We've run the gamut here of "lost bands" of the 1990's. Some were bands everybody knew that just flamed out (The Soup Dragons), others just faded away (???), and some were always obscure. Among the "always obscure" Driftwood's self-titled album may win the award for most obscure. For the longest time I couldn't locate any cover art whatsoever. Also, Driftwood is completely innocent of putting more work into the liner notes in the music...because there are no liner notes. They also had no label. I'm not even sure what mechanism of distribution allowed this disc to wend its way to my radio station and into my collective.
So what can I say about Driftwood? They sort of fall into the alt-country spectrum, but not every song fits that description. The first song is actually quite good, working off a really good riff. The others are catchy as well, but some of the material meanders into Hootie territory at times (hey it was 1998).
Probably their closest relatives among the "lost bands" label are the Naildrivers, which I ruminated on back in January. Both bands are trios, nominally fronted by their guitarist. Both kicked off around 1995, though it seems that Driftwood was less productive, with only this album and a follow-up EP called Out of Place. All of the extant literature I found on the web reveals no pretenses in their music. It's just straight-up originals with no studio trickery. Sometimes I think bands struggling for recognition really ought to follow the process of working in some cover material. However, I'm not sure that fame and glory was really what Driftwood was striving toward. Again, it's rootsy stuff, take it or leave it.
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