Farewell Drifters chosen by Mountainridge Music

The farewell Drifters - Clayton Britt, Dean Marold, Trevor Brandt, Joshua Britt, Zach BevillWe posted in early August about the competition hosted by MountainRidge Music Marketing to select an up-and-coming band to receive their marketing and promotional services at no charge.

They have now announced that the winning MountainRidge Music Flagship Group is The Farewell Drifters, based in Nashville, TN. Members include Zachary Bevill on guitar and lead vocals, Trevor Brandt on banjo, Joshua Britt on mandolin, Clayton Britt on guitar, and Dean Marold on bass. Bevill and Britt write the bulk of the band’s material, which manages to be fresh and adventurous, while remaining accessible to both new and traditional bluegrass fans.

We wrote about them last year when we received a copy of their fine debut CD, Sweet Summer Breeze.

The Drifters have had a very good 2008, being selected as one of the official IBMA Showcase acts (performing on Wednesday evening), and having been picked up by Keith Case & Associates, who now handle their booking. They also showcased at the Americana Music Association earlier this month, and are hard at work on a new CD, with one song featured on the IBMA showcase artist CD which is distributed to all attendees.

MountainRidge will provide them promotion and tour support for 15 dates of their choosing when the company is officially launched during IBMA week. The company will provide the sort of services typically offered by a large label to unsigned artists (or who record for a small, independent label) at what they describe as affordable prices.

You can find out more about MountainRidge on their web site, and audio from The Farewell Drifters on the band’s MySpace page.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.