New this week on eTown: from the Bay Area, Chuck Prophet & His Cumbia Shoes bring a fiery mix of soulful rock and Latin rhythms. Joining from Canada is Alysha Brilla, sharing her distinctive original songs shaped by her Indo-Tanzanian roots. Plus, Nick sits down with Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty for a timely conversation about the complexities of immigration law.
Chuck Prophet, a California-born singer-songwriter and guitarist, first rose to prominence with the neo-psych band Green on Red before launching a prolific solo career in 1990. Over the decades, he’s released more than a dozen acclaimed albums, his songs covered by Bruce Springsteen, Solomon Burke and Heart, with appearances across film and television. Hailed by Rolling Stone, Uncut, and NPR as a boundary-breaking storyteller, Chuck survived a battle with stage four lymphoma, emerging with Wake the Dead, his 2024 collaboration with Salinas Cumbia outfit ¿Qiensave?. The album channels joy, rhythm and resilience, blending Latin grooves with his signature rock-and-roll grit.
Alysha Brilla, a three-time JUNO Award nominee and 2024 Canadian Screen Award-nominated composer, is a trailblazing producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist whose music fuses folk, world, soul and pop. Drawing on her Indo-Tanzanian heritage, she has toured globally, played WOMAD and collaborated with artists from No Doubt to Digging Roots. In 2013, she made history as one of the first self-produced female artists to receive a JUNO nod and later won Producer of the Year at the Independent Music Awards. Alysha continues to bridge cultures and disciplines, weaving technology, tradition and community into a vibrant, healing body of work.
Michael Dougherty has served as District Attorney for Boulder County’s 20th Judicial District since 2018, following a career shaped by justice reform and high-level prosecution. A graduate of Cornell and Boston University School of Law, he spent 12 years in the Manhattan DA’s Office, rising to Deputy Chief of the Sex Crimes Unit before moving to Colorado to lead the DNA Justice Review Project, which helped exonerate a wrongfully convicted man. He later held senior positions in Jefferson and Gilpin Counties, chaired statewide reform initiatives and earned the Innocence Project’s Advocate for Innocence and Justice Award. Now, he’s running for Colorado Attorney General.