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Discover Salt Lake magazine’s music section. Here you’ll find previews and reviews of upcoming local concerts and performances in Salt Lake City, along the Wasatch Front and Back, and around Utah to help you discover great live music and events.

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Review: Alison Krauss at Red Butte Garden

By Music

Alison Krauss & Union Station performed at Red Butte Gardens’ Outdoor Concert Series last Friday (July 25, 2025) and, once again, promptly sold the place out. The band’s in the midst of its Arcadia Tour (named after their impressive 2025 album of the same name) and had an incredible neon sign onstage in case anyone forgot. Krauss needed little help playing and singing to the gathered mass, but she brought along Willie Dixon and Jerry Douglas anyway, spreading talent in every which way Friday night.

For her part, every song Krauss sang was an immediate soul salve, an invitation to breathe a little easier, a song preceding a long night of rest. She quipped at one point that the collective had mostly sad music in its repertoire — that their entire goal was to leave the crowd feeling far worse than they did before they arrived — but it hardly dampened spirits. Both songs and band received their appropriate spotlight, and we were better off for it. Whether it was Douglas offering frequently long jams on his Dobro or Krauss easing us through the band’s catalog (“Looks Like The End of the Road,” “The Hangman,” even an O Brother Where Art Thou nod with “Down to the River to Pray”), it was a welcome respite to the week. When bluegrass delves into lullaby territory, it creates a mood you don’t ever quite want to stop. Thank you, Alison. Thank you, players.   



Read more of our music coverage and get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Preview: Red Butte Garden Welcomes Elephant Revival w/ Two Runner

By Music

The musical circus, Elephant Revival, is coming to town! On Wednesday, July 30, 2025, the lovely Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre will serve as their proverbial big top. The Nederland, Colorado sextuplet thrills their audiences with a genre-fluid, multi-instrumental newgrass sound, a musical style that blends transcendental folk and Kentucky bluegrass with the devil’s lettuce. It’s folk music–if the folks were Celts, gypsies, and hippies. Their ethereal and earthy, soul-soothing sound will fill our mountains with positive vibes. They’re the perfect elixir for these fractious times.

Band leader Bonnie Paine blends her siren vocals with multiple instruments like the washboard, cello, and musical saw. The six-piece ensemble creates a celestial symphonic sound with guitars, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass, pedal steel, banjo, and a variety of drums. In the past, they’ve included a drumline and aerial acrobats to add to the carnivalesque atmosphere (though I doubt the Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre stage is built for aerial acrobatics.) 

The band formed in 2006 and toured extensively with frequent stops in Utah, including a couple of New Year’s Eve shows at The State Room, which are forever etched in my mind. In 2008, they released their debut self-titled album that featured trippy favorites “Ring Around The Moon” and “Sing to the Mountain.” The band has six full-length LPs to their credit, including my personal favorite, These Changing Skies (2013).  

In 2018, the band announced an indefinite hiatus (a gentle way of saying “breakup”), but fortunately for their legions of fans, they resumed their music-making in 2022 and started touring in 2023 (minus Daniel Rodriguez, who had set off on a solo career). The reconstituted ensemble is back and better than ever!

Here’s a preshow teaser– enjoy their mind-blowing cover of Tool’s “Schism. Click Here for the Video.

Opening is Two Runner, a folk duo from Northern California. Their beautiful harmonies will send you to the right headspace for Elephant Revival’s magical musical experience. Songwriter Paige Anderson and fiddler Emilie Rose blend a twangy clawhammer banjo and fiddle with sweet vocal harmonies. In 2023, they released their debut album Modern Cowboy. The record features a fresh mix of eclectic mountain music that finds a home in the High Sierra, Rockies, or along the Appalachian Trail. The album stretches the boundaries of bluegrass, folk, and country, capturing a majestic sound with minimal instrumentation.

