What's The Reason For This Podcast

🎶🔥 Banshee Tree: Evolution, Experimentation & the Road to a New Album 🔥🎶
This week in the dungeon, the crew welcomes Colorado’s genre-bending powerhouse Banshee Tree for a wild and insightful conversation about the band’s evolution, their upcoming album, and the strange, beautiful road that got them here. 🌲✨
From the early days playing weekly gigs under the Boulderado Hotel—with unlimited bar tabs and pheasant dinners—to touring the country and carving out a sound that refuses to sit inside any single genre, Banshee Tree shares the story behind more than a decade of musical experimentation.
What started as a swing-inspired project slowly morphed into something entirely its own: a high-energy fusion of electro-swing, jam improvisation, Balkan rhythms, jazz, and psychedelic dance grooves. With each lineup change and musical influence, the band leaned further into the idea that their strength comes from giving every member space for their unique voice to shape the sound. 🎷🎹🥁
In this episode we dive into:
✨ The early Colorado scene that helped launch the band 🎶 How weekly gigs became the band’s experimentation laboratory 🚐 Life on the road—from Key West to the Pacific Northwest 🎷 The addition of sax, synth, and new sonic textures 💿 The long, meticulous process of crafting their upcoming album 🎤 Why their current sound finally captures the true spirit of the band
The new record represents years of growth, lineup changes, studio experimentation, and relentless touring. After layering hundreds of tracks, refining arrangements, and reshaping songs along the way, the band is finally ready to share a project that reflects who Banshee Tree truly is today. 🌌
And the celebration is just getting started.
🎉 The official album release show is happening March 27th at the Fox Theatre in Boulder, where fans can get their hands on the physical vinyl before the digital release later in April.
If you love discovering bands that push boundaries, blur genres, and build something completely their own… this is an episode you don’t want to miss.
🎧 Tune in now and get ready to dive into the world of Banshee Tree.

🎧 This week on What’s the Reason for This?, Kodi hangs in the dungeon with none other than Cotter Ellis of Goose — and this one goes deep. 🥁🔥
From Vermont heady snowboard spots 🏂🌲 to driving 20 minute jam peaks in front of thousands, Cotter opens up about the journey, the grind, the growth, and the surreal full circle moments that brought him from Swimmer to the Goose drum throne.
They dive into:
🥁 The drummers who shaped him. Bonham swagger, Neil Peart spectacle, and the caveman genius of Jay Lane
🎶 What it actually feels like to step into Goose. Milwaukee as the fearless foursome, The Cap shows, and finding chemistry fast
🌊 The art of building a jam. How peaks happen, how instinct takes over, and why preparation lets you stop thinking and just go
🐺 Why songs like Atlas Dogs unlocked a new rhythmic lane with those tribal 12/8 grooves
🎿 Colorado love. Ski tours, jam band meccas, and why Boise randomly rips
But this episode is not just about drums. It is about improvised music as a reflection of life itself. The gray areas. The tension. The light and the dark. The arc of a show that makes you laugh, cry, and lose your mind in the same set. 🎢✨
Cotter also gets real about:
💭 Goose hate, tribal fandoms, and staying open to constructive criticism
🤝 Community over competition and why music scenes should be melting pots instead of echo chambers
🔥 Launching Cotter and Friends and bringing Swimmer homies, Kyle Hollingsworth, Andy Hall, Torrin Daniels, and more together for genre bending chaos
At its core, this episode is about passion. The kind that makes you dig deeper behind the kit, trust the moment, and chase the unknown every single night.
🎧 Stream it now wherever you get your podcasts. It is thoughtful, funny, introspective, and a reminder that the best jams and the best lives happen when you stop overthinking and dive in. 🌊💥

🎧 This week on What’s the Reason for This?, Kodi sits down with Christopher Henry (Ol’ Clunky) and bluegrass phenom Wyatt Ellis to celebrate something truly special, the release of Wyatt’s brand-new recording of “West Dakota Rose”… and the official music video dropping on YouTube the very same day this episode airs. 🌹🎻🔥 Huge shout out to Joseph Cash (Yes, that’s Johnny’s grandson) of Weeping Willow Productions in producing this amazing video.

🎥🐎🧭🥀Check it out here: ⁠https://youtu.be/mUHbBEedWag⁠

For years, West Dakota Rose has taken on a life of its own, from Billy Strings performing it in Asheville three years running, to festival fields and jam circles across the country. But now, the song comes full circle: teacher and student, mentor and protégé, Jedi master and Padawan, stepping into the studio together to create a definitive new rendition. 🎶✨

This episode dives into: 🌹 The origin story behind West Dakota Rose love, loss, horses, and harmonic shifts between dark and light 🎻 Wyatt’s evolution from tab-reading beginner to ear-trained improviser steeped in Monroe’s vocabulary 🔥 Recording the track live as a band twin fiddles, Kyle Tuttle on banjo, and capturing the energy in the room 🏡 Filming the official music video at Bill Monroe’s old home place blasting the tune through the same walls where bluegrass history was born 🧭 The layered artwork and symbolism, horseshoes, compass roses, and community tributes woven into the visualizer and merch

The conversation also honors the late Jack Demurjian of Red Daisy Sporting Club ☄️ whose vision and spirit helped inspire new West Dakota Rose artwork that ties together horse medicine, compass imagery, and the deeper mythology behind the tune. 🤍

At its core, this episode is about legacy how songs grow beyond their writers, how mentorship becomes collaboration, and how bluegrass remains a living language passed down by ear, by heart, and by community.
🎥 The official “West Dakota Rose” music video is live now on Wyatt Ellis’ YouTube channel.

