The second-annual Steel City Music Showcase wrapped up the weekend of April 11-12. The two-night showcase featured 43 bands across five stages, filling the streets of Downtown Pueblo both Friday and Saturday night.

“Being on the board, this is my second year. I was lucky enough to be a part of it from the first year, with kind of the initial conception of the festival, so this year we felt a little bit more prepared. We were super-excited to bring it back for a second year which has been amazing,” said Marketing Manager Dynelle Abeyta-Maestas.

The showcase was a large group effort to put together. The Steel City Music Showcase collaborated with Colorado State University Pueblo’s Media and Entertainment Department to help run the CSU Pueblo stage. The showcase also partnered with local businesses for sponsorships.

“It’s been so much fun. I can’t even begin to tell you how exciting it is meeting all these artists, all these people, and business owners. A lot of people have been so open and friendly, and they want to open up their place of business and let these people come in and perform,” said Preston Buffalo, the sponsorship and vendor coordinator/liaison for this year’s showcase.

Buffalo said this was his first year working for and attending the event. Buffalo is a CSU Pueblo student as well, except instead of a media student, he is majoring in history. He was offered the position from Brock Kilgore, a professor at the university. Buffalo worked closely with Nathan Stern of Fuel & Iron to secure sponsors and vendors to help finance the showcase.

“I think there’s a lot that these shows really bring forward. You’re giving people an opportunity to show what they’re made of, what they’re able to offer the world, and artistic abilities. Sometimes it’s hard to get noticed in this industry,” Buffalo said.

This year’s showcase brought in more local talent, which was a goal of many board members, including Olivia Abeyta-Maestas, who was invited by her wife, Dynelle, to join the team.

“My hope is that it reaches everywhere across Colorado. We are small, little, local Pueblo, but there’s so much talent here. My hope is for people to start to see Pueblo and see the talent that is here via the arts and via music,” Olivia said.

Many of the local musicians supported each other. Chela Lujan, lead singer of The Hardley Nevers, said that in addition to their performance at the Neon Alley stage, they also were backing up another artist, Inaiah Lujan.

Chela is from Pueblo and her band members are from the Rocky Ford and La Junta areas, so they consider themselves Southern Colorado. They have been together for three years, playing locally up and down the I-25 corridor.

“Music is everything. It turns all your bad feelings into good feelings. It lets you say the things you don’t necessarily know how. Music is life. I think it’s really important for local festivals especially to stay true to their local musicians, to give them lots of love because you know, we are your anchors. We’re bringing people in. We’re spreading the word, so it’s important to give lots of love to your local musicians and Pueblo is just full of so much amazing talent,” Chela said.

Kellen Goode performed at the stage at La Favorita bar. He is a singer-songwriter from Southeastern Colorado. As a father of three and working as a landscaper, he tries to find time to write music when he can.

“Anybody who is trying to write, if you’re doing music, shut your influences off for a minute. Don’t listen to any music and you’ll start making your own songs in your head that are like nothing you’ve ever heard. If you’re a songwriter, stop listening to your idols. Make your own stuff,” Goode said.

After his performance, Goode said he was heading over to see Thirteen Plagues perform at the stage at Presley’s. According to Goode, Maddie Herrera from Thirteen Plagues informed Goode of the Steel City Music Showcase. Herrera also recorded some of Goode’s songs for him.

The connection of local artists and friends was evident at the showcase.

Local artist Shannon Palmer, who goes by the artist name Deadhand, was in attendance for both this year and last year’s showcase. Her friends were performing for The Hardley Nevers.

“How I envision the showcase growing in the future, I would love to see it continue in size. It’s so great that they added a stage this year,” said Palmer. “… seeing all of Downtown filled up one day with stages would be amazing. And encouraging folks from out of town. We don’t just have Chili Fest; we’ve got the showcase now. Come and visit, spend your money Downtown, eat our food, see our talent, and just check out what Pueblo is really about.”

Just a Feeling was one of the first bands to hit the stage at Neon Alley on Saturday evening. The group features lead singer Adrian Hernandez and guitarist Tony Garcia — both Pueblo natives — alongside drummer Kurtis Holland from Denver. The trio has performed together as Just a Feeling for the past five years but have been involved in the music industry for much longer.