Summer is fading fast, so don’t miss an opportunity to groove on the otherworldly sounds of Elephant Revival in a bucolic setting. It’s also an economical night out, considering you can bring in your tasty treats and soothing libations without paying the inflated concession prices of similar venues.

Who: Elephant Revival w/ Two Runner
What: Red Butte Outdoor Concert Series 2025
Where: Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre
When: Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Info and tickets: https://redbuttegarden.org/concerts/



Read more of our music coverage and get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Interview: Built To Spill’s Doug Martsch

By Music

Built to Spill returns to The Urban Lounge on Wednesday, July 23, at 7 p.m. In advance of the show, we spoke to Built to Spill frontman Doug Martsch. We caught up to him before a gig in
Minnesota.

He was in a good mood, as well he should be: he’s doing what he loves to do and has done since the band formed over 30 years ago in 1992. The Boise-based rock trio was playing a string of summer dates with Yo La Tengo (another trio keen on making a lot of noise) when we spoke. Even though both bands played Salt Lake’s Kilby Block Party earlier this year, it’s the first time they’ve toured together, and he says it’s been fun.

And when you’re in a band that tours nearly half the year — about 150 shows, give or take — having a good time doing it is likely one of those constants, a goal to always reach for.  

“If you’re having a good night, it feels good. It’s not work at all,” Martsch says about playing live versus being holed up in a studio. While making albums always has felt like starting over from scratch, he says, stepping onto a stage for a few hours always feels easy.

Part of that is about stripping songs down to their most key elements. While he grew up trying to emulate the sounds of his heroes at the time (including Dinosaur, Jr., Butthole Surfers, Camper Van Beethoven), now he spends his time absorbing old soul and reggae records. All are filled with sounds that never feel overly complex. 

There’s a utilitarian nature about the albums created 50 years ago, and those artists delivered their music without adding anything fancy on top, Martsch says, and that’s a draw.

“When I was younger, I was trying to be clever and find chords that were different from what others were doing, finding new melodies. But as I grow older, that no longer matters to me,” Martsch says. “It’s more about who the real person is [for me], a chance to glimpse into someone’s soul. Musically, things are simpler. Now it’s about trying to emote better.”

Playing live always allows for that.

“Just plugging my shit in and playing is much more satisfying. I’ve become more comfortable figuring out ways to play that make sense for me to do, my personal strengths. When you’re young, you’re figuring out what you can do and what limits to push, who you want to sound like. At my age, I know what my limitations are and what I sound like. I can try and do my best within that. Every night I’m up there, I can try to sing and play songs better than I ever have before, and there’s still room to fuck around and make it different from night to night.”

“Most wouldn’t pick up on that, and you would have to see a bunch of our shows to pick up on that happening. But for me, it feels like freedom.”

See for yourself what freedom can sound like this Wednesday. Buy your ticket before the show HERE.


Read more of our music coverage and get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Rhiannon Giddens - Red Butte Garden - Salt Lake Magazine Review

Review: Rhiannon Giddens’ uplifting musical adventure

By Music

On Wednesday night (July 16, 2025), Rhiannon Giddens & The Old-Time Revue transformed the Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre stage into their magical, traveling porch, inviting us to join them for an uplifting musical adventure. North Carolina (minus the humidity) became our first sonic waystation with Giddens and Dirk Powell delivering a powerful rendition of Elizabeth Cotton’s “Freight Train.” 

Giddens’ former musical partner in the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Justin Robinson, stepped up on the porch with fiddle in hand to pay homage to the late Joe Thompson, a shared mentor who taught them both the banjo and fiddle tune, “Georgia Buck.” The remaining members of the ensemble joined in with Jason Sypher on upright bass, Amelia Powell on guitar, and rapper Demeanor (Giddens’ nephew) on bones and any other instrument within reach. We stayed in the Carolinas for one more number as the porch-rockin’ string band symphony played “High on a Mountain.” That, we were. 

