Where Have All the Average People Gone
The countdown to Music Fest is on, and I can’t help but think back to when I first heard Danno Simpson cover Roger Miller’s “Where Have All the Average People Gone.” It was 2022 at Shmiggity’s in Steamboat. The kind of moment that sticks with you for life. By 2025, I had the chance to video his version at MusicFest, and it still brings me to tears.
“Where Have All the Average People Gone” - Roger Miller, as covered by Danno Simpson.
The first time I heard this song wasn’t from Roger Miller. It was in 2022, at Shmiggity’s in Steamboat Springs, or “home for now,” as I like to call it, even though I was born and raised in the Yampa Valley. It wasn’t the original either. It was Danno Simpson, live, at a pre‑Music Fest show. You know, before the week‑long Texas fiasco full of drunkards, poets, and some of the most down‑home, amazing people who turn Steamboat into a musical paradise.
The Music Fest has been my favorite time of year in the valley, maybe all year, since I first realized it even existed. Honestly, I was pissed nobody in my family or community ever told me about it sooner. But all it took was a pair of skis just good enough to mount some pawn‑shop boots, and I was off with my buddies. I’ve been making it a priority ever since.
Around here, locals call it “Texas Week.” People get fired up. You can feel it in the air. Or maybe that's just the knowing of what’s to come. For me? I was hooked. From my first Ragweed show at the Steamboat Springs free concert series, learning about the magic of music through Cody Canada, to screaming my lungs out to Danno at The Music Fest, I’ve been in love with it ever since.
Danno’s from Fort Collins, though you’d never guess it by listening. He’s got that rare gift. The ability to completely capture a crowd. In one set he’ll cut deep with a murder ballad (The Final Stand of Henry Lee), bring a grown man to tears with the only song ever written about the irrigation industry (Honest Work), then make you reflect on how damn fast the (Days gone By). By the end of the set, you feel like you’ve lived a lifetime and you’ve never had more fun doing it.
Fast‑forward to The Music Fest 2025, when I finally got the chance to video his cover of “Where Have All the Average People Gone.” Before he played it, Danno told the story of how he first heard the song, sitting in a fast‑food drive‑through, where it hit him so hard he broke down in tears.
Roger Miller’s version has that upbeat, almost playful tone. But when Danno sings it, you hear something different. His delivery carries a desperation that makes the lyrics feel raw and urgent. He slowed it down, made every word count, and somehow turned it into something uniquely his own. Without losing what made the original great.
He damn sure brought me to tears that first night in 2022, and I’ve requested it at his shows ever since.
https://youtu.be/GYSD-62_XsE?si=LkAfMOBXISvqrLd7
The Broken Drum Still Beats: Honoring My Great-Grandpa, Forrest Markle
Forrest Markle ran Hayden Colorado’s Broken Drum Café while serving as mayor, and still found time to write a song after the moon landing. A reminder that his curiosity lives on in the stars.
When I started Artful Imagination Endeavors, I wasn’t exactly sure what it would become. What I did know was that I wanted it to be a place to share stories, music, art, and inspiration from the many wonderful people in this world. As I search for a way to begin, I realize the best place to start is with my own roots. With the story of my great-grandpa, Forrest Markle.
Forrest wasn’t just a name in our family history. He was the mayor of Hayden, Colorado, in the late 1960s and ’70s, a man who poured his heart into his community. Alongside his wife, Margery, he ran The Broken Drum Café, a local gathering place known for good meals, conversation, and the kind of small-town connection that seems rarer with each passing year.
His legacy doesn’t stop at public service and community building. Forrest also wrote a song called The Moon is Not for Lovers, recorded by Buck Jones after the Apollo moon landing. Its lyrics captured a powerful feeling at the time. That the moon had shifted from being a symbol of mystery and romance to something cold, scientific, and distant. Yet the song reminds us that even as rockets reach new heights, we should never lose the wonder that made us look up at the night sky in the first place.
Artful Imagination Endeavors is my way of carrying that spirit forward. The name The Broken Drum for my dream project isn’t just a nod to the café Forrest and Margery once ran. It’s a tribute to a man whose story, service, and creativity continue to inspire me.
Here’s to keeping the wonder alive.