Creating fresh-sounding roots music ain’t easy. It’s a bit like trying to make a new antique. Somehow, though, the quintet riding in Fort Collins’s Motorhome manage to pull it off.

It’s all come together. On Almost Vegas Motorhome has taken the disparate influences of their debut and melded them into a beer-and-cigarette-stained whole. This is the Motorhome that was always just beneath the surface, and now they have finally arrived with a sound that is unique, recognizable and, most importantly, open enough to let them incorporate many different styles while still sounding like themselves.

The guys in Motorhome are seriously funny. They’ll deny it, but don’t believe them. At the band’s live shows the between-song banter—and sometimes during-song banter—is an ever-escalating series of dares, one-upmanship of twisted, adolescent humor pushing to and beyond the edge of tastelessness.

Think about it: in the last 15 to 20 years, our fine state’s music community has produced “the String Cheese Incident”, Yonder Mountain String Band”, Big Head Todd and the Monsters”, “Leftover Salmon”, “Drag the River”, “Devotchka”, “16 Horsepower”, “Uncle Earl”, and of course recent success stories with “Rose Hill Drive”, “The Fray”, “Single File”, “Meese”, “Tickle Me Pink”, and “The Photo Atlas”. Heck, this short list doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of bands that are out there touring nationally and internationally garnering critical acclaim and fans. So, in the spirit of the new year and helping talented Colorado bands gain exposure, I’d like to add the band “Motorhome” to the list of bands to watch in 2008.