When J.D. Crowe announced his retirement at the end of last year, his very talented band made the decision to forge on without him. Though they had been The New South for many years, that name clearly belonged to Crowe, so they became American Drive, with Josh Hymer tackling the unenviable job of “replacing” Crowe on banjo.
Not quite a year into their new career comes a major announcement from the band. Artie Werner, a long time friend of American Drivers Dwight McCall and Rickey Wasson, will now serve as their new booking and promotional representative. Artie has recently left his day job to focus exclusively on his bluegrass career, where he performs on bass in his wife’s group, The Missy Werner Band.
Dwight tells us that he thinks Artie is a perfect fit for them.
“We had been searching for someone to to work with our band to handle the duties required for full time promotion, allowing us to concentrate on performing and recording. After several discussions with Artie during the past few weeks we mutually agreed that this would be an excellent opportunity for both of us. He looks forward to working with all of the promoters and venues in the future representing American Drive, and will also continue to perform with and promote The Missy Werner Band.
American Drive would also like to thank our friend Randy Graham and his agency for his assistance over the past year. We appreciate all of his help and wish him the best.”
Werner can be reached by phone at 513-200-2953, or by email.
McCall also mentioned that the band will be back in the studio soon to begin work on the follow-up to their debut, self-titled album which was released in October of 2012.
Joining McCall on mandolin, Wasson on guitar and Hymer on banjo are Matt Despain on resonator guitar and Kyle Perkins on bass.
