Humbird singing in the dark of day | Arts and entertainment

Ed Baney kicked off the Roaring Fork Sessions in February 2020 with a concert by folk/bluegrass/Americana artist Lindsay Lou at Harris Concert Hall. She embodied the essence of what Baney sought to achieve when he sought to create a concert series that would highlight the best music from the aforementioned genres and turn Harris Concert Hall into “a listening room.”

“Harris Concert Hall [on the Aspen Meadows Campus] It’s a great little room to listen to music and it’s very underused. I just envisioned it as a great place to host a concert series with an American feel,” Baney said.

Since that first show with Lou, Roaring Fork Sessions has featured the music of The Watkins Family Hour, Sarah Jarosz, Watchhouse, Allison Russell, Sierra Hull, and most recently, Bonnie Light Horseman.

Baney is developing a track record of presenting artists on the verge of success. Russell won a Grammy last year and many music insiders predict that Bonnie Light Horseman will at least be nominated for a Grammy this year and very likely win it.

This Sunday, Baney will venture outside of Harris Concert Hall for a benefit concert at Mad Dog Ranch and Studios with folk/Americana artist Siri Undlin, aka Humbird.

“After a couple of shows, I realized that [Mad Dog Ranch co-partner] Julie Garside was going to all the shows and I became interested in what she is doing at Mad Dog Ranch and Studios and was very impressed with the Inspire Aspen Foundation and Aspen Rocks, which provide opportunities for young people to play music in front of audiences and learn About the recording studio, I wanted to do a charity event in the studio itself. It is a magical place that most people don’t know exists. “It has an incredible history, as it was owned by Jimmy Buffet and Glen Frey.”

Tickets for the show are $58 and are available at aspenshowtix.com. The show begins at 2 p.m. Inspire Aspen participants Tristan Trincado and Gracie Feinberg will perform before Humbird begins at 3 p.m. The show will end at 5 p.m.

Humbird was born Siri Undlin in Edina, Minnesota. He grew up playing ice hockey and when he was in a youth program he teamed up with a set of triplets on his team and began playing Celtic music. She was also influenced by the music she heard in her family’s Lutheran church.

Alanis Morisette, Avril Lavigne and Michelle Branch were all on the radio and Humbird drew from a wide range of musical influences that are evident in their music today.

“My influences are definitely all over the place,” Humbird said in an interview with the Aspen Daily News. “But it is connected by melody and experimentation. Our music very much combines all of those things. We hint at Lutheran melodies and you’ll hear Irish influences and that Alanis Morisette confessional pop. We try to just spin it in an interesting way that makes it a pretty unique show. And for us it’s also fun, because every night is different.”

His band includes Pat Keen on bass and Nate LeBrun on drums. Undlin took the name Humbird from a small Nebraska town (population 67) he met while playing with another band. He thought he would use the name for a side project and it stuck.

They are starting to appear at many different types of festivals and are gaining a following, as evidenced by the fact that nearly 200,000 people tune in on Spotify each month. He recently released his third album, “Right On,” and a few weeks ago he released two Billy Joel covers. Sunday’s show, with its unique location, could end up being a “I saw-hummingbird-when” moment.

“I think music is part of our human heritage,” Humbird said. “I think when it happens and there is magic in the room, we all benefit immensely. You can trust that music has this power that has ripple effects you can’t even imagine.

“We invite people to participate and we offer it to them so they can make it their own and get what they need from it. It’s like a choose your own adventure situation.”