Our next musical stop was South Louisiana. Dirk Powell led with “Dimanche Apres-Midi” (or Sunday afternoon for us Anglophones), an uplifting accordion-forward Cajun tune followed by the 2-step “Back of Town.” That Zydeco-adjacent sound liberated me from my low-back chair and sent me scurrying to the garden’s dancing space. 

Giddens’ rendition of a Yoruba language folk song, “Laye Olugbon,” then took us to a rich landscape of American roots music in Southwestern Nigeria. That trip across the ocean is an essential part of the American musical flight path. The banjo, brought to us by Afro-Caribbean slaves, occupies a central place in our heritage. Throughout the evening, Giddens & The Old-Time Revue demonstrated the versatility of the banjo and how, for generations, it provided struggling laborers (free and enslaved) with a conduit for telling their stories. Case in point: Giddens’ nephew, Demeanor, performed a genre-bending banjo-driven rap song, “Polyphia.” Don’t look so puzzled. Blending a traditional sound with a modern style, he showed us the best of the American roots tradition. And it all made sense! Come on, Snoop Dogg, grab that four-string!

The captivating, 20-song set made us wonder where we’d go next on our road trip. We landed in Bakersfield, California. Amelia Powell added just the right amount of Merle Haggard honky-tonk twang with her soulful rendition of “Somewhere Between.” Dirk and Amelia Powell (father/daughter) then teamed up with Demeanor on a new song they recently penned together. “Out of Sight” stayed true to its name. The catchy Cajun-roots-pop sound has all the earmarks of a hit. 

Our American roots tour then took us to the Mississippi Delta when Giddens brought out a 1850s-style fretless banjo and shredded an original blues number, “Step Away Blues.”  Who knew you could rock the blues with a banjo?

The evening drew to a close much too quickly. Giddens played “At The Purchaser’s Option,” a fan favorite from her fantastic 2017 folk album Freedom Highway. The ensemble ended the show with A.P. Carter’s “God Gave Noah the Rainbow Sign.” That old-school country gospel tune provided a perfect “amen” to end an evening of American Roots music. 

Giddens returned to the porch and delivered a heart-stirring a cappella version of “Pretty Saro.” Her pitch-perfect, soprano voice wafted over the crowd and echoed through the mountains and back to her audience, who listened intently in the Garden. The full ensemble came out and jammed “Riro’s House” to end a perfect evening.

Fun fact: In addition to a couple of Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize in music, Rhiannon Giddens received a MacArthur “Genius” award for her work to revitalize the black string band tradition. The crowd at Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre on Wednesday night witnessed that brilliance.

Sunny War opened the show with a stellar 8-song solo set. Her dreamy vocals and skillful finger picking immediately won the crowd’s attention. Listeners put aside their precious chickpea dip and chardonnay to fully embrace War’s bluesy folk. I particularly liked her gritty “He Is My Cell.” Then she played two bangers, “No Reason” and “Whole,” from her 2023 album Anarchist Gospel. I was hoping for several tracks from her remarkable new record Armageddon In A Summer Dress, but I guess that’ll have to wait for another time. I would love to see her again with a band at an intimate listening room, such as The State Room or Urban Lounge. 

  • Who: Rhiannon Giddens &The Old Time Revue w/ Sunny War
  • What: Outdoor Concert Series 2025
  • Where: Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre
  • When: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
  • More from John Nelson

Read more of our music coverage and get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Review: Ben Kweller at Urban Lounge

By Music

Ben Kweller paid Salt Lake City’s Urban Lounge a visit on Monday (July 14, 2025). Everyone was as happy to see him arrive as they were sad to see him leave.

It’d been a few years since he played here and, judging from Monday’s crowd, the locals missed him hard. From the time he and his band of merry men showed until the time they called it a night, it felt like a long and intimate embrace, one of those where neither quite wants to let go. Kweller and his band (which notably included Christopher Mintz-Plasse on bass, aka Superbad’s McLovin) played a loose, fast set that borrowed heavily from his latest effort, 2025’s Cover The Mirrors without leaving behind longtime favorites like “Falling,” “Family Tree” and “Sundress.” The 20-song setlist he bounced his way through allowed for a lot of joy (onstage and off) and, considering his latest album is about his late sixteen-year-old son, that’s saying something. It wasn’t a somber look back, but a celebration of a life abbreviated. 

