The Ragbirds, Driftwood
Gypsy Sally's
06/02/2016 08:00 PM EDT
Advance $14/ Day of Show $14 + Fees
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The Ragbirds
For years, "home" was a place The Ragbirds rarely visited. The band's music — a genrebending hybrid of indiepop melodies, global rhythms and songwriting styles influenced from all over the world — was as broad as their audience, which stretched from the group's hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan, to the shores of Osaka, Japan (where they scored a Number One pop hot with the song "Book of Matches"). Show by show, in venues ranging from rock clubs and performing arts centers to festivals encompassing everything from bluegrass to electronica, The Ragbirds developed a well-deserved reputation as one of the most dynamic, highspirited live bands in roots music.
Written and recorded in the wake of the birth of cofounders Erin Zindle and Randall Moore’s first child, ‘The Threshold & The Hearth’ — the band's fifth studio album, released March 25 on Rock Ridge Music adds another dimension to the band's catalog. Debutting on Billboard’s New Artist Chart at #29 and Billboard’s Folk Chart at #20, it's an album that explores the ways in which love and family relationships can weather the storms of life, year after year. An album that asks questions. An album that offers an answer, too: hope.Released three years after 2013's We Belong to the Love, a live album that shone a light on the band's punchy, positiveminded stage show, The Threshold & The Hearth is
louder and livelier than anything they've done before. The guitar solos, played by Erin’s brother T.J. Zindle, point to a longtime appreciation for rock and roll. The deepseated grooves, performed by the threepiece rhythm section of drummer Jon Brown, percussionist Moore and bassist Dan Jones, mix punch with precision. And Zindle's conceptual storyline for the album — a makebelieve tale of two lovers who meet, fall in love and spend the next 20 years dealing with the joys and struggles that come with any longterm relationship — turn The Threshold & The Hearth into a universal album that appeals to anyone looking to forge a home out of the chaos of everyday life.
With influences ranging from Paul Simon to Peter Gabriel, the band turned to Grammy-nominated producer Jamie Candiloro for his help on the album. Candiloro's influences were similarly wideranging, with a resume that included credits on albums by R.E.M.,
Willie Nelson, the Eagles, and Ryan Adams. Together, the group captured the spunk and spirit of a Ragbirds show, with Zindle's new daughter serving as an inspiration. "I've been traveling with bands since I was a teenager," says Zindle, a multi-instrumentalist who doubles as the band's chief songwriter and front woman. "I've written a lot of songs about my experiences on the road. For a while, The Ragbirds played a lot of different styles of world music: Celtic, tango, African numbers, gypsy-sounding pieces... You could pinpoint those songs to a specific region, so the music itself felt like
a tour around the world. But we're coming home with this album. There's still a worldly feel, but there's also the sense that The Threshold & The Hearth is the sound we've been searching for. I feel like we're the alchemist who traveled so far, only to discover
that what he was seeking was always at home."
Driftwood
The energy of rock n' roll is impossible to categorize – mercurial, specific to its beholder and profoundly reflective. From the Binghamton, New York music scene comes Driftwood, a band with a rock n' roll soul and a folk art mind. Carving out a name for themselves with electrifying live performances, they bring one of the most unique, raw sounds to the Americana/roots music scene. Incorporating upright bass, banjo, acoustic guitar and violin, the ghost of traditional American folk music lives in their palette. But the melodies, the harmonies and the lyrics are something else entirely. "We started off playing rock in high school. Then studying jazz and classical music in college. Then we dove headfirst into folk and bluegrass. At some point I guess we kind of met in the middle", says guitarist/songwriter Dan Forsyth. Drawing on aspects of everything from 0ld-time recordings to 1960's R&B, the music is crafted to serve the songs. With fast-growing audiences singing along at live shows, it's easy to tell the primary focus is on song. "We recognized early on that one of our strongest points was songwriting. The greatest songs transcend genre and time and this was one of the motivating ideas behind the band at the start", says banjo player/songwriter Joe Kollar. Trading lead vocals between Forsyth, Kollar and violinist Claire Byrne, the group's stage dynamics are as captivating as the songs. "I give so much of myself when I play because I deem it necessary in order to do the music justice", says Byrne, whose violin-shredding performances galvanize fans. Songs or shredding, "There's a reason people won't let them off the stage", says Jess Novak from The Syracuse New Times.
Coming from a town not often recognized for music but predominantly for industry, being the home of Twilight Zone author Rod Serling and donning the title of the "Carousel Capital of the World", it's easy to wonder how this not-so-traditional string band came out of the Binghamton music scene. "What people don't often realize is that bands like Old Crow Medicine Show, The Horseflies and The Highwoods String Band came out of this same area and had a huge influence on us", says Forsyth. "We played a lot of old-time in the beginning and it was a huge part of our band learning to play music together".
Formed in 2005, the band spent four years playing just about anywhere they could. "We just wanted to be able to play for any crowd and turn heads", says banjo player Joe Kollar. "We played everywhere. Coffee houses, bars, churches, rock clubs, Bluegrass festivals and the streets…a lot on the streets. We didn't make any money, but what we learned was invaluable".
After the release of their Debut CD "Rally Day" in 2009, the band has spent most of the last 4 years on the road. With club and festival appearances alongside of artists such as Bela Fleck, Old Crow Medicine Show, Rusted Root, Del McCoury, Brett Dennen, The Wailers, Railroad Earth, Robert Randolph, Rubblebucket, Leon Russell, Emmylou Harris and Donna the Buffalo, Driftwood is making serious waves on the East Coast scene. In the last three years they've played over 475 shows. With the release of their second CD "A Rock & Roll Heart" in 2011, the band landed spins on a slew of great radio shows and stations such as WFUV's Sunday Breakfast with John Platt (New York, NY); KZSU (Stanford, CA), WCBE (Columbus, OH), WNRN (Charlottesville, VA), WUNC (Chapel Hill), NC and WDVX (Knoxville, TN).
In November 2012, Driftwood started work on their third and latest CD. Despite a grueling tour schedule and very little time at home, the recordings were finished in the summer of 2013. The self-titled new disc was recorded in a church outside of Ithaca, NY with Grammy-winning engineer Robby Hunter. It was released on December 3rd, 2013.
Venue Information
Gypsy Sally's
3401 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20007
http://www.gypsysallys.com/