Courtlyn Bills

bluegrass · newgrass · jam band

Courtlyn Bills is a mandolinist and vocalist based in Denver, Colorado, best known as a member of the progressive bluegrass quartet Magoo. He met the band's other members at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and moved from Texas to Denver to join them; the group has been playing together since 2022. Magoo pairs him with Erik Hill on guitar, Dylan Flynn on dobro and A. Denton Turner on upright bass, with all four singing. The band leans on tight three-part harmony, intricate original arrangements and extended improvisation that reaches toward funk and disco as often as toward traditional bluegrass, and Bills contributes fast, inventive mandolin solos and arrangements. The quartet had a decisive 2024: it took first place at the UllrGrass Band Competition in Golden, Colorado, won the Clash of the Strings battle of the bands staged in connection with WinterWonderGrass, and finished second at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival band contest, while Flynn won the RockyGrass dobro competition and Hill placed second in the RockyGrass flatpicking guitar contest. The band sold out a headlining show at Denver's Globe Hall on November 1, 2024, and has appeared at WinterWonderGrass, the Grand Lake Folk Festival, RapidGrass and the Huck Finn Jubilee. Magoo released the singles Riding Trains in October 2025 and Angel of Telluride in November 2025, the latter featuring Sam Bush on fiddle and harmony vocals, ahead of its debut full-length album What a Life, a ten-track record mastered by David Glasser and released on February 27, 2026. The group followed the album with a western United States tour in 2026 that mixed headline dates, festival slots and support runs with Shadowgrass and Kitchen Dwellers.

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