Photography by Nathan Christianson, @npcplus

If you were a more a casual fan than a memorize-every-lyric sort, it was nearly an out-of-body experience to not only watch Kweller thrill, very ably playing musical chairs with himself (flitting from piano to harmonica to guitar and so on), but to be surrounded by so many enthusiastic echoes, fans singing his own words back at him. He invited that response, encouraged it even; he ditched the microphone and guitar to sing most of “On My Way” acapella, leading all like an enthusiastic choir director.

Photography by Nathan Christianson, @npcplus

If there were any tears shed that night, they had to have been the happy kind.      



Read more of our music coverage and get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Review: Collective Soul at Utah First Credit Union Ampitheatre

By Music

Collective Soul and Live combined forces at Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre in West Valley City on Sunday (7/13/2025) and it was the kind of stuff 90s rock dreams are made of. Both bands rolled out their extensive catalogs, leaning on equal parts nostalgia, familiarity, and staying power. Considering it’s been at least two decades since either experienced peak popularity, it’s hard to believe songs like ”Lightning Crashes” or “All Over You” or “Where The River Flows” have been around as long as they have. No matter. All still count as ear candy. 

It bears mentioning that it’s hard to pin down either headliner’s influences. It’s a good thing. They don’t feel like shadows of anything that’s preceded them, and each lays claim to a defiantly original sound and voice. Perhaps that’s why we’re still filling up seats to see them continue to do what they do well, for as long as they continue to share. Both bands shared new music, too, so there’s no immediate danger of either going away anytime soon. 

Opening the night was Canada’s Our Lady Peace, who proved in 30 minutes or so that they could have easily served as a third headliner. Still, time constraints and what-not. Maybe they’ll come back for a longer visit? “Superman’s Dead” sounds as good as it ever did.

All in all, no notes. I would 100% sign up to ride that ride again. When you wake up the next day and discover you have Live’s “I Alone” or Collective Soul’s “Shine” lodged in your brain, you just know it’s going to be a good day. It somehow bodes well for future greatness. 


Read more of our music coverage and get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Review: Lyle Lovett and His Large Band

By Music

Lyle Lovett And His Large Band played (and sang and collectively swayed) at the Sandy Amphitheater on Wednesday (July 9, 2025) and it immediately felt like an invitation to have a reverential experience. That’s not even solely because they opened the night with a couple gospel numbers that included a rousing take on “I’m A Soldier In The Army of the Lord” and a powerful “Pass Me Not O’ Gentle Savior” (though it didn’t hurt matters). It felt holy because of the great care and tenderness everyone had about the show they were putting on.

Every time a member of Lovett’s band had a chance to solo was also a chance to stop time. All 15 musicians on stage would turn to become their closest audience. One spotlight would shine while the stage darkened. The audience noticed that kind of attention, too, responding as doubled-down devotees of those they came to see. They’d forget to talk and breathe for long seconds at a time. With a lot of moments like that throughout the two hours and change that Lovett and all the rest spent with us, we couldn’t help but leave feeling lighter than before, more grateful, refreshed, and unburdened than we originally did. 

Photo credit Elyse George

As a musician who’s been at this racket nearly five decades — and with some in his band likely doing it at touch longer — Lovett had a lot of songs to sing, but he had anecdotes to unload as well. As a father of a couple of eight-year-old twins, it seems a lot of his music’s been directly inspired by his experiences with his kiddos (“Pants is Overrated,” for one). Other Lovett favorites made it to the set list, too, including “If I Had A Boat,” “Cowboy Man,” “That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas),” and “Nobody Knows Me” and a string of others.

