The Fret Drifters
www.fretdrifters.com
The Fret Drifters are the award winning duo project of Andy Casad and Nick Garrett-Powell. Hailing from Southern Oregon, The Fret Drifters are known for their technical wizardry on the acoustic guitar.
Using exotic techniques like slapping, tapping, drumming and more, The Fret Drifters uses the whole guitar to emulate other instruments such as the piano, organ, violin and drum set. Utilizing heavily modified acoustic guitars and effects pedals, pushing the boundary and having fun are their mission statements.
Bringing a high energy show and rocking packed houses of fans, this high caliber duo has toured domestically throughout the Pacific Northwest and two tours of Southeastern Australia, as well as performing as an opening act for such luminaries as Tommy Emmanuel, Eric Johnson, Trevor Hall, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Black Violin, Pat Benatar, Lachey Doley, Jeff Achison, Rick Springfield, Janeane Garofalo, The Little River Band, David Grisman, Orleans, Firefall, and more...
History:
In 2010, Nick was working at a guitar store when acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Andy Casad came in to buy equipment. After listening to Andy's peculiar gear needs, Nick inquired "what style of music do you play?" Andy replied, "I basically beat the crap out of my guitar," to which Nick replied, "me too! Let's jam!" They discovered they had a ton of common ground on the guitar, similar influences and goals.
In 2011, Andy's new project with Ben Comer "The Fret Drifters" was being offered gigs, but Ben was moving away for school. Andy remembered beating the crap out of guitars with Nick and gave him a call. Not long later, the opportunity to perform opening for major acts began to arrive. One year later, Nick and Andy wrote the song "Love Your Lover" and in 2013 it was released with a self-produced music video.
In an amazing turn of events, their music video was submitted by friends and fans to two different contests in 2013, and they found themselves winners of both Southern Oregon's Got Talent and the Bruthen Blues Exchange, the prizes being recording studio access and a trip to perform a tour in Australia.
In 2016 after many production challenges, their eponymous album "The Fret Drifters" was released, collecting 7 songs including Love Your Lover and their contest winning rendition of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer."
Continuing to self-promote, 2016 inspired a new era of songwriting in the Fret Drifters, and as the new repertoire bloomed, further exploration into innovating the technology of the acoustic guitar became central to the band, and futurism was embraced. The next few years would be about writing and recording in new ways, taking those songs to Australia for a second tour as headlining performers in regional blues and jazz festivals. In 2020, the first single from those efforts was released, the protest song "Gatekeeper," with other recordings and music videos in the works.
The band motto: "Nothin' but Love."
