Colorado Soul Stories

Jennifer Dempsey came to live in Salida, Colorado about 20 years ago. After ruminating about her future, she ended up doing what she does best: “circusing.” Her story is a study in how our childhood can influence our adult journey.

Jennifer founded the Salida Circus in 2007. My first encounter with this charming organization came about 10 years ago, while watching the 4th of July parade travel down the main street of Sa...

Mama Jill sat down with New York Times bestselling author and longtime Colorado resident, Cynthia Swanson, whose novels are known for their thought-provoking storytelling. Readers may already know Cynthia from her acclaimed debut, The Bookseller, her follow-up suspense novel, Anyone But Her and now her latest work, debuting May 21st, a collection of short stories showcasing the struggles of women through history, This Isn’t N...

If you have lived in Colorado for a long time it’s not a new story; a handful of starving artists discover an untapped, affordable and lovely place to set down roots. But as they settle and create, they attract people and suddenly it’s not an undiscovered place anymore and it’s also no longer affordable – this has been our cycle of gentrification.

Salida, Colorado is still a pretty small town. A few decades ...

RAW, UNEDITED, INTENSE conversation with the both rough and refined, Joe Firstman.

Mama Jill is in Baja Mexico for the Baja Wondergrass music festival organized by COLORADO-based Bonfire Entertainment.

She and her tribe enjoyed listening to the powerful and  eclectic band, Cordovas at opening night at Polvora, surrounded by dark skies, sparkly stars and immense cacti.

The next morning Mama Jill ran into Joe Firstman, frontman ...

John King is Colorado anthropomorphized. He’s got grit. He relishes nature; from its deep blue skies to its blinding blizzards and all the various contours of its terrain. This is reflected in his spectacular kinetic sculptures that tell the story of his outdoor experiences.

He arrived here fresh out of college from the Midwest, the Colorado Rockies calling loudly to his soul. In 1978, he and his outdoor-loving pals planned t...

 Napoleonic treasures, Masonic symbolism, famous guests, including the prize steers from the annual National Western Stock Show and evidence of visitors from the beyond...this and more are held as dear historic and ongoing stories at this triangular and legendary structure, situated at 17th and Tremont in downtown Denver.

As a kid, I thought The Brown Palace got its name from the color of the reddish-brown sandstone it was construc...

His voice is the authentic, trusted storyteller of Colorado. Whether it be his monthly check-ins with our governor, showcasing the best barbeque place in a town you've never heard of or locating and celebrating the lowest elevation point in our state, just to juxtapose it with the highest point, Ryan Warner interviews contain the whimsical people and places from all over Colorado and he delivers these stories from the heart an...

 Welcome back to my conversation with Chandler Romeo and Reed Weimer. In addition to their recent project with the Wonder Tower in Genoa, Colorado, they have been longtime participants and supporters of Denver's local art scene beginning back when there kind of wasn't one yet, in the 1980s.

We discuss their meet cute as students at Colorado State University and the fact that Reed's photography and Chandler's ceramics both evoke the...

Chandler Romeo and Reed Weimer have been affectionately labeled as the Beatnik Barbie and Ken of Denver's Art Scene. Indeed they helped elevate local arts in Denver during a time when there were far less opportunities for creatives. They have taken this legacy to new heights, literally! 

Collaborating with other long-time Denverites, they purchased the quirky 100 year old World's Wonder View Tower out on the eastern plains of ...

This is a treat! All of the best wisdom from the collection of the 2025 Colorado Soul Stories interviews. Whether you have listened to all the episodes or not, this is a wonderful summary of all the positive insights provided by the entrepreneurs, musicians, innovators and community builders that are proudly Colorado based!

Hear how legendary Denver coffee house Muddy's provided much needed culture and refuge for folks in the 1970s...

Happy Holidays! This episode contains listener-submitted Colorado-specific winter and holiday stories. Contained in this 17 minute episode are festive recounting of childhood experiences during "snow days," including the Blizzard of '82. Additionally three professional writers and, some recent guests from past podcasts, provide off-beat and methodical tales of long and dark winter nights and holidays bereft of loved ones.

Thank you...

Join the conversation as Mama Jill sits down with Colorado's most recent poets laureate and their anthology creator and organizer, dynamic social entrepreneur, Turner Wyatt.  Wyatt conceived of this publication, Begin Where You Are, The Colorado Poets Laureate Anthology - the first of its kind! 

Turner explains how this idea came to him and how, through his knack for socially responsible entrepreneurship, put the publicat...

In this inspiring episode of Colorado Soul Stories, Mama Jill travels to the high mountain ridge of Poncha Pass to sit down with her longtime friend and visionary builder, Chris White, the creator behind Yurts at Poncha Pass and a self-built, sustainable Earthship home.

What begins as a conversation about off-grid housing opens into a deep exploration of community, resilience, affordable living, and reclaiming personal agency in a ...

In this, a lost episode, with Animal and Nature Intuitive Ana Maria Vasquez, your Colorado Soul Stories Podcast host, Mama Jill sat down with her at a radio station in Salida, Colorado. Unfortunately the first half of this recording was lost to technical difficulties. We are resurrecting this second part, which survived, and dives deeper into Ana Maria’s methods for activating our relationships with nature to create balance i...

Andy Carlson is one of those happy people whose positivity is contagious. He is a proud Northsider who truly loves and cares for his community. He shares this joy through his music. His love of the jam circle and the old-timey method of using one microphone with various musicians taking turns inspired him to found the "dad-grass" band, The Highland Ramblers. Their fun version of bluegrass and well-composed originals made them a sta...

Do you know about the preferred location for the new Bronco stadium? It has been proposed at Burnham Yards, off of 8th Ave. and I-25 and just west of the Santa Fe Arts District. And did you know that this plot of land actually holds some very important and unique pieces of Denver history? Tune into this episode to hear the thoughtful conversation with the CEO of Historic Denver, John Deffenbaugh.

John has an infectious passion for ...

Her name might not be familiar to you, but it should be. Jane Parnell is a mountaineer, writer and environmental activist. Inspired by family trips to the Colorado mountains every summer as a kid, Parnell could see her home-state of Kansas from Long's Peak back in the 1970's. Setting roots here in 1968 as one of the few women students at Colorado College, she lived, fittingly on the edge of a mountain in an historic house in Manito...

Join Mama Jill and her friends at the Sunnyside Music Festival, recorded Sept. 13, 2025. Bear with the Mama as she battles portable mics in the wind with the background noise of the festival. Despite that challenge, these were live-on-the-spot interviews, very organic and real! First off is an interview with the proprietors of West Side Books from North Denver near 32nd and Lowell. They are one of our long-standing authentic, indep...

She's unearthing sweaters, observing the warm hues of the turning leaves and contemplating the transformational tendencies of this season, just days after, yet another, school shooting in Colorado.

Your host Mama Jill reflects on autumn with bittersweet memories. She reiterates her "mission" for the podcast, to share the joyful soul of Colorado through the unique perspectives of its special people and places. Yet she shares there i...