Single and EP release from Farewell Drifters

The Farewell Drifters - River SongThe Farewell Drifters are hard at work on their next CD, but with inevitable delays pushing back a release date, the guys have decided to issue a single on a 3-track EP. Keeping with the metaphor of a single from the old 45 RPM record days, the band is saying that the A and B sides feature tracks from the new unfinished album, with a bonus track to boot.

The three tracks are River Song and Please Dream of Me Tonight – both written within the band – and a remake of The Beatles’ Ticket To Ride.

Guitarist Zach Bevill shared a few words about their decision to release this interim project.

The Farewell Drifters at Merlefest 2009 - Clayton Britt, Joshua Britt, Dean Marold, Zach Bevill, Trevor Brandt“It’s been a year and a half since our first album, and we’ve been dying to put some of our new music out there.  The next album isn’t done yet, so the idea behind this release was to put something new out for fans to listen to, and to let folks know that we’re still busy making music.

We contemplated a 5 or 6 song EP, but then had the idea of putting out a single.  We began thinking about the old 45’s with an A side and a B side, and thought that was a really cool concept that has kind of gone out of style.  It takes a certain kind of song to make an A side and a different kind to make a B side, and that really interested us.  It was fun to look through our songs and see which ones we thought worked as either an A or B side.

As the A side, we’re hoping that a lot of DJ’s will put River Song into their rotation.  If you buy the disc, you won’t be able to flip it over to listen to the B side, but we did intend to make it a B side conceptually, and hope that it comes across that way.  In addition to all that, we also hope that the new release will be a budget friendly option for those who want to buy our music, but are feeling the impact of the down-trodden economy.”

Zach also agreed to allow us to excerpt the two new songs, and passed along a few words to introduce each one.

River Song  –  Listen now:    [http://media.libsyn.com/media/thegrasscast/river_song.mp3]

“I wrote this song at the house that Joshua Britt (mandolin) and I shared here in Nashville.  The house was up on a bluff overlooking the Cumberland River, and there was a path that went down to the bank.  I’d often go down there to unwind and get away.  I would read, or sometimes I would take my guitar.  I’d always come back up feeling renewed, and I wanted to share that experience and that feeling with folks in this song.”

Please Dream of Me Tonight  –  Listen now:    [http://media.libsyn.com/media/thegrasscast/please_dream.mp3]

“Joshua wrote this song late one night, and he stayed up playing it into the wee hours of the morning.  I know because I could hear him playing it from my bedroom.  While I was in and out of sleep, I heard an ascending melody line in my head that was running counter to the descending line he was playing on his mandolin.  That morning I went over and asked him to play it, and I sang my melody and we both got really excited.  This song stretches a bit stylistically, but Clayton’s fingerpicked guitar really comes to the fore, and I love the lush background vocals on the bridge.  We also made use of Dean’s jazz background on the upright bass.”

The EP/CD can be purchased from The Farewell Drifter’s web site, or downloaded from iTunes.

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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.