Amazon is technically our rivals, but we’re not afraid to mention them. Why? Because they sell the Cache Valley Drifters record, which, not coincidentally, has received ten five-star ratings. It’s unanimous! And that’s pretty cool. (It also shows how secure we are as the non-profit, funky lil’ David to Amazon’s Goliath. Reaaaal secure.)
More info at www.henrymiller.org
The Cache Valley Drifters are playing a rare and intimate indoor show at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur on Thursday, March 3rd. Tickets are by donation – we recommend $20 – and can be reserved by calling 831-667-2574.
After 35 years (!) in this business, this the Central Cali-based Drifters’ first Big Sur show ever! Seems like a big deal worth of a blog post, eh?
Anyway, ok, where was I? Oh yeah, our martyrdom complex. The Amazon-hosted record in question is the Drifters’ “White Room.” And I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is yes, they cover the Cream jam, in a rowdy, barnburn’ bluegrassy fashion that totally transforms the song. And that song selection in and of itself proves why this band rules: they take your perception of bluegrass and throw it out the window.
As one of the five-star review puts it:
Cache Valley Drifters' "White Room"
“Bluegrass purists will be interested only if they want to broaden their horizons.”
In other words, this isn’t your father or grandfather’s bluegrass. Which has caused some friction over the years as the bluegrass world can be very introverted and puritanical. Wally told me they’d been ex-communicated from the high church of bluegrass for rocking too hard or diverging too far from the standard Bill Monroe (may he rest in peace!) script. Not unlike the folk-purist bunch who freaked out when Dylan went electric at Newport in ’65.
So the Drifters’ sound may aesthetically offend the closed-minded. Who knows, perhaps during the Library show an 2011-equivalent of Pete Seeger, some hyper-purist with ringing ears, will try to cut the Drifters’ power cord with an axe in howling protest. Or perhaps not - there will be no power cords and no electricity! – the show will be totally acoustic and indoors!
Hah!
Take that, bluegrass fascists!
