NEWS: This January we're going to record our debut CD with the help of Henk Jonkers, who produced numerous rock and pop acts and will now find his home studio filled with a string band for the first time.
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[Dutch bio below -- as well as contact details, reviews and past gigs]
The Dust Bowl Drifters trace their origin to the old American string bands, with instruments such as western guitar, banjo, lap steel guitar and double bass, which accompany harmonized singing. Their acoustic music originates from roots country, bluegrass, honkytonk and mountain music, but the band looks beyond traditional boundaries and their sound follows its own track.
Set up in 2004, The Dust Bowl Drifters originally played electric. After many years in rock groups (such as Orange Sunshine, The Polar Exploration Ship, The Zippies and Burma Shave), they got inspired by countryrock bands of the 70s, but they only played songs composed by others.
There was more under the sun, however, and in 2005 the course was changed: the band put their electric instruments aside, sat down around the dinner table and let loose the muse of country to write their own songs. This resulted into warm melancholic compositions, about matters touching all of us: love and infidelity, success and failure, bloom and fall; simple, but also profound, from the heart and sometimes with a tear.
In the spring of 2009 The Dust Bowl Drifters have done a Live in Your Living Room tour, playing fully acoustic shows in several Dutch living rooms. Besides, the band has been selected to take part in the Popronde 2009 tour, travelling all over the Netherlands. Plans are to record an album in early 2010 with producer Henk Jonkers.
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The Dust Bowl Drifters baseren zich op de vroegere Amerikaanse string bands, met instrumenten als western gitaar, banjo, lapsteel-gitaar en contrabas als begeleiding van meerstemmige zang. Hun akoestische muziek vindt zijn oorsprong in roots-country, bluegrass, honkytonk en mountain-music, maar de band kijkt voorbij traditionele grenzen; hun geluid volgt een eigen weg.
Opgericht in 2004 speelden The Dust Bowl Drifters aanvankelijk versterkt. Na vele jaren in rockbands (zoals Orange Sunshine, The Polar Exploration Ship, The Zippies en Burma Shave), raakten ze geïnspireerd door jaren '70 countryrock bands, maar beperkten ze zich tot nummers van anderen.
Er was echter meer onder de zon, en in 2005 ging het roer om: de band zette de elektrische instrumenten aan de kant, ging rond de eettafel zitten en gaf de country-muze vrij spel om nummers te schrijven. Dat leverde warme, melancholische liedjes op, over onderwerpen die ieder van ons raken: liefde, overspel, ontrouw, roem en vergetelheid, bloei en verval; eenvoudig maar gelaagd, uit het hart en soms met een traan.
Voorjaar 2009 hebben The Dust Bowl Drifters een Live in Your Living Room tour gedaan van akoestische optredens in een aantal Hollandse huiskamers. Daarnaast is de band geselecteerd voor de Popronde 2009, die door heel Nederland trekt. Het voornemen is om begin 2010 een album op te nemen met Henk Jonkers als producer.
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Contact:
* thedustbowldrifters[at]yahoo.com
* +31.(0)6.4607.6619
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* Watch two songs of our Live in Your Living Room gig in Amsterdam at YouTube: Whiskey and Crazy (click)
* Listen to our radio live gig of four songs and an interview (in Dutch) at Stork on Air (Radio West) (click and ignore the MySpace warning), at 1:32:50 hrs (music starts at 1:36:48 and 1:51:19 hrs).
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Some reviews and comments (in Dutch):
* anonymous Popronde visitor at Bijsmans: "een hele leuke band met oer-Amerikaanse bluegrass-achtige muziek"
* Amsterdam Live in Your Living Room gig at 3voor12 (click), support for Anne Soldaat
* Altcountry.nl at Podcast 71 (at 0:38:38 hrs): "Erg mooi"
* Live in Your Living Room gig in Haarlems Dagblad: "De Dust Bowl Drifters [...] lijken zó weggelopen uit de Smokey Mountains. Met fraaie meerstemmige zang wordt de weggelopen geliefde bezongen, waarbij [...] een vonkenregen van huilerige steelgitaarklanken."
* Demo at Haags Poppodium (click)
* Langweiligkeit gig at 3voor12 (click)
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Past gigs:
* November 12, 2009: Duke of Oz (Popronde), Leiden
* November 7, 2009: De Lieve Vrouw (Popronde), Amersfoort
* October 24, 2009: Odeon (Popronde), Alkmaar
* October 15, 2009: Paard Café, The Hague
* October 9, 2009: Café De Stad (Popronde), Utrecht
* October 8, 2009: ’t Poorthuys (Popronde), Wageningen
* October 1, 2009: Café Bijsmans (Popronde), Heerlen
* September 25, 2009: Au Mouton Blanc (Popronde), Maastricht
* September 19, 2009: De Hete Brij (Popronde), Zwolle
* September 11, 2009: 2CV (Popronde), Nijmegen
* September 8, 2009: Fringe Festival, Amsterdam
* July 5, 2009: Via Ventosa festival, Eindhoven
* June 26, 2009: Live in Your Living Room, The Hague
* June 12, 2009: Live in Your Living Room, Amsterdam
* May 17, 2009: Chandra's birthday party, Amstelveen
* May 15, 2009: Stork on Air - Radio West, The Hague
* May 1, 2009: Live in Your Living Room, Amsterdam
* March 8, 2009: Baklust, The Hague
* February 28, 2009: Live in Your Living Room, Rotterdam
* February 22, 2009: Live in Your Living Room, The Hague
* February 21, 2009: De Maatschappij, Scheveningen
* February 20, 2009: Live in Your Living Room, Haarlem
* February 4, 2009: Lokaal Vredebreuk, The Hague
* January 18, 2009: private poetry and music party, The Hague
* November 15, 2008: Langweiligkeit festival (September), The Hague
* October 5, 2008: Pier van Dordt, Dordrecht
* June 1, 2008: De Kroeg, Arnhem
* May 27, 2008: U Rock (Tunesday), Utrecht
* December 30, 2007: Lokaal Vredebreuk, The Hague
* December 24, 2007: September, The Hague
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