FoCoMX 2025: Standout Performances, Discoveries and Memorable Musical Moments

"The streets are alive with the sounds of local music ..."  I was so excited to attend and write about this event for the second year in a row. Life is good in FoCo -- literally dancing in the streets

Every April, the streets of Old Town Fort Collins are filled with the sounds of live music. FoCoMX took center stage once again April 18-19, amidst cold, snowy weather that earned the event the nickname SnoCoMX. Its official nickname is "America's biggest little music festival," and this year's edition featured 400 acts representing every imaginable genre performing at thirty-plus venues across town.

My wife and I joined the annual celebration for the second year in a row, starting on the crowded, slightly snowy patio of Equinox Brewing, where singer-songwriter Michael Kirkpatrick kicked off the festivities with a solo set. The musician whose voice was once described as "an anthropomorphic brontosaurus that has popped out of a children's book to teach kids about the danger of playing with matches" set a warm, welcoming tone with folksy narratives about life, love, community and spirit.

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Thoreauvian Punk Philosophy

Henry Thoreau is widely cited as an inspiration and patron saint by many diverse groups and varied ways of thinking. Far from simply an environmentalist or an abolitionist or an activist, Thoreau is a significant American philosopher. And the scope of my ongoing work "The Punk on Walden Pond" is specifically about viewing Thoreau and punk as belief systems. They offer distinct but common thoughts on "how to live."

The connection runs through themes of American history, specifically in writing and literature. For, Thoreau's essays, Whitman's poems, and Huck's narrative all can be considered precursors to punk philosophy. As punk scholar and curator of the St. Louis Punk Archive has noted, "It's a matter of intent," as opposed to rigid guidelines about the sound of the music or the style of clothing or the demeanor of the audience.

One need only look to the earliest underpinnings of punk culture in the late 1970s on the Lower East Side and a music venue/bar called CBGB's. With the Ramones, Talking Heads, Television, Patti Smith, and Blondie all playing at the same time, in the same venue, among the same scene, you have to see punk rock, especially American punk, as diverse and absolutely inclusive, and not just about a three-chord downstroke.

Kick off the Summer Music Season at FoCoMX in Fort Collins, Colorado

I was so excited to write this preview for FoCoMX, the "biggest little music festival in the country."

As the weather warms in Colorado, we can't help but think of music festivals. One of the largest and earliest festivals to kick off the season happens in downtown Fort Collins each April with FoCoMX, or the Fort Collins Music Experiment, which was created by the Fort Collins Musicians Association in 2008. Taking place across Old Town from Friday, April 18, to Saturday, April 19, this event features more than 400 bands at thirty-plus venues, and we have the lowdown on everything you need to "FoCoMX in style."

The festival kicks off at 3 p.m. on Friday, April 18, on the patio of Equinox Brewing with a solo set from the rich baritone voice of renowned Colorado singer-songwriter Michael Kirkpatrick, FoCoMA's 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award honoree. After a brief proclamation from the mayor's office acknowledging April as Music Appreciation Month, Kirkpatrick will croon his soulfully whimsical folk narratives, and the festivities are off and running.

The key to a successful downtown music festival is a collaborative relationship with the community and businesses that support a nearly all-volunteer effort to spotlight Colorado music. "FoCoMX has become the quintessential Fort Collins weekend," says Karla Baise of Odell Brewing, a longtime festival sponsor. "The vibe runs high from the center of the floor at Washington's, our largest venue, to the sidewalks as people stop to hug each other, crossing paths on their way to see bands and friends play across town."

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How Fort Collins Music Association Built a Thriving Scene

In my latest piece for Westword Magazine, I explore a unique music organization which cultivates the thriving indie music scene in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Fort Collins is a hotbed for live music with a diverse collection of venues that host national touring acts and local bands. And the key to FoCo's thriving music scene is a unique grassroots music nonprofit that feeds and cultivates the area's love of music: the Fort Collins Musicians Association, or FoCoMA.
The organization officially launched in 2007. It was simply a means of “the right people at the right time,” according to co-founding member and board president Greta Cornett, who is considered the driving force, glue and spirit of FoCoMA. Cornett, a CSU graduate, has been heavily embedded in Fort Collins local music scene since the mid-90s, playing trumpet in the band 12 Cents for Marvin and volunteering as a host of KRFC's Live at Lunch show.

In the early 2000s, numerous Fort Collins music venues had closed for a variety of reasons, and local musicians were struggling for places to play. Many bands were displaced, with national acts often bumping them from the few spots at bars and theaters.

So Cornett, Peggy Lyle, Dennis Bigalow and numerous other local musicians began meeting to discuss how to support each other and the music community. Lyle, who is now FoCoMA’s executive director, was working as the event director for the Fort Collins Downtown Business Association. Bigalow, another co-founder and current board secretary, was the music director at Fort Collins indie radio station KRFC, which is where he met Cornett.

The musicians would have Sunday afternoon hangs at Route 34, a local bar and bike shop founded by two CSU grads. What began as simple conversations sharing knowledge about the industry eventually became more formal education panels, professional development programs that the association continues to this day. At Cornett’s suggestion, the spot added live music to its offerings, becoming a new venue for musicians to gather. Those Sunday afternoons discussing goals for FoCoMA "opened our eyes to so many different scenes,” Cornett reflects. “We have great music up here, but no one knew about it."

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