Chris K. receives inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award – Colorado Sound Music Awards

Congrats to Chris K., recipient of our first-ever Colorado Sound Lifetime Achievement Award

By Adam Perry

Longtime Colorado Sound DJ Chris Kresge, who is stepping away from his many decades as a keystone of Northern Colorado music to move to Grand Junction and slow down, is widely known as “Goat,” a nickname his late wife “Miss Patty” gave him.

“I was in a band called Alien Cowboy in the 1990s,” Kresge explains. “We toured Great Britain for five weeks. I was not a happy man. I did not like the tour, didn’t like England. I came home, I sat in my apartment, I just sat there for like two and three weeks and recorded guitar stuff, like just guitar instrumentals over drum tracks and what have you. Patty, she made an album cover and took a goat’s body and superimposed my face on it with the straw hat that I’ve always been accustomed to wearing, and the glasses. She said, “The picky, grumpy old goat does wonderful instrumentals,” because I was being picky and grumpy. She thought maybe I’d get very upset about the fact that she launched this thing up online. I saw it and I cracked the fuck up. I said, “Can you take that idea and make me a logo, a caricature?” and the picky, grumpy old goat stuck.”

“Goat” has been a talent buyer, an emcee, a country singer-songwriter, a radio DJ, and the host of the syndicated Colorado Playlist – an integral part of the Northern Colorado music community for the last 50 years. He’s beloved. And yes, he really is picky and grumpy – or at least honest, which can be refreshing and rare these days.

“I think that was an evolution inside of me,” Kresge says. “I started writing music reviews when I was in high school, for the high school paper, and looking back at them now, I’m appalled at my level of writing. Somewhere along the way when I got into radio and DJ’ing in clubs and being in bands and really making it more of my life, I just developed this attitude that craft matters—quality matters. As I grew—I’m 68, almost 69 now—I guess I took part of that grumpiness and applied it to my work ethic.”

Kresge got choked up when asked what receiving the Colorado Sound’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award means to him, especially as he leaves our area for Grand Junction and a quieter, less busy daily experience.

“I’m incredibly honored. For me, the greatest joy and the greatest accomplishment in my life has been telling the story of Colorado music on the radio. I’m tremendously grateful.”

As Kresge slowly heads toward what he describes as “so-called retirement” in Grand Junction, he also vows to keep his Colorado Playlist going until a very specific date.

“I don’t know that I’m going to be a part of things [in Grand Junction],” he says. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. But I’m going to keep the business open until April of until 2026 for two reasons: One, the Colorado Playlist started out as the Colorado Sound in April of 2006, so 2026 is my 20th anniversary. And, I helped launch the Dacono Music and Spirits Festival in August of 2006, so next year’s show would be the 20th. We lost two years, so it would be the 20th year since we launched that show.”

Meet all of the 2023 Colorado Sound Music Award winners

On the Rise – Pink Fuzz

Colorado Spirit – The Mishawaka

Outstanding Stage Presence – Alysia Kraft

Outstanding ‘Secret Ingredient’ – Taylor Sims

Musician or Band You’d Drive 105.5. Miles to See – Volores

Lifetime Achievement Award – Chris K.

Meet all the 2023 Colorado Sound Music Award nominees

The 2023 Colorado Sound Music Awards are brought to you by: 

Initial Capacity

Georgia Boys BBQ