We’ve experienced many wonderful things in our career and we’ve had a number of beautiful new experiences on our Summer 2025 tour, but receiving the news that several new species of lichen had been identified and named after us was a unique and awesome thing. We are honored and inspired to know our music resonates with those in the scientific community who help us better understand living responsibly in and protecting our natural world.
So say hello to Lecanora indigoana, Lepraria saliersiae, and Pertusaria rayiana
Earlier this summer, we had the opportunity to meet the CU Boulder team who made the discoveries when they came and visited us backstage at Red Rocks Amphitheater on the opening night of our co-headline tour with Melissa Etheridge. Lead biologist Erin Manzitto-Tripp Watts and her two Ph.D. candidates Jacob Watts and Seth Raynor are undergoing a massive undertaking in writing the first-ever taxonomic treatment of the lichens of Colorado. Lichens are among many things: early indicators of climate change and air quality, crucial to the health of alpine, forest, desert, and grassland ecosystems, and globally threatened and understudied.
DONATE TO THE RESEARCH
This is important work and Erin and her team need our help to get it done! Please take a moment to read their GoFundMe page and donate what you can afford to these wonderful and committed researchers.