Perhaps this gets said more and more the further down the road we get, but the kind of show Lovett and his very large band do doesn’t get to exist much anymore (not outside of, say, Branson, MO). It’s a throwback to a generation and time that feels kinder and gentler, and that’s a nice place to be. And while few do what they do anymore, fewer still know how to. May Lovett’s train run long. May he continue crafting tales out of his own life, being the genuinely tenderhearted sort he is. With some luck, it’ll catch on like a bushfire. 



Read more of our music coverage and get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Rhiannon Giddens at Red Butte

Preview: Rhiannon Giddens & The Old-Time Revue

By Music

Here’s my recipe for a delicious summer evening: Take a warm summer night, add a lush garden, and stir in the sounds of a string band dancing through the mountain air. Then grab your fancy picnic baskets and head to Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, for a spectacular evening of front-porch rockin’ music from Rhiannon Giddens & The Old-Time Revue. 

Collaborating with The Old-Time Revue marks Giddens’ much-anticipated return to her North Carolina roots and the old-time music tradition that launched her career. A 2x GRAMMY winner, Giddens also received the Pulitzer Prize in music for her opera “Omar,” and a MacArthur “genius” award for reclaiming African American contributions to folk and country music and weaving together music from the past and present. She is also a virtuosic multi-instrumentalist with a classically trained soprano voice.

Giddens and The Old-Time Revue represent a remarkable collaboration with talent from diverse  American musical traditions. Joining Giddens on stage will be her old Carolina Chocolate Drop collaborator, Justin Robinson, and the celebrated multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, longtime bassist Jason Sypher, guitarist Amelia Powell, and bones player and rapper Demeanor.

What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crows, her new album recorded with Robinson, is a fiddle-and-banjo celebration of the wonderful complexity of American Roots music. The record features a mix of North Carolinian instrumentals and traditional songs, many learned from her late mentor, the legendary North Carolina Piedmont musician Joe Thompson. Thompson was one of the last musicians from his community to carry on the southern Black string band tradition. Rhiannon Giddens & The Old-Time Revue pay homage to that legacy and shepherd it into a new era. 

Blending many of the tributaries of Americana, including blues, folk, country, Cajun, hip-hop, and African styles, Giddens and company breathe life into old-time roots music, keeping it alive and relevant in the 21st century. 

Click HERE for a video of Paul Simon and Rhiannon Giddens singing “American Tune.”

Opening is Sunny War (a.k.a. Sydney Ward), a fresh voice for these complicated times. She mixes the poetry of folk with the angry defiance of punk and the hard realities of blues to create a rootsy pop sound that’s whimsically sharp. 

Click HERE for a fun video of Sunny War’s “Walking Contradiction.”

  • Who: Rhiannon Giddens &The Old-Time Revue w/ Sunny War
  • What: Red Butte Garden Outdoor Concert Series
  • Where: Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre
  • When: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
  • Info and tickets: redbuttegarden.org 

Read more of our music coverage and get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Interview: Catching Up with Lyle Lovett

By Music

Lyle Lovett is busy doing all he loves.

I was lucky enough to talk with the decorated singer-composer while he was at home in Texas recently and enjoying a day off. He’s touring almost nightly with his infamous Large Band throughout July and, with a crew and band totaling 30 altogether, he’s quick to admit it’s like moving a small village every time they uproot from one city and head to the next.

Still, it’s the lifestyle he and his group are accustomed to. Lovett’s been with his Large Band since 1988, allowing the collective to play his songs in concert the very way they recorded them.

“It took a couple years before I could afford having a band [of that size] on the road with me, but now I have the full range of possibilities at my fingertips,” Lovett says.

Put another way, it allows the background singers and sax players and multiple guitarists (and pretty much everyone else) plenty of freedom when it comes to genres. Some songs are better expressed as country tunes, while others are best stripped down and done acoustically. Still others demand a full horn section.

