Farewell Drifters at Canyons Friday
New bluegrass band prepares for MerleFest debut

By Jeff Eason

With a sound that is crisp, clean and undeniably original, the Farewell Drifters are poised to be the next big thing in bluegrass music. Two months from now the band will spend three days at MerleFest in Wilkesboro trying to win over fans at that festival for the first time. But first the guys are set to perform all over the Southeast from their home in Nashville, Tenn.

The Farewell Drifters will play a free show at Canyons of the Blue Ridge in Blowing Rock on Friday, Feb. 20 starting at 9 p.m.

The band consists of Joshua Britt on mandolin, Clayton Britt on lead guitar, Zach Bevill on guitar and lead vocals, Trevor Brandt on banjo and Dean Marold on bass.

The Farewell Drifters have found a close-knit bluegrass community within the Nashville sound machine.

“Nashville is a great town to be in,” said Bevill. “We have met a lot of great people here that have really helped us out over the past couple of years. Musically speaking, it’s a competitive environment, but being surrounded by this much talent is very inspiring, and pushes us to create music that we believe in, something of our own. Our favorite venues are the Station Inn, of course, and a place called Norm’s River Road House, which is a cool listening room west of town, off the beaten path.”

Spending a good deal of time on the road, the guys in the Farewell Drifters have developed a democratic system of deciding who gets to play the tunes on the stereo.

“Whoever is driving usually hooks up their iPod, so the music can vary depending on who is driving,” said Bevill. “The Jerry Garcia Band, Tony Rice and Tim O’Brien get played somewhat often. A recent favorite is She & Him. The most often played artists in the van are somewhat representative of our heroes: Jerry Garcia, Tony Rice, John Hartford, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan. Our heroes are typically the guys who did their own thing, and weren’t afraid to take risks.”

The band has been playing together for the past four years with all but one of the guys still in their mid-20s. Despite the tender ages of the bandmembers, the Farewell Drifters have been getting national recognition lately and are set to make splash at MerleFest.

“We’re really stoked,” said Bevill. “We’ve always heard such great things about it, and the lineup is always a who’s who of acoustic music. We’re playing five or six times over the weekend, which is really awesome. The festival really offers unmatched exposure, and that’s especially for a young band like us.”

For more information on Friday’s show at Canyons, call (828) 295-7661.