Music of the Mountains: Down River

Rachel Cole and Gus Miller have been performing music as a duo for years, but for the first time, they're cementing a duo project they've called Down River. This week, we talk to Rachel and Gus in preparation for their upcoming performance at the Jamestown Mercantile on Thursday, June 25th, 2026.

Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record Better off Dead here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello there, everybody. Uh my name is Jamie Lambert, and this is Music of the Mountains: Where to Be and What to See, a weekly series brought to you by the Mountain Ear Podcast. This week, I'm bringing on Rachel Cole and Gus Miller to talk about their new duo project, Down River, which they're cementing for the first time in a tour. They recently performed at the Gold Hill Inn, and they'll be performing in the very near future at the Jamestown Mercantile. Before we talk to them about Downriver, though, a quick word from our sponsor. This summer, don't go it alone. Take a simple steps for better air. Harpool or take transit where you need to go. Relax on the bus down to Boulder for your commute or catch the bus hang around the entire state. Road trips and errands are also more fun with company. And harpooling is amazing gas too. Know when it matters most by signing up for ozone alerts from the Regional Air Quality Council. Learn more at SimpleSetaps at betterair.org. And now let's talk into the Downriver Duo.

SPEAKER_03 1:19

All right. So do you guys just mind introducing yourselves real quick?

SPEAKER_04 1:23

Yeah, Rachel, you want to kick it off?

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Yeah. Well, I'm I'm Rachel Cole. I hail from the land of Nashville, Tennessee. In the past five years, I've kind of made my way into Austin and integrated into the music scene there where I met Gus. Gus and I have kind of played music together for the better part of about a year and a half now and have solidified a group duo name, uh Down River, which is kind of our kickoff tour here this summer doing that. So um that's kind of how all this kind of came to be. Yeah. And yeah, yeah, so we just kind of merged and things just kind of stuck. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:55

Yeah, we put a name to ourselves just about like a few weeks ago. Yeah. So this is uh Super New Red Track. Amazing. Yeah, so um yeah, my name's Gus. I'm from Dallas originally, but I've been in Austin for like how many years now? I've been there since 2012. Yeah, it's a little over a decade now. You know, I went to UT and I've been playing music all throughout college, and after college, been doing music full time since 2018, and it's been good. Like been getting on the road more and getting up out of Austin. And I've got a crew that I lead band leader, you know. And so yeah, I've been starting to play a lot more in like bluegrass these days. So very stoked to be up in Colorado because you know, people in Colorado tends to love bluegrass. That's yeah, perfect place to be for it.

SPEAKER_03 2:39

Fantastic. And yeah, and so downriver as a duo. You guys have two Colorado shows coming up, at least two in this area that we're gonna shout out. You said this was your first tour kind of going out as a duo?

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Well, we did one last year, and it was kind of just seeing how it would go. We did a super blasé, and Gus actually had an opportunity to be in the Telluride Troubadour contest. So that kind of was our anchor to coming to Colorado last year and getting our feet wet. And uh we had a great time, made some awesome connections, and just decided, hey, like let's let's do it again. So yeah, so now we've got, you know, a little bit more of um solidified, I guess what we could say, it's like more branding, more of an identity in that way. So it's fun to come back with a little bit more oomph this time.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

Yeah, yeah, we'll be hitting some of the same spots as last year, so it'll be good to see some of the same folks and yeah, really excited about that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 3:29

Yeah, so Downriver as a duo, you know, how is it how do you think it's developed over the last year, year and a half as you guys have started performing around?

SPEAKER_04 3:37

Yeah, so well Rachel and I, we both, you know, have our own separate projects and you know, downriver is us together.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Yeah, we kind of just wanted to give it an identity, give it like a name. You know, there's so many opportunities where we do play together as a duo and just having it be our name, it didn't seem like the right fit for the songs. Like we do co-writes together and things like that as well. So we wanted to give it an entire identity, but it deserved. So that's kind of how that came about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Sweet. Downriver, where did you guys kind of embrace that name? Where did we call up with that name?

SPEAKER_02 4:08

We had a couple names that we were just shooting around and um and I think that one kind of stuck. I don't really know why. You know, I I could be honest with you and say a thousand things, but to be honest, I just I think it sounds cool. That's really it, you know.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

I think we were on the road last year going through I think we were in Eagle. We were passing through Eagle on the highway there. I think you remember you like putting this name in the hat. And so yeah, it's been sitting on the shelf for a while, and we finally just kind of chosen like a few weeks ago.

SPEAKER_03 4:37

Absolutely. What's been great about being able to perform together as a duo, travel around and perform as a duo?

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Well, it's fun. I mean, to me, it's fun to see like how many things, how many areas of sound and and how much like you can create dynamics with just two people, just two bodies. I mean, there's so much that we can do to fill that sound. Uh, you know, I mean, both of us also play in full bands. So to come together as a duo and be able to fill sound with just ourselves, it's a super special thing. It's really intimate to to a lot of people, uh, and I'm sure that like, you know, a lot of people like to connect to that because it has such a softer feel to it than the full band experience of the honky tonks stuff that we're used to doing, the country and all that good stuff. So it's cool to just settle down on it. But we take a lot of influence in like, you know, like Gilliam Welsh and um Brothers Come to Old Crow Medicine Show, you know, all those all those really formative grassroots groups. So kind of where we took that from.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

And like the kind of gigs we've been playing, like events and stuff, we've basically done everything but a funeral at this point.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

Do you guys perform meanly originals, meme the covers, a mix of both? Like what's what's kind of your repertoire?

