Honoring a friend at ConiferFest

Sam Gyllenhaal Band performing at music festival

BY TEDDY JACOBSEN TJACOBSEN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Sam Gyllenhaal and his band are driving nearly 1,200 miles to Conifer from Nashville to perform at the fourth annual ConiferFest on Aug. 12, simply because a friend wanted him to.

Gyllenhaal, leader of the Sam Gyllenhaal Band, said he met songwriter John Cirillo, who split his time between Bailey and Nashville, around 10 years ago in Nashville. e band will visit Colorado for the rst time thanks to years of pushing from John, who died of brain cancer last September.

“He just always raved about how much he loved Colorado and would say, ‘You need to get yourself out here,’” Gyllenhaal said. “So, I’m nally getting the chance.”

John’s wife, Ruth Cirillo, said: “Two of the best decisions we ever made were moving to Nashville and getting a place up in Bailey.”

Suzanne Barkley, the Cirillos’ neighbor and co-founder of ConiferFest, said she met the couple around ve years ago, and they helped with the rst festival in 2020. Barkley said she met Gyllenhaal last November after he performed at John’s celebration of life in Nashville.

“We had to bring this Nashville talent here because people will love it,” Barkley said. “And it’s to honor John, really, in his contributions to music and the talent that he’s worked with.”

After a successful career as a business owner, Ruth said they retired to Nashville in 2011 to pursue John’s lifelong passion of writing songs. She said he found his niche in the industry through primarily writing with young singer/songwriters and mentoring them.

WANT TO GO?

ConiferFest music festival is from 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Aug. 12 in the open space adjacent to Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Conifer. Tickets are $10 at the gate. Food from food trucks, beer, wine and margaritas will be available at an additional cost. Parking is free. For more information, visit coniferfest.com.

“He was a sort of father gure, brother gure and mentor gure all rolled into one for me,” Gyllenhaal said.

He said a common thing performers do in Nashville when they introduce a song is to say who they wrote it with.

“You would hear the phrase, ‘I wrote this one with John Cirillo’ just so often,” Gyllenhaal said.

Ruth said the custom brings a di erent level of value to a song because audiences can understand where it came from. She said John introduced the idea to Barkley and the other festival organizers.

“ e music lives on,” Ruth said. “And John has left such a legacy with his music.”

Four-band lineup

ConiferFest will feature four bands in total. Aside from the Sam Gyllenhaal Band, the other newcomer is Magoo the Band, a bluegrass band from Denver.

“Music festivals like ConiferFest have always served as a means to bring people together in support of great causes,” said Erik Hill, the guitarist of Magoo the Band. “We are super grateful to be able to share our music and help spread joy to the people of Conifer.”

Who’s omas, a band consisting of recent Conifer High School graduates, is returning, along with Captain Quirk from Peoria, Ill.

ConiferFest is a fundraising event for the Rotary Club of Conifer, which uses the proceeds to provide grants to area nonpro ts and school groups. Gyllenhaal will perform at the beginning and end of the festival.

“ ere’s a killer lineup of talented musicians and great local sponsors,” Hill said. “So it ought to be an amazing fest.”