Elevation Beaver Creek, produced by Forefront Networks, took place from Sunday, October 1 to Tuesday, October 3 at Beaver Creek Resort in Beaver Creek, Colorado, one of the most renowned mountain cities in the United States.
The three-day event featured emerging artists and an invite-only guest list of music industry professionals and influential individuals, including music supervisors, radio programmers, label executives, and corporate partners from around the country, including Music Mayhem. Each guest in attendance was there with the goal to discover emerging artists and contribute to elevating the musicians’ careers to new heights through musical exploration.
While speaking with artists at Elevation Beaver Creek, we asked them which three moments in their career so far have helped elevate them to a new level – check out their responses below.
Jay Allen
Jay Allen, who competed on The Voice during Season 22, started with his song “Sounds Good to Me,” which got him selected as The Highway Find on Sirius XM. His second moment was an emotional and personal one, having lost his mother to Alzheimer’s disease.
“I wrote a song out of just heartbreak and trying to figure out what was happening to us and our family,” he said. “We were at a point where I’d been touring for a couple years and I’d always shared this song and this story on the road. It was towards the end of my set, pretty emotional. But every now and then there’d be a club of college kids and they’d just cross their arms and be like, ‘Shut up, get onto the fun stuff.’”
“I thought, ‘Man, you can only teach people so much with your words. How about you show them?’” Allen continued, sharing that he decided to bring his mom on stage with him one night as he performed his song “Blank Stares.”
“Someone took a video, put it on the internet and overnight got millions of views and we started getting all these opportunities and I realized I’m going to war with this disease,” he recalled. “And so I really became a philanthropist. Every opportunity I had to bring awareness to this disease, shine light on it, tell my mother’s story, share other people’s stories, raise funds.”
The singer chose his third moment as competing on The Voice. “I said no four times in a row,” he shared. “Maybe I just wasn’t ready for it. I didn’t believe I was supposed to be an artist. I never really wanted to be the guy in the spotlight. They finally called me the fourth time and I said yes, because I thought, ‘What better way to actually put more eyes and ears on this cause than to go on NBC’s The Voice in front of millions of people?’ So I said yes, and they told the story in a beautiful way.”
Josh Ross
Canadian country singer Josh Ross named writing his song “First Taste of Gone,” which became his first charting single.
“That was kind of the first time I felt like I was very vulnerable as an artist and allowed people to discover me through that,” he said, also citing his signing with Core Management Group and Universal Music Group Nashville as an elevation moment as well as his time opening for Nickelback on their North American tour this summer.
Tigirlily Gold
Sister duo Tigirlily Gold have had a major year and chose three moments from 2023 – making their Grand Ole Opry debut, performing at the ACM Awards and cracking the Top 40 at country radio with their single “Shoot Tequila.”
Shelby Darrall
California native Shelby Darrall cited her most recent EP, Melt, as an elevation moment, specifically working with producer Jake Mitchell.
“The Ryman [Auditorium] I just played, that was insane,” she continued, referencing her recent spot opening for Larry Fleet at The Mother Church Of Country Music. “So that’s been an elevation. The third one, I’m waiting for it to come. I’m really wanting to play some big festivals this coming year, and I’m hoping and crossing my fingers that we’ll get the ones that I want, but Stagecoach is on my birthday, so it feels right.”
Echosmith
Sibling band Echosmith broke onto the music scene in 2013 with their hit debut single “Cool Kids,” which appeared on their debut album, out later that year. The band named releasing their first project as “a pivotal moment for us.”
“That was putting ourselves out there, and that was also us just taking a chance on ourselves and going for it without thinking twice about it,” they shared. “That kind of elevated us to this point of like, ‘Okay, we’re doing this for real and just totally baring our souls and putting ourselves out there.’ That was the beginning of us continuing to do that.”
During the pandemic, the siblings were able to “recalibrate everything that eventually did take us to that next level, even just as a team and as a family,” which they named as their second elevation moment.
“We didn’t always have the luxury of lots of time and lots of time to think and talk through what we’re doing and why we’re doing it and how we want to move forward,” they said. “So I think because we took that step – I mean we all had to take a step back from real life for a second – I think that created a lot of space for us to really grow and then take the next step into our third moment, putting out our recent album.”
In July, the group self-released their self-titled album, which was self-produced. “It’s the first album where all the songs were almost a hundred percent written just only by Echosmith,” they shared. “We’ve obviously always been in the writing, but this one… we kind just took the reins more and more and wanted it just to be an album that represented who we were and are as people. And that has felt really, really important to us and honestly really exciting. And it feels like that’s a story that’s still unfolding.”
Elevation Beaver Creek
Surrounded by the breathtaking views of the Rocky Mountains and a vibrant fall foliage, Elevation Beaver Creek showcased prominent artists, including Florida Georgia Line’s Brian Kelley, Billy Currington, and Michael Franti.
Elevation Beaver Creek also showcased a lineup of up-and-coming artists that included Coffey Anderson, George Birge, Jordana Bryant, Liddy Clark, Alex Hall, John Hollier, HunterGirl, Ryan Larkins, Stephanie Quayle, Jobi Riccio, Shelby Darrall, Josh Ross, Drew Baldridge, Dylan Schneider, Matt Stell, and more. These emerging talents delivered intimate acoustic performances, providing the exclusive audience with an opportunity to experience their artistry and discover each of their unique talents.
Furthermore, the event also featured signature cocktails from Suerte Tequila, exceptional wine selections from renowned wineries such as Cakebread Cellars, Robert Mondavi Winery, Trefethen Family Vineyard, Chappellet Winery, and Nickel & Nickel Single Vineyard Wines as well as delightful culinary offerings from Tagged Out Kitchen and more.
Additionally, attendees had the opportunity to participate in specially curated activities, all set amidst the stunning natural beauty of Beaver Creek.
