Kalyn Heffernan (Denver, Colorado)
Combining humor, playfulness, radical political perspectives, compassion, and undeniable musical chops, Wheelchair Sports Camp is Denver’s biggest smallest band. Fronted by the wheelchair-using, rap-heavy, beat-making, freedom-fighting producer, educator, and foul-mouthed rebel rouser Kalyn, the band is a combination of live and electronic instruments with a more noisy, jazzy, and experimental combination for the traditional hip hop group. Raised by the DIY (Do It Yourself) spirit of experimental independence, the band has stretched itself into theatre, performance art, public television, politics, prison tours, permanent installations, and more to come. Kalyn led Denver’s first disabled and queer artist campaign for the mayor’s seat in 2019. The tiny, happy mayor has long been advocating for herself and other marginalized communities through music, direct action, education, and art. Commonly known for fighting for access to human rights and calling out those in power who protect capital interests over the future, Kalyn makes herself heard with a very loud, distinct, and high-pitched sense of humor. The band unknowingly started the summer of 1997, when Kalyn moved back from California to her hometown. The band tours the States and beyond from their home in Denver.
Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/14/2020.

Singer Mollie O’Brien and guitarist Rich Moore have steadfastly made it their mission to unlock the secrets of the diverse array of styles that comprise the canon of American roots music. Geniuses at interpretation and never sacrificing the essence of the songs they tackle, they are at home with their musical selves. They are unafraid of risk taking, authoritative in their performance, and at the very top of their game. And to top it all off, they’re fun. Rich, while known to produce some of the funniest onstage running commentary, is also a powerhouse guitar player who can keep up with O’Brien’s twists and turns from blues to traditional folk to jazz to rock and roll. He creates a band with just his guitar and, as a result, theirs is an equal partnership that showcases their talent for unlocking the secrets to a diverse array of songs in authoritative yet very fun and unusual arrangements.
Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/06/2020.

Mollie O’Brien and her husband, guitarist Rich Moore, have for nearly forty years quietly made it their mission to find, mine, and reinvent other artists’ songs. They are geniuses at the craft of interpretation in the way that great singers since the beginning of popular American music have made the songs of their era their own. As songwriters, they add their own tunes to the canon of American roots music they inhabit and show us they’re completely at home with their musical selves. A Grammy winner, Mollie has long been known as a singer who doesn’t recognize a lot of musical boundaries, and audiences love her fluid ability to make herself at home in any genre while never sacrificing the essence of the song she tackles. She is a singer at the very top of her game who is not afraid to take risks both vocally and in the material she chooses.
Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/06/2020.

Carla Sciaky is a multi-instrumentalist and folk singer-songwriter based in Lakewood, Colorado. As a soloist, she toured the US and Europe throughout the 1980s and 90s, recording first on her own Propinquity Records and later on Green Linnet and Alacazam Records. Her songwriting won her awards and/or recognition in such arenas as the Kerrville New Song Competition, the Louisville (Kentucky) songwriting competition, the Colorado Arts and Humanities Fellowship for Composition, the Billboard Songwriting Competition, and the Colorado, Utah, and Kansas Artist in Residence programs. As a member of the long-standing infamous Denver-area group the Mother Folkers, Carla was recently inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, and her solo Zoom series, Concept Concerts, has soothed fans worldwide during the sheltering time of COVID. In the classical/early music world, Carla performs on baroque violin with Sémplice, a Denver quartet specializing in baroque music on period/replica instruments, as well as being a member of the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado since their first season. Carla is also active in the holistic and energy healing world, helping people find greater well-being through her practice Doorway to Healing, and is working on two book projects.
Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/12/2020.