Colorado singer-songwriter and guitar slinger Michael Swett may live in Colorado Springs, but his roots run deep in the South. Born and raised in North Carolina, he soaked in the country-infused southern rock sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blackfoot and Marshall Tucker.

After years playing hard rock and metal, Swett returned to his musical roots when he founded Red Mountain Highway in 2021.

“It reminded me of being a kid in my dad’s workshop, stealing Cheerwines out of the fridge and listening to the classics, the Randy Travises of the world, playing over the speakers in my dad’s shop,” Swett told The Denver Gazette.

As his band’s success grew — from $400 bar gigs to regular multi-thousand-dollar shows — Swett noticed something missing.

“Every band is on its own island in charge of its own relationship management, its own booking, its own professional development, its own recording and so forth,” he said. “There was really no architecture or infrastructure to help anyone be successful.”

Swett was determined to fix that. Last year, he founded the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Mountain West Country Music Association in Colorado Springs — launching the group as he retired from the Army after 22 years, multiple combat tours and achieving the rank of sergeant major.

“Our three major lines of effort are to support and develop up-and-coming artists, cultivate passion for country music in the communities that we serve, and bring regional and national talent to our towns and cities,” Swett said.

Marketing director Kristen Overstreet summed it up: “The Mountain West Country Music Association’s mission to create and support sustainable careers in country music.”

The association has gained roughly 100 members, including more than 40 artists and bands, and is growing monthly. It’s also branched into three chapters: Colorado Springs, Northern Colorado and Denver.

“Our goal is to build a community of artists, fans, venue owners — a place where everyone is welcome and everyone has a voice,” said Rachelle Patino Heinecke, Denver’s president.

She’s joined by Vice President Ryan Chrys, a champion of Colorado’s country music scene and bandleader of Ryan Chrys and the Rough Cuts.

“We’re both of the mindset that we want to go outside of just cookie-cutter country,” Heinecke said. “We want to invite Americana, bluegrass, rockabilly — anybody with country roots is welcome.”

Bands outside the genre can join as associate members, and students studying music-related fields can join free. The aim is to help artists develop so venues can and will pay more — and to help venues, which are invited to become industry members, find quality acts.

Pro-artists, in turn, are vetted by the board.

“The venues don’t have to worry that these guys are going to… do the best job that they can, because they will,” Heinecke said.

Among the growing pro-artist ranks is Brian Brooks’ Sundown Rising, fresh off a Colorado Country Music Hall of Fame win for Newcomer of the Year and nominated for the association’s People’s Choice Award, to be presented at its inaugural awards show Oct. 25 at the Antlers Hotel.

Brooks — a 20-year Army veteran who won Best Country Band in the Army’s 1999 Battle of the Bands — now leads the Northern Colorado chapter, which kicked off recently with an event at Loveland’s Tom Davis Saloon, now a venue member.

“That was such a great turnout,” he said. “We tried to give personal invitations to everybody within our country music community here. I don’t think it could have went any better.”

Brooks, who previously ran Terry Bison Ranch concerts and has managed venues, stressed the inclusive vision: “It’s not just an organization with a seat at the table for the musicians, but a seat at the table for the venues and the folks who come out to the show, so that everybody has a voice.”

It’s an entrepreneurial mindset that extends throughout the association, with Swett — who holds an MBA — bringing a business edge rarely seen among music organizations.

“If I’m just a great player out here who has a good product and a great band, how do I make that into a great living on a full-time basis and make more than the $425 that we currently average?” he asked.

The association provides professional development workshops covering the gamut of business practices, marketing, bidding and estimating, musical techniques and instrument tone — a strategic approach inspired by his Army years.

“Through most of my career, I served as a trainer and a mentor,” Swett said. “In Special Forces, we do a lot of stuff we call ‘force multiplication’ — training, advising and mentoring people to be better versions of themselves. You can’t really professionalize a scene without some education.”

Brooks agrees, emphasizing the practical value of learning real-world skills for success.

“A lot of these guys playing in the clubs, most of them have day jobs,” he said. “Being able to simplify that for them and say, ‘This is all you have to do. This is the way to put this together.’ And being able to provide them with those resources and encourage that growth.”

The Oct. 25 event begins with an eight-hour educational symposium. The ticketed awards show will follow with a cocktail hour, dinner, live performances and country dancing to Brooks’ band.

“(Swett’s) offering something that has never existed,” Heinecke said. “Once they start seeing the opportunities that are provided, they’re going to wonder how they were able to get along without this.”

Next year, the organization will host the first Mountain West Country Fest in Colorado Springs and partner with the Hispanic Restaurant Association for Denver’s annual Colorado Beef Festival.

“We’re empowering artists to play at those events and creating little tour abilities that just don’t exist yet,” Swett said, such as a partnership with the Phil Long Music Hall in Colorado Springs.

It’s all part of a strategic “five-year, seven-state plan,” beginning with an expansion to Wyoming next year, followed by Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada and New Mexico — proving you don’t need Nashville to succeed in country music.

“We’re building the idea that, if you’re really good, you can actually start and stay in the Mountain West and have a successful career,” Swett said. “And we’re starting here in Colorado.”

Jimmy Sengenberger is a weekly columnist for The Denver Gazette, host of the “Blues Business” podcast, and leader of the Jimmy Junior Blues Band, where he plays harmonica under the moniker Jimmy Junior.