Front Range

Front Range stands among the leading acts in present-day bluegrass through its expert instrumental work and rich three- and four-part vocal harmonies. The group’s recordings stay grounded in the classic idioms of Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs yet absorb outside currents from the Beatles, Robert Johnson, Celtic music, and classical repertoire. Front Range’s third album, One Beautiful Morning, received the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Best Gospel Recording award for 1995. Its fourth album, Ramblin’ on My Mind, rose to the number-three position on the National Bluegrass Survey assembled by Bluegrass Unlimited magazine and stayed several weeks inside the Top Ten of the Gavin Americana charts throughout 1997.

The band functions as a collective whose lineup has remained unchanged since its start. Delaware-born Bob Amos supplies lead vocals, plays acoustic guitar, and authors most of the material. Growing up in a musical household, he absorbed sounds from opera to folk before discovering bluegrass via a Stanley Brothers recording. After earning a master’s degree in geology, he worked as a geologist in Denver during the 1980s. Amos now lives in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley and is preparing his first solo project, co-produced by David McLaughlin. His song “Where the Wild River Flows” was later recorded by Hot Rize.

Kansas native Ron Lynam, from Wichita, handles banjo, guitar, and bass vocals. He first encountered bluegrass at a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band concert in 1971. While studying anthropology at Wichita State College and performing with local bands, he completed his degree. In 1978 Lynam moved to Colorado with a band, playing music at night and working days as a carpenter. He returned to college in 1985 to obtain a teaching certificate. That same year he won the Telluride Bluegrass banjo contest and joined Front Range following a phone call from Amos. In 1997 the Rocky Mountain Bluegrass Festival named him Best Banjo Player.

Denver-born Mike Lantz performs on mandolin and sings tenor while maintaining his work with children at Children’s Hospital and in the Denver school system. Massachusetts native Bob Dick plays bass and sings baritone; he is the younger brother of Salamander Crossing banjoist Dave Dick. Dick gained experience with several New England bluegrass bands and as a substitute with groups such as the Tony Rice Unit. He furthered his training by studying jazz bass at Berklee College of Music in Boston.