“I have been performing on the streets of Pueblo since I was 16, so that’s 16 years,” Hernandez shared. Back in 2012, Hernandez and Garcia were a part of another act called “Beyond Bridges” before collaborating with Holland for Just a Feeling.

This is the second time that Hernandez has attended the Steel City Music Showcase. In 2024, Hernandez performed with Kyle Spinuzzi in an act called Phat Quarter. “That was fun but this is kind of like the real deal when we get to bring out Just a Feeling like this,” Hernandez said.

Just a Feeling is an eclectic, emotional, alternative rock band. “We bring a little bit of 2000s’ nostalgia to the table, but also have a little more context and deeper thought to our lyricism.”

In the crowd were special guests, including Hernandez’s parents. Gina Truscelli-Percival, his mother, shared that Hernandez comes from a family of entertainers. Percival said that her father was the one who started music within the family. John James Truscelli has been a one-man band and a crooner his whole life, now at age 89 and still performing. Not only that, but most of Percival’s siblings are entertainers, including herself. “We’re Fireweed Bluegrass Band, Pueblo’s local bluegrass band,” Percival shared. Fireweed Bluegrass Band has been around for 27 years, in which Percival plays rhythm guitar and sings.

Hernandez shared his thoughts on how it feels to have his family in the crowd.

“It’s kind of like a home field advantage,” Hernandez commented. Even though Hernandez comes from a family of musicians, he never felt that it was forced on him. “It was just a matter of exposure and I think that everybody around me knew it was just a matter of time and here we are today.”

There were plenty of emerging artists alongside Just a Feeling, including folk solo act Victoria White performing at La Favorita Bar. Based out of Colorado Springs, White is a senior at Monument Academy High School and just weeks away from graduation. She’s planning to study neuroscience in college, all while continuing to pursue her passion for music.

“Originally I was going to take a gap year to focus on music,” White said, “but I realized that I do not want to let the education dream of mine die, so I am trying to integrate it as much as I can.”

This performance marked a major milestone for White — it was her first time taking the stage at a music festival such as the Steel City Music Showcase. The experience, she said, was perfect. “Everyone has been so nice and helpful; I am just so excited,” White commented.

Dary Nelson, lead singer and songwriter, was another act that performed over the weekend at the stage at Presley’s. During this performance, Nelson was accompanied by Daniel Lorenzo, who played fiddle and guitar for Saturday’s show. Both Nelson and Lorenzo hail from Denver, where Lorennzo plays for the band called Chariots & Charioteers.

Nelson considers her music to fall into the folk medicine genre.

“I share a lot of music, medicine of music that just helps us embrace wellness and mindfulness to support good living,” Nelson stated. Considering that this was Nelson’s first time at the Steel City Music Showcase, she said: “I feel incredibly honored to be a part of this. There’s so much vibrancy that this has brought to the town and I just see so much community around it.”

Nelson said that music festivals like the Steel City Music Showcase are essential and she hopes they continue to happen in the future.

Beasts of No Nation also hail from Denver and performed at the CSU Pueblo stage that Saturday evening. The band has been in action for only two years and this was their first time performing at a music festival.

“We play Afrofusion; it’s just all the Black music infused together all at once,” said Avery Jacob, the lead singer of the band. “We’re just paying homage and tribute to the greats and ancestors that came before us and sharing that vibration together.”

The band features a full lineup of musicians, including bass guitar, percussion, drums, trumpet, guitar, saxophone, trombone and keyboard.

Jacob complimented the setup of the Steel City Music Showcase and what his interaction has been.

“It’s very dope to see the diversity and the education of everything, too,” Jacob commented. “The fact that students are running this, it goes to show you that masters and students, we isolate between the two of them, but we are also learning in real time, just sharing that experience is beautiful,” Jacob stated.

Arlene Lucero, a CSU Pueblo alumna, attended this year’s Steel City Music Showcase for the first time with her family.

“It’s been really nice,” Lucero said. “I like the outdoors, and the different bands. I think this event brings in people from different locations and they can see the small town feel, the little shops, the Riverwalk, and everything that Pueblo has to offer,” Lucero shared.

Marlin Cole, originally from Pennsylvania, attended the Steel City Music Showcase for the first time.

“I love it,” Cole said. “It’s a culture thing, it’s different.”