By Lyons Bluesologist, David McIntyre
The Farewell Drifters sound like a pop influenced folk group, with elements of bluegrass, sifted through a past that includes rock’ n roll. Some of their instrumentation includes bluegrass banjo, mandolin, etc. But, they are not bluegrass, ala Bill Monroe. “Initially it was a little more along the lines of bluegrass,” said Drifters’ guitarist Zach Bevill, “but we never claimed to be traditional.”
Founded in 2007. The Farewell Drifters were new to bluegrass. They mostly grew up on other styles of music, and sure enough, those other styles of music have gradually filtered into their sound. “I introduced Josh ( Britt, the band co-founder) to the Beach Boys and he introduced me to Simon & Garfunkel,” Bevill said. “I showed him ‘Pet Sounds’ (the Beach Boys most critically acclaimed album) and he showed me Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Live in New York.’” Bevill added. “We started writing songs and The Farewell Drifters were born. We had all those influences, and what our music could sound like, but we were chasing it, trying to find it.”
They came close with “Yellow Tag Mondays,” their album from 2010. Then they moved further from bluegrass, closer to pop, and even into the realm of the Beach Boys via vocal harmonies. “With ‘Echo Boom,’ we found it,” Bevill admitted. Released in June 2011, ‘Echo Boom’ debuted and peaked at #6 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart despite its lack of full-bore bluegrass. “Songs are guiding where we are going,” said Bevill. “We used a little bit of twelve string guitar on ‘Echo Boom.’ We used some tambourine and other percussion, too. We’re using some electric guitar on some stuff now.”
As with musical explorers before them, The Farewell Drifters seek their own style and sound. And they have found it. For now. Yet these restless searchers of sounds forge forth, seeking that which lies over the mountain. “You’ve always got to be searching for something,” Bevill added. “It’s how we’re wired.”
‘Echo Boom’ displays a growing maturity both musically and thematically, as the band considers the pressures and expectations placed on their generation by the previous one, and the ramifications of some of the vague self-actualization advice passed on by the boomers to their latchkey kids. “We were told by our parents that we could do anything we wanted and though there is an amazing freedom in that, a lot of my generation needed more direction,” says Bevill. Joshua Britt adds, “We were told ‘Just do it,” but a lot of my friends were like, do what exactly? There is a lot of uncertainty about wether our lives are going to get us anywhere.”
That sentiment is expressed in Punchline, the lead track from “Echo Boom.” Britt, who wrote the song, juxtaposes earnest seriousness (“I don’t know what it is that fills my heart with doubt/I just wanna shine the light that’s trying to get out/But it takes so long/And it’s always a process/And I can’t find the patience”) with the idea that life for his generation often seems like some cosmic joke and that success is akin to successfully delivering a punch line. The chorus ends with a plea to “Let me deliver, let me deliver.” So deliver yourself to Oskar Blues Saturday, February 11, 2012 and let these guys deliver you some real good music, with K.C. Groves and Tyler Grant opening the show at 8 p.m., for The Farewell Drifters.
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