17 JANUARY 15-21, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | FIND MORE MUSIC COVERAGE AT WESTWORD.COM/MUSIC Colorado Blues BIG HEAD TODD AND THE MONSTERS WILL BE ROCKING OUT AT THE BROADMOOR. BY NIC K HUTC HINSON Todd Park Mohr, also known as Big Head Todd, and his blues-rock band, the Monsters, are as Colorado as it gets. Mohr was born in the Mile High City and “jumped around a bit” before making his way to Boulder in the ‘80s, when Big Head Todd and the Monsters launched a storied career that led to the act becoming one of the Centennial State’s most recognized ensembles of the past few decades. In 1993, the outfi t’s soulful sound soared beyond the hills of the Front Range to the national airwaves, landing four Top 10 radio hits from its platinum-selling album Sister Sweetly. With compelling original material, in- cluding “Bittersweet,” “It’s Alright,” “Please Don’t Tell Her” and “Broken Hearted Sav- ior,” BHTM put its stamp on the popular music charts. From the watering holes of Fort Collins, Boulder and Denver, to annual revels at Red Rocks, where the band has headlined more than 35 times, and even to the cosmos (including a live acoustic broad- cast to the International Space Station in 2011), Mohr and company have logged more than four decades crafting classic songs, touring steadily and delivering compelling live performances. On January 17, the group will be in Colo- rado Springs as part of the Broadmoor Ses- sions, as Mohr (guitar), Rob Squires (bass), Brian Nevin (drums) and Jeremy Lawton (keys) play off their impressively long run of tight-knit friendship, collective creativity and ongoing musical passion — all of which trace back to when the fl edgling band fi rst started jamming in receptive venues in and around Denver. “Our early days were really good times,” recalls Mohr. “When we were starting out, we would go for any gig we could get. We played at frat parties and small venues in Boulder, Denver and Fort Collins. We had unforgettable shows at college parties and at bars like J.J. McCabe’s [ Boulder], Cricket on the Hill [Denver] and a place called Linden’s in Fort Collins. It’s been the same guys all along, with Jeremy joining us in 2003. Brian, Rob and I went to Columbine High School. Back then, we had a band that we called TJ & The Twist.” After high school, the budding rocker headed to Colorado State University for a year before doing one semester at the Uni- versity of Colorado Denver and another at sea before ultimately landing at CU Boulder, where he put in a year studying English and history. While he was hitting the books, Mohr was also fi ne- tuning his well-acclaimed song craft and making a splash with local audiences. Now sixty years old, he still resides in his home- town of Littleton, and his long- time bandmates all live along or near the Front Range. BHTM, which was inducted into Colo- rado Music Hall of Fame in 2023, still gets out on the road, though the guitarist and songwriter says he wouldn’t mind playing on his home turf more often. “We cherry-pick our gigs now and try to do things that we re- ally love to do,” he says. “We’re still working a lot, but we want to make more of a balanced life for ourselves. We don’t play in Colorado as much as I’d like to, though. I miss my roots and play- ing smaller venues in places like Boulder, but Red Rocks is always a big deal for us, and we get in a few shows in Fort Collins, Durango and Dillon, too.” Following the COVID pandemic, Mohr and the Monsters left the tour bus life behind and bought a sprinter van in an effort to attain “a much smaller footprint.” Mohr says the musicians have been very happy with their decision to scale things down, which saves money, and that the band members share the driving on their cross-country outings. “We’re knocking on sixty, so we’re trying to travel less,” Mohr shares. “We hit the road pretty hard in 2025 to honor our forty years of being a group. We played 57 shows in a four-month period. We did some really nice stuff in places on the West Coast, throughout the Midwest, the East Coast and down into the South, including South Carolina, which has gotten big for us. We like getting around, but the traveling defi nitely imposes some limitations.” BHTM, which offered its twelfth full- length album, Her Way Out, in 2024, released a forty-song compilation at the end of De- cember that serves as a nod to the band’s longevity. The album, appropriately titled 40 Live, features a collection of live tracks culled from the group’s performances in 2024 and 2025. “We started recognizing our fortieth an- niversary last year,” Mohr explains. “We’ve been at it for four decades, more or less, maybe a little longer. We offi cially started around 1986, though we played some gigs before that. The new live album is really great and the title refl ects where we are now, forty years on.” Mohr and the band’s other members push their sound from year to year, penning new tunes, working on their chops and covering a pleasing variety of rootsy artists. According to Mohr, the members infl uence each other when it comes to shaping their sound and selecting songs. Pleasing covers by BHTM have ranged from tunes such as Led Zep- pelin’s “Tangerine” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People” to “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass and John Lee Hooker’s “Boom, Boom,” just to name a few. “The music I fell in love with as a teen was blues and R&B from the ‘60s and ‘70s,” Mohr says. “I adored it. I loved artists like Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, John Lee Hooker and all that kind of stuff. The other guys are more into the rock side of it, and we impact each other a lot when it comes to the stuff that we cover. The blues has been an important part of my life, though. I’ve released some albums dedicated to the genre and I’ve gotten to meet and play with many of the living legends that I love, includ- ing icons like Buddy Guy. I don’t consider myself a blues artist, but that connection to blues music is a big part of who I am as a musician.” As a guitarist, Mohr says his skills are always evolving. Although he has tried dif- ferent styles of guitars, he mainly favors Telecasters and Stratocasters for his electric axes. His technique has continued to evolve, he says, and the guitar keeps providing a welcome challenge. “’I’ve learned a ton even in the last decade about music and guitar playing,” he refl ects. “I continue to be fascinated with what I can achieve as a player. Hopefully, that comes through in my music. There are so many talented young guitarists out there now. I’ve had to up my game a bit, and it’s a fun evolution. It’s a high bar for anybody. I just have to be good at my music, so I try not to overthink it. In my mind, it’s not just about technical prowess; it’s about communicat- ing. The best guitar player in the world probably doesn’t hold a candle to someone like Johnny Cash when it comes to getting a message across. I’ve always aimed for that kind of simplicity – that ability to make an emotional connection with an audience and to move people.” In Colorado Springs, the audience will be treated to an intimate evening when Big Head Todd and the Monsters take the stage at the legendary Broadmoor hotel. The group has had a successful history with excursion venues that have allowed it to forge close bonds with fans, Mohr says. “We have a great history of doing fan experiences like this,” he adds. “We’ve done cruises in the Caribbean, on the Amalfi Coast and in Hawaii and Mexico. These have been an excellent thing for us and they are typi- cally with smaller audiences, which is nice. It’s been a remarkable and powerful way to get to know our fans better. We’ve made lot of great friendships doing these kinds of gigs. They’re more than meets the eye, and it’s a fantastic way to start the year.” Big Head Todd and the Monsters play the Broadmoor, 7 p.m. Saturday, January 17. Hotel and show packages are available at broadmoor. com. Big Head Todd has been playing at Red Rocks since the ‘90s. MUSIC JENISE JENSEN
