Music of the Mountains: Where to be and what to see -- Laurie Dameron

Music has been an important part of Laurie Dameron’s life since childhood. Her mom started teaching her how to sing as a toddler, even teaching her and her sister three-part harmonies to sing on car trips.She started piano lessons around the age of four, but as a child, she didn’t like being told what to do. Her mother encouraged her to try various endeavors, including ballet, tap dancing, acting, and swimming. However, none of them truly stuck with her.When Dameron was around seven years old, her mother started taking guitar lessons. As a form of rebellion, Dameron would sneak into her mother’s room and teach herself how to play the guitar. From there, she completely fell in love with performing.She played her first gig at a brewery in Pearl Street Mall with two friends from junior high and high school, brothers Dave and Drew Emmitt, with the latter later becoming one of the “Big Three” members of Leftover Salmon.Dameron went to college at Adams State University in Alamosa, and for her last two years there, she ran the open mic at the school. She posted flyers, ran marketing, and made sure to advertise the event during her time as a DJ for the local radio station KASF-FM.During her time at Adams State, she toured with ASC Big Band Jazz Ensemble. As part of that group, she performed twice in the Greeley Jazz Festival, where her playing impressed virtuoso jazz guitar player Johnny Smith. She briefly received free guitar lessons from Smith at his music store in Colorado Springs, but ultimately moved to Summit County in 1983.To learn more about Laurie Dameron's life and career (as well as her connection to the host of this podcast), then be sure to tune in to this episode of Music of the Mountains!Call it A Day: https://youtu.be/KQRdFLbDy1MOur 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!