For Brandi Carlile, being a musician isn’t about trying to be cool or popular, and making records isn’t an easy way for her to achieve massive fame and fortune without putting significant effort into her craft. For her, music goes much deeper than any of those things.

At 3 feet, 6 inches tall, Kalyn Heffernan fronts Denver hip-hop group Wheelchair Sports Camp from her pimped-out wheelchair. That's just how she rolls.

It was that kind of afternoon, so we caution Jon Gray, trumpeter/vocalist for the local jazz septet Supercollider, that we were going to start our interview in the middle. “Groovy. I’m all about it,” he counters. Jazz bands. Seems like, over the course of jazz music’s more-or-less 100-year history, the music has alternately promoted bands as bands, then soloists fronting bands, then bands again … then soloists again.

Kelly pulled the plug on The Samples, the storied, Boulder-founded, pop-reggae franchise, last year, at least as a full-time touring outfit. Sheer exhaustion and some bad business experiences had taken their toll, and Kelly was ready to call it a day.

One thing fans can count on with the current Primus tour (with original drummer Jay Lane on board and a new CD on the way) is it won’t be a nostalgia trip.

Zach DePue wants to break down walls. Not everyone can accomplish that with a violin, but DePue is a member of Time for Three. Known as a “classically trained garage band,” the trio of two violins and bass (DePue, Nicolas Kendall and Ranaan Meyer) has already earned a reputation for breaking barriers.

When faced with the bleak prospect of a grueling tour in support of her 2009 album, Wilson St., Austin, Texas, singer-songwriter Charlie Faye had an idea. Instead of 100 shows in 200 days, why not experiment? How about 10 one-month residencies in 10 towns across America?

Proving the old adage that patience pays off, the Frazier brothers — Keith and Phil — are finally breaking through into the national scene after plying their trade for 28 years. With their heavy, funky brand of New Orleans brass, the Rebirth Brass Band are now playing theaters and finding more commercial and critical attention than ever with the emergence of David Simon’s latest HBO series, Treme.

Kelly Crisp talks of Loud Planes Fly Low, the recently released CD she made with her musical partner in The Rosebuds, Ivan Howard, as if it’s the duo’s first album all over again. “It made us feel new, like we had pressed reset,” she says.

Whether Eric Earley is writing about it or talking about it, any discussion of the music he makes for Blitzen Trapper presents an uneasy exercise. He states an answer then verbally erases it — a songwriter uncertain of how to objectively speak of his craft. Earley completely inhabits his role as an artist, which makes it difficult to get him to look from the outside in.