Music of the Mountains: Where to be and what to see -- Ben Knighten of The Lofty Pines

Send us Fan MailAs a kid, Ben Knighten took piano lessons for a few years, which he considers his first true musical experience. In middle school, he started playing drums, and in high school, he got an acoustic guitar, learning songs on it through high school and college. After his first experimentations with songwriting, he put more time and energy into developing his songwriting and performance skills at open mics and coffee shop gigs. After a while, he realized he wanted to collaborate musically with others and started learning the mandolin, a more collaborative instrument, in response.Knighten and fellow musician Darren Thornberry have been connected for over a decade now. Between 2010 and 2015, Thornberry, who has also played in many other bands in the past (including heavier bands) and written songs for most of his life, reviewed local musicians through Stubborn Sounds. Knighten reached out as a musician, and the two started playing together as a duo and have become close friends. Around two years ago, they put out a Craigslist ad for a string player to round out their sound. Carey Lewis, who has been a violin player from a very young age and went to college for violin performance, responded to the call. He had already planned to move to Colorado from Texas, so the timing was perfect. With the sound rounded out and the trio cemented, The Lofty Pines was born.Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record Better off Dead here. Support the showThank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected] Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected] Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected] inquiries: [email protected] to our website for all of the latest news. Subscribe to The Mountain-Ear in print and online.Submit local events to promote them in the paper and on our website.Find us on Facebook @mtnear and Instagram @mtn.earListen and watch on YouTube today.Share this podcast by scrolling to the bottom of our website home page or by heading to our main hub on Buzzsprout.Thank you for listening!