Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The only thing better than good live music outdoors is free good live music in the outdoors.

Fortunately for people in Steamboat Springs, there is a lot of free music to choose from.

For the past eight years, Slopeside Bar and Grill has contributed to the free music scene over the summer in Steamboat.

Slopeside announced its free concert schedule this week, and the promoter hopes it offers a little diversity.

"Obviously, we want to keep it different from year to year, but this year we wanted the music to be a little bit more round," Wake the Dead Music promoter Casey Phillips said.

As many know, the Sunday free music at Slopeside started with only reggae. When Wake the Dead took over a few years ago, it started booking a variety of acts. However, it kept that idea nearly every Sunday over the summer.

This year, Phillips said he was trying to get a different genre of music each night, such as bluegrass, jazz, rock 'n' roll and funk.

Shows start with reggae artist Djate with Agua Dulce (Afro-Cuban Latin Funk) opening this Sunday.

The next two shows also are worth mentioning. Those are Lettuce on July 14 and The Codetalkers featuring Colonel Bruce Hampton on July 21.

Lettuce is a conglomerate jazz group with members of John Scofield's band and Soulive, which should result in some great sounds.

Colonel Bruce Hampton, who plays southern rock and bluegrass music with his band The Codetalkers, is credited as being the grandfather of the southern music that produced Widespread Panic.