SPEAKER_02 5:48

It's about 60-40. The more that we have developed our originals, the more that we like to play them. It's fun because we do have a lot of co-writes that are pretty great songs. They're catchy and they're fun, and you know, just to see how those develop is gonna be really interesting, whether we decide to release them or just keep them live. And yeah, it's just at this point, it's so early that it's just bouncing around ideas and really seeing what sticks.

SPEAKER_03 6:09

Sweet. And what's been great about actually performing like as a duo? Has it felt different from performing solo or in other groups that you've been a part of?

SPEAKER_04 6:18

Yeah, I mean, I always love playing with at least one other person. I'm not really one for playing solo. Music's kind of boring to me.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

You know, sounds like I have like a huge solo background and I've been a solo artist for years, so it's funny to see how how we merge together in that way.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

Yeah, I like the give and take aspect of it, you know, because I mean there's third material where it's like Rachel's leading or I'm leading, and you know, we'll kind of trade off in that aspect. And I really enjoy that.

SPEAKER_02 6:44

It's just a much more intimate experience performing as a duo, you know. You can hear a pin drop type thing, and that's that's what makes it super special to people, to the crowd. It's easy to connect to, I think.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

Sweet. And is there anything that you kind of hope people will take away from your music or your performances or anything else when they when they see downriver performance?

SPEAKER_04 7:02

Well, hopefully they want to see it again.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Yeah, right. Right, right. I mean, to me, like just being from Nashville, like paying homage and and being able to respect the roots of the music is something that like that's a big one for me. Just if people can see me and say, hey, that's giving due respect where respect is due that's to me the best thing that that I can do is respect the craft. Yeah, you know, reproduce it in a way that's genuine and connectable.

SPEAKER_04 7:29

Yeah, like going off of that, like you said, genuine. Like I think authenticity is like a really big thing. That's like my number one thing about music. You know, if I if I can believe what somebody's singing or saying, I take more from that versus like a good singer.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

You know, it's like a snake quote where he says, You gotta give yourself the fivers before you can give them to somebody else. And I I take a lot of that, you know.

SPEAKER_03 7:51

Sweet. And yeah, just to reiterate, you guys are performing at the goal to lynch and then the Jamestown Merck very, very soon.

SPEAKER_04 7:58

Yeah. Correct. And we've got a few more dates in Colorado.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:02

So our first date is we're headed to New Mexico right now, and we're playing in Santa Fe tomorrow at El Ray Court. But when we get to Colorado in two days, we're gonna be at the gas lamp tavern in Del Norte.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Yes. Yeah, we kind of just make our way up and then we spend a little bit of time in Summit County, which is where we've got we've made some pretty cool friends out there, out that way. So we're excited to be back in Summit. And um, yeah, we'll see what else we kind of put on there. We're kind of notorious for just adding gigs left and right, so yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:30

Really cooked for the the Gold Hill show. We'll be playing with some of our buddies. The good for nothing Thunder Mountain Boys. And uh yeah, led by a dude named Tyler, who I met at Telly Ride Bluegrass Festival a few years back, and uh we've been good bud since, and so yeah, it'll be good to play with his crew.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

That's really exciting. And yeah, I don't know, is there is there anything else about the the duo or the upcoming shows or anything else that you want people to know about or that you want to add?

SPEAKER_02 8:55

We will have uh I mean, we will be releasing music here, you know, in the next six months or so. Um we're still in the process of finding the right fit uh in terms of like a label and a home for the music. So we're still kind of shopping around a little bit, but we do have a single that we're really looking forward to release here in the next couple months.

SPEAKER_03 9:15

Sweet. And yeah, I don't know. I th I think those are the the big questions that I have on my end.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

We're right on.

SPEAKER_03 9:20

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I want to thank you guys so much for taking the time to jump on and talk about all this. This is really great. Yeah, thank you, Jan.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Absolutely. Yeah, it was a pleasure talking.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Thank you so much to Gus and Rachel for coming on board and joining us for the podcast. Uh be sure to catch their live set at the Jamestown Mercantile, located at 108 Main Street in Jamestown on Thursday, June 25th, 2026, starting at 7 p.m. Uh Thank you so much, everybody, for tuning in to this week's Music of the Mountains, where to be and what to be, brought to you by the Mountain Air Podcast. I'll be back next week with another episode. And we'll be back very soon with another episode of the Mountain Air Podcast. Uh be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Podcaster, etc. And be sure to share this and other episodes around with whoever you see fit. Uh, if you want to support the Mountain Ear and receive a physical or digital subscription of our newspaper, be sure to head to the mtnar.com and click on the subscribe button at the top of our homepage. Also be sure to head to the Mountaineer Media section of our homepage to find our podcast episode archive, uh, our Facebook, uh, our YouTube, uh, and our Instagram at mtn.ear. And finally, if you have any questions or suggestions for the paper or the podcast, be sure to reach out to myself at media at the mountaineer.com, my co-host Tyler Hickman at T Y L E R at the Mountaineer.com, our editor in chief, Barbara Hart, at infothemountineer.com, and general inquiries at frontdesk at the mountaineer.com. Thank you so much for listening. Have a great rest of your day.

SPEAKER_04 13:32

I just think I did.