Music to my eyes

The crowd of 6,000 begins to assemble for the quite incredible Robert Plan and Allison Krauss at Kit Carson Park. Last year it was Sting. Even world famous musicians want to play in tiny Taos. I just read that Plant is worth $200 million and still rocks his brains out.

 

In a more intimate setting 14 players gather every Wednesday on the patio of the Taos Café for a blue grass jamboree. In winter they jam at the Taos Ale House.

Actor and singer Chris Brochu and an unnamed local sideman play a bluesy set at the first ever Taos Roundup. If you look closely you'll see the the musician on your right is the same hefty guy with his back to you in the image above this one.

Taos is known as an art town, an art colony for that matter. The legend of Taos began with a broken wagon wheel north of town in 1898, took flight with the Taos Society of Artists in the early 20^th Century and has lured a who’s who of American and European artists for more than a hundred years.

Hats and hair at the Taos Roundup. Portland has nothing on us. We've got hipsters, too.

I'm guessing five years old.

It was an all ages affair. The falling sun made this striking lass glow.

And speaking of hats, hair and hipsters, that dude was muy photogenic. 

But Taos is an artist’s town in a broader sense. It has a literary scene, a chamber music group, some mighty fine bebop, a whole lot of Americana, a picante spike of Norteño, and a potent dose of Rock and Roll. Oh, and an opera society, an opera school and SOMOS, The Society of the Muse, with its annual Writer’s Conference. Not too shabby for a remote town of 6,000 in sprawling county of 35,000 oddballs that occupies 2,203 square miles of high desert and mountains. There aren’t many of us, but we punch above our weight.

What started as a post about the music by local musicians and major players like Robert Plant and Allison Krause has tilted toward the audiences. The last four shots occupy a subset of street photography it seems to me. 

I contend that you can hear live music every night of the week in Taos. To quote Bill Maher, "I don't know if it's true. I just know that I'm right."