Jerry Garcia-inspired acoustic band Drifting From Shore jams at River Street Jazz Cafe in Plains on Feb. 22
From a press release:
Drifting From Shore hails from New York’s Southern Tier to bring Jerry Garcia fans an acoustic band experience that both honors his legacy and continues their own with unique performances and renditions of classics, as well as tunes audiences may not have heard before but will certainly love.
The group will drift down the Susquehanna River to the shores of Wilkes-Barre to make their River Street Jazz Cafe (667 N. River St., Plains) debut on Saturday, Feb. 22.
Doors open at 8 p.m., and the show starts at 9 p.m. Tickets, which are $15 in advance or $20 at the door, are on sale via HoldMyTicket.
Drifting from Shore is a Binghamton “supergroup” comprised of the founders of the popular Grateful Dead-influenced Ship of Phools (Mark McCabe and Chris Mac on guitars), Simmerin’ Stew (Paul Koanui on banjo), and Monkeys Typing (Chuck Hinton on pedal steel or dobro), plus members of the Dead band Home Brew (Bill Van Pelt on mandolin, sometimes Chuck Kozlawski on drums or percussion) and the lauded KidBess on bass and vocals when she isn’t off playing GrassRoots and other music festivals. Together, the six-to-seven-piece band features at least six vocalists.
“I like to think of the theme as, ‘What would Jerry play?’ Predominantly acoustic folk and traditional songs that Jerry Garcia was known to cover or was on the recordings, plus songs that we think he would have played had he gotten around to it,” Hinton described.
“Many of these songs are genuinely timeless – great grandpa sang in the Civil War, grandma sang in a flapper dress, dad listened to in Greenwich Village beat clubs, you heard last month at a concert by someone like Old Crow Medicine Show, and your kid is singing right now in kindergarten.”
While the band has visited Northeastern Pennsylvania before, playing at The Stonehouse in Carbondale last year, they are mostly found jamming in New York, so Hinton said they are looking forward to expanding their fan base this weekend.
“The combination of all our members being from popular groups with their own followings and the timeless appeal of the material has resulted in very successful standing-room-only local shows and the band playing well-known out-of-town venues. This month includes Funk ‘n Waffles in Syracuse and the River Street Jazz Cafe.”