Special shoutout to Hayden Karnes of @DefinitelyNotLosAngeles 🎨✨ for creating the stunning album artwork, a piece that visually captures the spirit of the song with western mythology, movement, and meaning woven into every detail. Check out his artwork in a new line of WDR merch available at ⁠WyattEllis.com⁠ 🌹
🎧 The single and visualizer are streaming everywhere.
This isn’t just a song release. It’s a full-circle moment.

🎧 This week on What’s the Reason for This?, Kodi and Shay welcome the chaotic, brilliant, cello-slinging string sorcerers of High Horse into the dungeon and things go from bluegrass to banjo science to Narcan policy to glizzy marketing in about 12 minutes flat. 🪕🔥😂

Fresh off a high-energy Dungeon Session (yes, there was a cannon… no, they weren’t prepared), High Horse sits down to unpack how a band of Boston “massholes” with Colorado ties came together in grad school, built something wildly genre-bending, and decided to bet on themselves, no label safety net, no handbook, just vibes and unpaid labor. 📚➡️🚐➡️🎶

High Horse dives into: 🎻 Why adding a strap to a cello changes everything 🪕 The lineage from Rashad Eggleston to modern percussive string chaos 🎸 Growing up around the jam-band scene in Connecticut and old-school bluegrass traditions 🏆 Winning RockyGrass competitions (yes, multiple instruments… because of course) 🎨 Designing their own posters, merch, and album art in-house 📱 The brutal reality of being your own label, booking agent, content team, and social media department 💸 Paying to tour while building an audience in new markets like Colorado 🤝 Why the merch table conversations and community moments make the grind worth it

The band also opens up about how technology has shifted the music industry giving artists more control while demanding more labor than ever before. Being in a band today means rehearsing, writing, touring, filming, editing, booking, marketing, and somehow still finding time to actually practice. 🎥📧📈
And through all of it? Personality. Chaos. Humor. Deep musicianship. And a shared commitment to making music that doesn’t neatly fit a box. High Horse isn’t trying to replicate a genre they’re stitching together bluegrass roots, classical training, jam energy, and experimental textures into something that only makes sense once you see it live. ⚡🎶
The episode wraps with details on their Colorado run including Chautauqua Community House (with Joy Adams & Gus Trisch), New Terrain Brewing, Society Hall in Alamosa, Cottonwood Cottage in Greeley, and Avogadro’s Number with Silas Herman. Plus: a new EP Swim Before You Fly and a live record on the way. 🚐🏔️💿

At its core, this episode is about building something from scratch, embracing the chaos, and figuring out how to survive and thrive in the attention economy without losing the soul of the music.
🎧 Listen now wherever you get podcasts. And if you’re in Colorado this week go see High Horse live. Trust us.

🎧 This week on What’s the Reason for This?, Kodi sits down in the dungeon with Torrin Daniels of The Kitchen Dwellers for a powerful, wide-ranging conversation that blends music, identity, politics, mental health, and what it really means to not “shut up and sing” when the moment demands more. 🪕🔥🗣️
The episode centers around Torrin’s now-viral onstage speech at the Mission Ballroom during the Kitchen Dwellers’ Colorado run. Delivering the cherry on top moment at their biggest indoor headlining show to date. What began as a gut-level response to real-time events in Minnesota quickly became a defining moment, not just for the band, but for a scene grappling with fear, division, and silence. ⚠️🎤
Torrin opens up about: 🧠 Deciding earlier that day he needed to say something and being more nervous about speaking than performing 🔥 Why using the stage felt unavoidable given the political climate and recent shootings 📍 Being in Minnesota while chaos unfolded nearby and trying to create art under an “impending sense of doom” 🛑 Why “just shut up and sing” stops making sense when people around you are scared to exist ⚖️ Coming from a ranching, gun-owning background and rejecting the false binary of values vs empathy 🗣️ The responsibility artists carry when they’ve seen the country up close, coast to coast 🧩 Why this isn’t about partisanship it’s about recognizing danger when history starts repeating itself
From there, the conversation widens into who Torrin is beyond the speech. He talks candidly about growing up in Wyoming and Montana, his early love of drums before banjo, discovering punk, metal, reggae, and jam music, and how those influences shaped Kitchen Dwellers into the genre-blurring, “non-bluegrass bluegrass” band they are today. 🥁➡️🪕⚡
They dive deep into: 🎸 How metal, punk, and grunge techniques inform Torrin’s banjo style 🎶 Why the band records live together to preserve feel and honesty 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Evolving as bandmates choosing unity over blame through hard seasons 🧠 Advocacy for mental health and normalizing therapy in music culture 🌱 Reaching a place where the band no longer plays “first-date shows,” but fully trusts who they are.
The episode closes with a reminder that community is the antidote go to shows, buy tickets early, meet people, dance, sweat, argue, heal, and exist together. Because art only works when it’s honest, and silence only helps the wrong things grow. 🌈🤝🔥
🎧 Listen now wherever you get podcasts. This one is raw, thoughtful, challenging and a reminder that authenticity isn’t always comfortable, but it’s always necessary.