Hometown For The Holidays 2025: Top 11
Every December, KTCL Channel 93.3 gives Colorado bands a shot at one of the coolest local music boosts around: Hometown For The Holidays. It’s part contest, part discovery playlist, part bragging rights for the scene. Fans vote, bands submit their best tracks, and this year’s top eleven are now sliding into on-air rotation for everyone to hear. Eleven instead of ten, because for 2025, there was a tie. Bonus!
I was honored to serve on the “Listening Committee” again this year, albeit via zoom due to our first real dump of snow this season. But what happens is Nerf, Steve, Smitty and the crew gather industry folks to listen to songs submitted by local bands and we as a group anonymously score the songs. That gets tabulated and then the Top Ten (11) go into rotation on Channel 93.3 for a few weeks.
This year’s top eleven represent a wide slice of what Colorado sounds like right now. Some bands are brand-new, some have been grinding for years, and all of them earned the coveted airtime by rising to the top of an awesome pool of submissions. Whether you’re a longtime local-music supporter or just dipping in, it’s a perfect moment to queue up the list, follow a few accounts, and maybe even catch a show before these bands start selling out bigger rooms.
Then KTCL “Music Nerds” will vote on the songs in the weekly music survey and the Top Three play a FREE concert at Summit’s Moon Room on December 20th. The winner of the song contest vote gets to open next year’s Not So Silent Night event, while there is always a rowdy in-room clap vote for best performance the night of.
Obviously, I am a huge fan of our local scene and have been building this Colorado & Denver Bands playlist for years and years. It’s best played on shuffle because it’s so diverse, and I also try to get as many local shows on our Denver Concert Calendar as possible. Let me know if I am missing any!
Otherwise, check out our Top 11 below and I hope to see you at the Moon Room for HTFTH 2025!
Channel 93.3 KTCL Top 11
Hometown For The Holidays 2025
Adolla “Birds”
Blankslate “Mountain Charley”
CITRA “Long Way Around”
Espiaille “Fact or Fiction”
HRZN “Haunted”
Idle Freaks “Fight or Flight”
Koy Pond “I Know A Ghost”
Left Out “Unlike Me”
Overtime Winner “Finding My Purpose After a Few Mulligans”
The Photo Atlas “Just Keep Moving On”
Stray The Course “Sidewalk Chalk”
Hometown For The Holidays Top Three Concert
Saturday, December 20th
Summit Moon Room
1902 Blake St, Denver, CO 80202
Cost: Free! No ticket needed!
Check out other posts about local Colorado bands!
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