival submissions at biff1.com/filmmakers.

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Instead of taking place at the National Western Stockyards on Saturday, July 26, and Sunday, July 27, the outdoor music-and-tattoo event has been replaced with a pair of shows featuring some of the fest’s biggest names.

That includes The Dillinger Escape Plan, Converge, Sanguisugabogg, Khemmis and Suicide Cages at Mission Ballroom on July 26, and Power Trip, Gatecreeper, 200 Stab Wounds, Castle Rat and Nailed Shut MA at the Ogden Theatre July 27.

In an Instagram post, organizers blamed the cancelation on “unforeseen events” and specified that the festival was being scuttled “in its current form.” The “extreme music experience” was originally sold with now-absent headliners Lamb of God, Knocked Loose, In This Moment, The Garden, Body Count and others.

It was announced in March with perks such as a craft-beer tasting ticket, and in April added a tattoo experience presented by Ink’d and Amp’d. Tickets started at $75 per day or $125 for the weekend, with VIP weekend passes starting at $390 before fees.

Envisioned as a destination festival, Unhinged was also booked up against the final Underground Music Showcase on South Broadway, which will feature dozens of diverse, local and national indie acts playing multiple stages, July 25-27. While the audiences are largely different for each event, they no doubt overlapped as notable local bands such as Khemmis were also scheduled to play Unhinged.

All festival tickets will be automatically refunded at the original point of purchase, said California-based organizer Brew Ha Ha Productions and promoters AEG Presents Rocky Mountains.

Still happening, at least at the moment: Brew Ha Ha’s also-massive Punk in the Park outdoor festival Friday, July 18-Sunday, July 20, at the National Western Stockyards, with headliners Bad Religion, Descendents, Dropkick Murphys, Pennywise, Streetlight Manifesto and more.

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But which song best represents Colorado? We’ve got our favorites, ranging from local bands like The String Cheese Incident, The Railbenders, and Big Head Todd and the Monsters — who praise the state’s natural beauty and its laidback culture — to folk-rock and country legends such as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Townes Van Zandt.

Newer artists continue to praise the state too, with tracks from Colorado Springs pop-rock juggernaut OneRepublic, and country’s Florida Georgia Line.

Even though Colorado has two official songs, there are more to consider in advance of the state’s sesquisemiquincentennial (or 150th birthday) next year — which coincides with the United States’ own 250th birthday.

Maybe it’s time to add a third?

‘Rocky Mountain High’ by John Denver

The reigning champ of Colorado’s pop-music heritage is this acoustic anthem from late Aspen resident John Denver. Released in 1972, it was first criticized (and in a few cases, embraced) for its ostensibly sly reference to marijuana in the line, “Friends around the campfire, everybody’s high.” Denver denied that was the case.

When it was approved by Colorado lawmakers in 2007 — they even listened to a live performance of the song in the statehouse chamber — Rep. Debbie Stafford, R-Aurora, tried and failed to amend the resolution to “make it clear that the song refers to Colorado’s altitude and doesn’t encourage drug use.”

“If we don’t like ‘Where the Columbines Grow,’ the legislature should remove it and replace it,” said Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, who added at the time that he didn’t think the state should have two songs. (He also admitted he didn’t know the words to the original state song.)

Nevertheless, “Rocky Mountain High” soars on Denver’s silky voice and melodies, and has outlasted its folky, soft-rock trappings to be embraced by a majority of Coloradans, at least according to the legislature.

‘Where the Columbines Grow,’ Arthur J. Fynn

The composer of Colorado’s first state song was a New York-born author and academic who worked his way up from poverty before moving to Central City in 1889 to teach. But “Columbines” wasn’t his only creation, thanks to his poetry and nonfiction books. He was an early expert on Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest, and not exactly a musician, according to University of Colorado’s American Music Research Center.

The Colorado General Assembly adopted “Columbines” as the official state song in 1915, about four years after Fynn composed the melody on a ship returning from Europe, according to Denver Post report. “Like the lyrics of Colorado’s other state anthem … the second verse of Columbines contains an environmental lament,” wrote Rob Natelson, a retired law professor who penned an Independence Institute paper on the song.

The slowly cascading piano melody, and lyrics that include “where the snow peaks gleam in the moonlight,” recall gorgeous vistas and high-country air — “the pioneer land that we love.” Like “Rocky Mountain High,” it’s a stripped-down number that stands on its own thanks to sturdy melody and earnest sentiment.

More iconic songs about Colorado

‘A Mile High in Denver,’ Jimmy Buffett
One of the best-known songs about Colorado’s capital is this 1970 entry from an artist more closely associated with beach culture. “A Mile High in Denver” bounces on folkie acoustic strumming and Buffett’s talk-singing as he shares, “I’m about a mile high in Denver / Where the rock meets timberline / I’ve walked this ground from town to town / Tonight I’ll call it mine.”

‘Boulder to Birmingham,’ Emmylou Harris
How much did country heroine Harris love country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons, her one-time partner? “I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham / If I thought I could see your face,” she sings. The tune is from her 1975 album, “Pieces of the Sky,” which came out about a year after Parsons died, but it’s outlived the context to become a mellow heartbreak classic.

‘Get Out of Denver,’ Bob Seger
Predating Hank Williams Jr.’s rambling and cheeky “O.D.’ed in Denver,” which was released in 1979, is this rip-roaring track about evading police in the Mile High City. “Made it to Loveland Pass in under less than half an hour / Lord, it started drizzling and it turned into a thundershower,” sings Seger on this lead-off track from his 1974 album “Seven.” The guitar-ripper bears striking, if entirely self-aware, resemblance to Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” which is certainly not a bad thing.

‘Goodbye in Telluride,’ Dierks Bentley
A relatively new entry on this list, Bentley’s 2018 pop-country song joins a long queue of artists praising this gorgeous, tony mountain town known for its film and music events. “No, don’t take me that low when we’re up this high / Don’t you tell me goodbye in Telluride,” sings Bentley, a Telluride resident, over sunny guitar chords and clap-along beats. Tim McGraw, Neil Young, String Cheese Incident, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, and others have also lauded the town in song.

‘San Luis,’ Gregory Alan Isakov
More in the vein of Willie Nelson’s bittersweet “Denver” (from 1975’s “Red Headed Stranger”) than a dust-kicking country-folk banger, “San Luis” —  from the Boulder-based songwriter’s Grammy-nominated 2018 album “Evening Machines” — finds Isakov on a solo road trip through the state’s oldest continually occupied town. It’s hushed, melancholy and rending in all the best ways. “I’m a ghost of you, you’re a ghost of me / A bird’s-eye view of San Luis.”

‘Colorado Girl,’ Townes Van Zandt
Like John Prine and other singer-songwriters who shot out of the late 1960s and early ’70s, folk legend Van Zandt could turn on an emotional dime, with devastating melodies and lyrics that could also be strangely uplifting. The 1969 track “Colorado Girl,” off his self-titled third album, is as plain as can be — just Van Zandt’s vulnerable voice and light, finger-picked guitar — but he covers lots of ground as he fêtes his Colorado girl and laments her absence. “The promise in her smile shames the mountains tall / She can bring the sun to shining / Tell the rain to fall.”

‘Colorado,’ by The Flying Burrito Brothers
These country-rock pioneers wrote this 1971 stunner that “doesn’t just mention Colorado but has some real feeling about Colorado,” as a reader said in an email. He was right: the pedal steel, low-key rhythm section and high, plaintive vocals assert the band as its own entity — minus the towering Gram Parsons. It speaks of heartache and homesickness that reaches a natural conclusion with “Colorado, I wanna come home.”

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