eTown

eTown

Genre	Music, interview, storytelling (radio variety)
Running time	60 minutes
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
Hosted by	Nick Forster Helen Forster
Recording studio	Boulder, CO
Original release	April 22, 1991
Website	Official website
Podcast	itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/etown/id441558505?mt=2

eTown is a 501c3 non-profit broadcast organization based in Boulder, Colorado. eTown is a nationally syndicated multimedia and event production company. The eTown radio broadcasts on National Public Radio, community radio stations, and commercial radio. The program includes a variety show format featuring live musical performances, interviews with musicians, authors, and other public figures.

eTown is recorded in front of a live audience at eTown Hall, a solar-powered theater in Boulder, CO, which also serves as a social hub for community events. eTown also records eTown on the Road which is taped on location in various cities across the country. The program and podcast can be accessed on over 300 radio stations across the U.S. and globally.

Since 1991, eTown has combined music and entertainment with information and interviews about environmental and social issues with the goal of creating more awareness for the pertinent topics.

Background

Nick and Helen Forster, co-founders of eTown

eTown was founded in 1991 by host Nick Forster and his wife, Helen Forster, who serves as co-host and executive producer of the show. eTown presents a wide range of roots music, conversation and examples of environmental and community activism to listeners.

eTown host Nick Forster's involvement in music began as a teenager playing guitar in various amateur folk and folk-rock bands in upstate New York. A job offer as a luthier (guitar repairman) led him to Colorado in 1975, where he met future bandmates Charles Sawtelle, Pete Wernick and Tim O'Brien. In 1978, the men formed the bluegrass group Hot Rize. In Hot Rize, Nick played the bass and guitar, provided vocals and acted as the group's M.C. The band released ten albums, toured worldwide and appeared on radio and television programs, including Austin City Limits, The Grand Ole Opry and A Prairie Home Companion. Hot Rize earned both a Grammy nomination and the International Bluegrass Music Association's Entertainer of the Year Award before retiring in the spring of 1990. Following the retirement of Hot Rize, Nick formed a new group with Tim O’Brien and Jerry Douglas. In 1990, Nick accompanied Sam Bush, John Cowan, and Laurie Lewis on an extensive US State Department tour of Eastern Europe and Turkey. During the tour, he noticed music's ability to bring people from diverse backgrounds together as well as the region's noticeable environmental degradation due to lack of community control. On the flight home, he came up with the idea of a radio program that would combine music, live-performance audiences, and environmental discussions to create awareness for global issues. Upon his return, Nick shared the idea of the radio show with Helen, who agreed to help him. The two of them launched the program on Earth Day in 1991.

eTown's co-host Helen Forster began her artistic career as a child studying and performing theater and music in Minneapolis. She attended the University of Minnesota, where her enrollment in one of its first environmental studies courses led to a life-long interest in environmentalism and would eventually guide her involvement in eTown. After college, Helen moved to Telluride, Colorado, where she joined two theater companies: SRO, an improvisational comedy troupe loosely modeled on Second City Chicago, and Plunge Players, a formal theater company led by L.A. director Paul Fagan. During this period, in addition to her role as a professional theater actress and as a writer/performer in SRO, she also performed in multiple radio theater productions, co-authored three children's musicals and developed her skills as a professional vocalist. Additionally, Helen gained broad production experience as producer and director of numerous stage productions and live "on-the-air" radio theater pieces. For several years, she also owned and produced the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. In the late 1980s, Helen first met Nick backstage during the festival. Outside of her current role in eTown, Helen has performed as a vocalist on Prairie Home Companion and in concerts around the country. She also does work in voice-overs.

Format

eTown's broadcasts include a mixture of musicians who perform for the show's live audience in a variety show format. Two artists typically appear on the show each week. These musical performances are interspersed with informal interviews with show host Nick Forster. eTown broadcasts also include the show's eChievement Award segment, acknowledging individuals for their work towards a certain cause. Recipients have identified an environmental or social issue at the community, national or global level and have effectively addressed the problem through their efforts. Some of the shows also include an additional interview segment, featuring discussions with a variety of different authors, activists, scientists and policymakers about a range of social and environmental issues and their possible solutions.

Performers

Since its inception in 1991, more than one thousand visiting and local artists have performed on the program. Guest artists have included Aaron Neville Quintet, David Gray, James Taylor, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Loretta Lynn, Ray LaMontagne, The Fray, Ralph Stanley, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Bruce Cockburn, Barenaked Ladies, Ingrid Michaelson, Koko Taylor, David Crosby & Graham Nash, Ani DiFranco, Pops Staples, Randy Newman, Dr. John, Joe Jackson, Sarah McLachlan, Los Lobos, The Fairfield Four, Bruce Hornsby, Bill Frisell, Shawn Colvin, Lyle Lovett, Buddy Guy, Jack Johnson, Odetta, Ben Harper, Richard Thompson, Wanda Jackson, Rickie Lee Jones, Keb' Mo', Spoon, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Del McCoury, Taj Mahal, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Nickel Creek, Pinetop Perkins, Béla Fleck, Earl Scruggs, Glen Hansard, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, The Flatlanders, Townes Van Zandt, Patty Griffin, Charlie Musselwhite, Doc Watson, James McMurtry, etc.

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  Keb'Mo (left), James Taylor (right) and Nick Forster (center) perform on eTown.
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  Ben Harper interviews with Nick Forster on eTown.
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  Ingrid Michaelson performs on eTown.
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  Ray Bonneville performs on eTown.
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  Irma Thomas and James Taylor perform on eTown with Nick and Helen Forster.
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  Ray Lamontagne performs on eTown.

eTones

The eTones

The eTown house band, the eTones, perform throughout various segments of the program, and often with the visiting artists featured on the show. The band is composed of Ron Jolly (keyboards), Christian Teele (drums), Chris Engleman (bass), and Helen Forster (harmony vocals) join Nick Forster (guitars/mandolin).

Guests

In addition to the various musical guests, some of the eTown interviewees have included guests such as Dr. Jane Goodall, Vice President Al Gore, Poets Jack Collom and Allen Ginsberg, humorist Dave Barry, environmental advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Jimmy Carter, Michael Moore, poet Terry Tempest Williams, Professor Bryan Willson, cowboy poet Baxter Black, Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Krugman, actor/environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr., Senator George McGovern, Pete Seeger, activist Julia Butterfly Hill, climber/author Erik Weihenmayer, and columnist/reporter Amy Goodman.

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  Nick and Helen Forster present Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with the eChievement Award during an eTown show at the Democratic National Convention.
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  Nick and Helen Forster present the eChievement Award to environmentalist Lauren Sullivan (2nd from right) and her musician husband, Guster guitarist/vocalist Adam Gardner (2nd from left), of Reverb.
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  President Jimmy Carter stands with Nick and Helen Forster after a discussion on eTown.

eTown Hall

a sketch of eTown Hall

In 2012, eTown moved into the renovated eTown Hall building. Purchased by the organization in 2008, the former church, built in 1925, was converted into a performance hall, recording and production studios, eTown offices, and shared community space. The Denver Post wrote, "Once completed, eTown Hall will be a LEED certified green building, generating the majority of its power on site through an extensive array of solar panels and other energy efficient measures."

eTown Hall is located at 1535 Spruce St. in downtown Boulder, Colorado 80302.