Butch Eversole

Raleigh E. "Butch" Eversole, IV is a dedicated educator and performer, currently teaching saxophone and music education courses at Colorado State University-Pueblo. He recently served as interim Director of Bands at the university. Butch is also the conductor of the Little London Winds, a semi-professional wind ensemble. After 29 years of teaching in Colorado's public schools, Butch retired in 2023. He was a founding faculty member and served on the Core Planning Team at Palmer Ridge High School, where he was the Academic Chair for the Performing Arts and Director of Bands from 2008 to 2023. Before Palmer Ridge, he taught at Lewis-Palmer High School, Manitou Springs High School, and Manitou Springs Middle School. Butch has also taught saxophone at Colorado College, served as a graduate teaching assistant in jazz studies at the University of Northern Colorado, and conducted at the LeBam International Summer Band Camp in Beirut, Lebanon. His ensembles have performed multiple times at prestigious events such as the CMEA Conference and the Music for All National Festival. During his tenure at Palmer Ridge, his students earned 185 selections to the Colorado All-State Band. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Shepherd University and a Master of Music in Saxophone Performance from the University of Northern Colorado.

Active as a saxophonist, Butch regularly performs with the Springs Contemporary Jazz Big Band, the Academy Jazz Ensemble, and the pop-rock horn group Pourly Edukated. He has also had the privilege of performing with a range of notable artists, including the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, the Temptations, Dan Aykroyd, and Trisha Yearwood.

In recognition of his career, Butch was inducted into the Colorado Music Educators Association (CMEA) Hall of Fame in 2025 and the Colorado Bandmasters Association (CBA) Hall of Fame in 2024. He is a Past-President of the Colorado Music Educators Association and has served as Chair of the CMEA Instrumental Council and as the CBA Southern Region Representative. He is a member of Phi Beta Mu and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. In 2010, Butch was named the Colorado designee for School Band and Orchestra magazine’s "50 Directors Who Make a Difference." He was honored as the 2012 "Distinguished Arts Teacher" by the Pikes Peak Arts Council and received the 2020 Phi Beta Mu, Kappa Chapter “Outstanding Bandmaster” award.

Butch lives in Monument with his wife, Cynthia, also a music educator and Past-President of CMEA. In his leisure time, he enjoys ice fishing at his estate in Hawaii.