The Broomcorn Express, Quarterly Publication of the Broomfield Historical Society
Vol. 6, No. 2, April – June 2026
BY DAVID R. FEINEMAN
TREASURER, BROOMFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY
A song collection from 1928 in the Broomfield History Collections.
The state of Colorado will celebrate its 150th anniversary, also referred to as a sesquicentennial, on August 1, 2026. If you are a comparative newcomer to Colorado, you might not know that the state actually has two official state songs: “Rocky Mountain High,” by John Denver which you probably already know was adopted in 2007, and an earlier song called “Where the Columbines Grow,” by A.J. Flynn, which you may not know was adopted in 1915.
In advance of the upcoming Colorado Day celebrations, you might want to create a playlist of Colorado music to get you in in the mood. As it turns out, some of the research has already been done for you. The Southwest Colorado Local Organizing Committee of America 250-Colorado 150 created a free toolkit called “Sing Colorado!” specifically for anyone who wants to review the diversity of music with a Colorado connection.
In the online Sing Colorado! toolkit is a Spotify playlist curated especially for Colorado music—sample programs offered as guidance, in whole or in part, to use for 2026 commemoration performances, creative curriculum ideas, a musical database, and history notes on musical pieces.
The full Colorado Spotify list is in the April – June 2026 issue of the Broomcorn Express.
You should be aware that their list includes songs not just about Colorado, but also pieces written or performed by Colorado artists. You’ll also see that sometimes the list has the same song performed by different artists. Nevertheless, I suspect most people may never have heard many of these versions. Obviously, it is not an exhaustive list; how they left out classics like Poco’s “A Good Feelin’ to Know” and “Rocky Mountain Breakdown,” Pure Prairie League’s “Boulder Skies,” or even Warren Zevon’s “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead” is a mystery to me.
What About the 250th US Anniversary?
There are also curated playlists of songs for our upcoming national celebration. As you might expect, these vary quite a bit in their focus and contents, but a good starting point might be one created by NPR. Its focus is on the themes of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and features artists like Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin, and Paul Simon.
You can find that Spotify playlist at:
https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/6TGUa6G72cWzHswqSJ6vxb?utm_source=generator
What has music got to do with our history?
If you made it this far, you might be wondering if this article even belongs in the Broomcorn Express. But history has had a deep relationship with the music and its popularity. Songs like “Yankee Doodle” were popular with soldiers marching off to fight in the Revolutionary War, and even during the dark days of the Great Depression, people were singing “Happy Days Are Here Again.”1 Music can freeze perceptions of topics like social and political change, environmental awareness, struggles about racism, and desires for freedom that can be immediately brought back into focus through songs in an emotionally stirring way that may eclipse what we can do by simply writing about history. So assembling and hearing songs about and by Coloradoans can add another dimension to our thinking about where we have been and how we got to this place and time.
You can find scholarly articles that try to look at how music can aid in understanding historical events as a primary source of information, a record of change over time, and alternative narratives. We need to consider music as just another source of information about our history that may need critical evaluation to understand if it over-romanticizes the past or produces a distorted narrative of events.2 The US 250 playlist clearly tries to examine diverse concepts covering themes of freedom, struggle, and cultural diversity throughout the country’s history. Regardless, music (including the mostly pop music in the list) used in conjunction with our historical commemorations is a way to make history more accessible by people today, particularly with respect to events that may have occurred before they were born.
You might not have previously considered music to be a historical source. Music has the power to preserve memory, shape narratives, and connect audiences emotionally to the past while encouraging thoughtful, critical listening. Hopefully this article will make it easier for you to explore how music and Colorado history connect with each other in a year of historic celebrations.
Endnotes
1. “The Music and History of Our Times | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History,” n.d. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-now/journals/music-and-history-our-times.
2. Active History. “Music as a Gateway to Understanding Historical Practice,” January 15, 2012. https://activehistory.ca/blog/2012/01/16/music-as-a-gateway-to-understanding-historical-practice/.