‘You’re the Piano Man’: Jim Witter closes Glenwood Springs Community Concert Association season

Canadian performer Jim Witter doesn’t remember every town he’s visited during his decades-long music career — but he remembers Glenwood Springs.

Shows tend to blur together after performing for over 30 years and touring prolifically. But eight years after his first performance for the Glenwood Springs Community Concert Association, his fond memories of the charming mountain town still persist.

“(The association) sent us to the hot springs, they gave us all, as a band, passes and we had the day off the next day and we were able to go enjoy that. I remember the audience being very, very warm, very welcoming, I remember the committee,” Witter said. “It’s not everywhere that we get that kind of treatment where they’ll say, hey, would you like to enjoy a local attraction…to so many places, we’re just another show for them.”

Now Witter and his band — drummer Jimmy Boudreau, bass guitarist Steve Pelletier, guitarist and vocalist Ian Tanner and multi instrumentalist Dave Wiffen — are preparing for a show they’ve eagerly anticipated. On May 2, they’ll close the Glenwood Springs Community Concert Association’s 2024-2025 season with a Billy Joel tribute.

“The hospitality was wonderful and the people were incredible,” Witter said. “I wish we had the day off there but we don’t — we’re just coming in to do the show and then back out again — because we absolutely remember (Glenwood Springs).”

Titled “Sing Us a Song, You’re the Piano Man,” the tribute Witter created in 2024 holds a special place in his heart — inspired by the “magic” of a Billy Joel concert that first ignited his passion for music at just 12 years old.

“He made you feel like you knew him when you left there, like he had really given not just his musical talents, but he’d let you in to know him personally,” Witter said. “It was a brand new experience for me. It was like looking up at the night sky for the first time and seeing billions of stars and going wow, what’s that all about? I really think that’s what it was for me.

“It was like, is this something that I could do? I just knew. When you know, you know, right?” he added. “I just got bit by the bug that night.”

It’s the same spirit of personality, engagement and wonder that he aims to recreate for audiences today.

Witter is the latest high-caliber musician to join this season’s impressive lineup presented by the concert association.

From jazz virtuoso Nayo Jones to Los Angeles’ Orchid Quarter, the Glenwood Springs Community Concert Association’s performances are “A unique opportunity to experience high quality music that we don’t often get in Glenwood,” association president Kathy Kline said. “It’s a good way to interact with fellow music lovers in the community.”

The 2025-2026 season lineup includes five diverse and talented groups, from guitar and clarinet duo Jâca to Dan Miller’s AmeriCoustic. The Mexican Brass will kick off the new season on September 25.

“It’s the opportunity to come together and listen to high quality, (live) music,” Kline said when asked how the association contributes to the Glenwood Springs community. “We’re so used to getting music on all of our devices and the car radio.

“But I love going to watch live music,” she added. “I think it’s a really good thing to bring into the community — an opportunity to experience live music.”