Whatever is warranted at the time, chances are they’re able to tackle it, and with a fair amount of panache. Besides, he’s had some time to get really, really great at this: Lovett’s been in the business of creating and playing songs since 1976. Next year marks 50 years since he started.

“Playing live is what I will always love to do. When you play for people who support you and come to your shows, you know they want to be there. What could be better than that?”

He’s a fan of music, period. He enjoys surrounding himself with musicians who are free to improvise whenever they see fit. Night after night, they’ll change songs when Lovett least expects it, and he’s the only one who gets to hear how they transform with every performance; he likens that to having the best seat in the house, getting to listen to and be inspired by a group that’s both smart and talented at what they do.

“I’ve never approached my career stylistically. I think of myself as a songwriter, giving voice in the best ways possible to each song,” Lovett says. “And I want to give everyone in the ensemble a chance to play, too. When the show’s over, I want the audience to feel like they know everybody on stage, not just me.”

Playing a wide range of genres came from habits that started early in his life. Lovett grew up in Houston, and was often glued to the radio and absorbing whatever stations came in clearest. When he wasn’t doing that, he dug through his parents’ records, albums by time-tested greats like Ray Price, Glenn Miller, Ray Charles, and Nat King Cole. And when they gifted him a record player that played 45s, he built out his own library of Elvis Presley, Beatles, and Rolling Stones records, a collection he still has and cherishes.

“And when I started first grade at a Lutheran school, singing in the choir was a big part of every day, trying to sing in tune and keep pitch. I always looked forward to it,” Lovett says. “It felt as much fun for me as recess.”

While Lovett can’t pick a favorite song he’s written — each occupying unique periods throughout his life — he doesn’t hesitate at picking favorite singers. Randy Newman and Paul Simon are standouts. So are Guy Clark and Michael Martin Murphey and Jackson Browne. Their songs offer deep insight into their humanity, he says, undeniable connections between what they have created and paired with their authentic singing voices. 

When asked about using AI to help write music, he’s quick to say he’ll steer clear. He’s not even remotely curious to hear what a music generation assistant might do with his voice or writing. In the same breath, it strikes him as funny that he’s lived long enough to even have a conversation about it, and to see it beginning to happen.

AI won’t be creeping into anything he or his band does, though, and that feels right.

“No matter how accurate computers are, I’d rather listen to a real person and know the song came from them, rather than listening to an interpretation,” Lovett says. “There’s something about that human connection and feeling that is important, and I much prefer it.” 

Lyle Lovett and His Large Band play Sandy Amphitheater on Wednesday, July 9 at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale via Ticketmaster.


Read more of our music coverage and get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Review: Charley Crocket at Granary Live

By Music

Charley Crockett rolled into Salt Lake City on Wednesday (July 2, 2025) at Granary Live and everyone within earshot was better off for the long visit. In addition to those who ponied up and actually paid for admission, his songs invited their share of curious rooftop watchers, too. And the higher up their roofs actually were, the better their views of the eventual hazy sunset were. Scenery with a soundtrack. A midweek double win.

While the concert had all the polished bravado of a shiny Vegas show  — Crockett’s larger-than-life name was all in lights behind him and also painted in red across his tour bus, challenging you to ever forget it — he also took time to get more intimate, too. Often, it was just him and his acoustic guitar on the stage, drawing you in with tales likely plucked from his own life, favorites like “Welcome to Hard Times,” “$10 Cowboy,” and “I Need Your Love.”  

Crockett’s visit was an ample excuse for Utahns to wear their favorite cowboy boots and hats, nearly mirroring the Texas singer, no matter what level of cowboy/cowgirl they were. While his music appears to transcend the genre it mostly belongs to — there’s a lot of soul and maybe even an occasional touch of R & B in there if you listen hard enough — defying easy categorization is a plus. It increases how we see him and what he’s able to create in the future. In short, Crockett is hardly a one-note talent or success, and he proved that with every song he performed. 

Photography by Matt Dippel | @gorgeouscornchip


Read more of our music coverage and get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lakre magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.